Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Irish singer.
On the island
Eight records
the first one is um music by Shono Rieta, who was one of our greatest Irish composers who died in the last few years. And it's from Mishaira, which is film music that he wrote for Mishaira. and this particular piece from it. is called Kohrem, which means it's Gaelic and it means victory. And the reason I've chosen it is because it's based on one of our greatest, what you might call, classic folk songs.
I have enormous admiration for her work. I discovered her uh in the early sixties. And I was quite stunned by hearing her for the first time on an album, her first album, which was twenty nineteen, then. And this particular song was on that first album that I heard.
Alfred Deller and John Whitworth
Alfred Deller. I have loved his work since I first heard it in the late fifties. I'm a very keen admirer, and the thing about him is the timbre of his voice. And he's involved in his singing, and yet. There's that marvellously detached impersonal in the nicest sense, sound that he emits, and I love the dynamic, especially of the the the first sound, he starts quietly and then he swells out. The control is absolutely magnificent. And and another reason why I would like it is because it says in that particular bit You make the listening shores resound. And I won't be the only one listening to the music. The shores would be listening and enjoying and and all nature around me, on my desert island.
one that I heard for the first time. In the monastery, it's from Karlorf's Carmena Burana, that very beautiful, very poignant and haunting, I think, soprano solo.
Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043: II. Largo ma non tantoFavourite
Igor Oistrakh and David Oistrakh
Because I think it is one of the. Greatest pieces of May I call it love music ever written, whether it's human love or divine love. I think, in fact, it's divine music.
I was doing quite a lot of work in Canada a couple of years ago. And everywhere I turned this record was being played, and at first I didn't take much notice of it, and then it grew on me. And uh every time I listen to it now I enjoy it anew.
Concerto for Lute and Harp in B-flat major, Op. 4, No. 6
The very first A record in my collection was given to Richard and me by my heart teacher in New York. It was called The Art of Marcel Grandie, the great French harpist. And We played it and played it till it was worn out, and this was one of the movements from this concerto was on it. And about two or three years ago I came across this version. The music has been edited by Thurston Dart and he has come to the conclusion that it was written for harp and lewd and not just harp. And it's a an unfailing delight to listen to the Joyous dialogue that's going on between the harp and the lute. Again, it's another kind of love music.
Das Lied von der Erde: VI. Der Abschied
That marvellous bit at the end which is Resurrectional And So full of hope. Enjoy. and confidence.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:31Apart from the loneliness, what would be the most frightening thing about being on a desert island?
Well, may I say first story that I wouldn't be frightened of the loneliness. I would probably be very happy because I have within me the resources that make it easy for me. To be Alone by myself. Yes. for any length of time. So that wouldn't be a thing that would put me off at all.
Presenter asks
3:32Was there a lot of music in your home [growing up]?
No, there wasn't. Um My mother played the piano. Well I was just thinking about it the other day, and I realized that we didn't have any records in the house other than. some of the very early ones that my parents must have had when they were first married and the machine they had they hadn't got round to getting a … electric. thing. And they had one of the ones you wind up.
Presenter asks
6:58Did you think you could have a future as a singer?
I I didn't plan to become a singer. It's something that that sort of evolved and and took over almost of its own accord. And I tried not very enthusiastically, I tried various things. I went to the College of Art for a while. I did a course in beauty culture. I did some modelling, and all this time they were in a way peripheral interests, because I was doing radio broadcasts, and this had started from the time I left school.
The keepsakes
The luxury
do you think it might be possible for me to have what I can only describe as a tennis practice wall, with obviously the extras, you know well, not extras'cause they're essentials the tennis racket, the ball, and the ground bit.
Presenter asks
16:38Did you feel that by devoting yourself to the religious life you would feel more closely in touch with your husband?
Yes, that was undoubtedly uh a big element in it. We haven't got the time really to go into this, but it it's it's a complex thing. Um the love of God and the love of my husband were not they were separate things, and yet there's an interpenetration. And yet there there's no confusion.
Presenter asks
21:39Was your decision to come out into the world again a sudden one, or something that had been growing for a long time?
Well, my health broke down two years before I left. And at the time I hadn't abs I had no notion whatsoever of coming out. In fact, I was determined to go on. and very contentedly, I must say. And then two years later, exactly the same thing happened. The um diagnosis by the two doctors was physical and nervous exhaustion. And again a complete rest was recommended, in fact, more strongly. than recommended, and then I began to realize that this was a sign. that I must now end this phase and carry on from there outside.
“I would probably be very happy because I have within me the resources that make it easy for me. To be Alone by myself.”
“I knew from the time my husband died that I wanted to go into a monastery. I knew that this was what I must do. It was a a vocation, a call to the monastic life.”
“Could we not say an advance rather than retreat? Because that's really it's really what it is. You know, you're not taking a step back, you're taking a very, in a way, precarious step forward. It's a great act of faith.”