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Castaway
1 appearance
Pianist and child prodigy who won joint silver medal at International Tchaikovsky Competition, becoming a superstar in Russia.
On the island
Eight records
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E‑flat major, Op. 73 'Emperor'
Wilhelm Backhaus, Vienna Philharmonic, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
the passage at the beginning of my version of the music at the age of, I think, four or five… I would like to hear that passage
I just mentioned Russ Conway, and this is one of the tunes I remember loving hearing him play
Prize Song from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
René Kollo, Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Georg Solti
this doesn't have any particular significance to my life story, it's just a wonderful piece of music, and it's the prize song from Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger
Peter Donohoe, London Sinfonietta, Simon Rattle
because of my interest in jazz I felt it was a good idea to include something that represented the best of American jazz, and it just so happens that it's something I've also recorded, and it's the Rhapsody in Blue
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
Peter Donohoe, USSR TV and Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev
the actual performance which at least contributed to winning the competition in Moscow, which was of the third piano concerto of Rachmaninoff… it represents, more than any other piece, one's achievement if one has one
Peter Donohoe, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle
it formed part of my introduction to the music of the twentieth century when I was quite young… I was absolutely blown over by the piece
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 – II. Andante
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
I just had to have a piece by Brahms because I think that of all the composers he's one of the most indispensable
String Quintet in C major, D. 956Favourite
it is one of the greatest pieces of chamber music ever written
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:58Does the word prodigy make you squirm, or do you confess that's exactly what you were?
Well, I would love to know what the word prodigy means, but certainly I think that the majority of really successful musicians were able at a very early age to play some of the things that we work towards now … The work that I played at the age of twelve in public, which was the Beethoven Third Concerto, I now find it a very difficult piece at the age of thirty five, whereas at that time it seemed really quite easy … I think if one tries to analyse that it's something to do with, first of all, a musical ear and the other thing is of course physical coordination … and the love of the music.
Presenter asks
5:06So even at the age of four you were moved by that kind of music. Was it always, though, the piano that touched something in you?
Yes, I think it was [the piano that touched something in me]. I certainly wanted to play the piano that was in the corner of the room … I remember picking out music from the radio … signature tunes from programmes on the radio.
Presenter asks
8:16Your poor music teacher — can he have been aware that he was in receipt of world‑class material?
The keepsakes
The book
Complete scripts of Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly (scripts compiled)
I need something to make me laugh, and so I would rather like to go for the complete um scripts of Billy Connolly.
The luxury
if I could sleep really well, I think that uh any problems that being on a desert island would present um me with, I I think I could cope with it.
Well, certainly none of the rest of us were aware of it [that he was world‑class material]. I never thought in those terms myself. I just wanted to play. I wasn't thinking of any kind of career at that time.
Presenter asks
16:25Tell me about 1982, the Moscow International Tschaikovsky Piano Competition. You were 29 years old, and suddenly they were chanting your name on the streets of Moscow. How did it happen?
Well, I only ever did four competitions in my life … I became a finalist in all of them. But I actually jointly won this one in Moscow with a Russian … It was like a dream come true, because I knew that would be the door opening to a career … I came out of it reasonably well, I'm very pleased to say.
Presenter asks
25:34I read that you were involved in a 70‑mile‑an‑hour car crash some years ago, and as you headed for impact you put your hands under your armpits. Is that right?
Yes, that's right. … had I not hidden my hands under my arms, that we would have been crushed between two lorries … it really did save our lives.
Presenter asks
29:25How long is the career of a concert pianist? Do you go on until you're dropped?
I think you can probably maintain this because the amount of stress that's involved, which is huge on the stage, is immediately dissipated at the end of a concert … you remain very healthy … I think you can go on until a very late stage. My ambition is actually to continue doing what I'm doing … to limit the number of concerts a little bit.
“I spent hours and hours trying to try to piece together the complete work … I came to love it so much that I was really rather disappointed when I discovered there was another quarter of an hour of the piece.”
“I decided, as part of my hero worship, that I would never learn to read music at that stage … I think I learned to use my ears.”
“It was actually more like two hours later on [the ovation]. … after the final that I gave the jury went away to consider the verdict … I was supposed to be the third out of thirteen to play and I cut my thumb on a beer can just before the finals.”
“It's rather like a Beatles concert from the mid sixties … after the concert they follow you in the streets and they chant and things like that … they retain their distance, but they follow and they shout and they scream.”
“I've nearly sliced one finger off before now, and I've also drilled into the palm of my hand. Just a day before a Wigmore Hall concert, actually.”