Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Knighted composer who had just celebrated his 75th birthday.
On the island
Eight records
Slow movement (Andante) from Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467
The transcript says 'Mare Paraya' – a clear ASR mangling of Mieczysław Horszowski, the soloist on many recordings of this work. The track is the slow movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 (K. 467).
Alexander Young and Teresa Stich-Randall
The transcript has 'English Battle Soul' and 'Father Peace' – these are garbled mishearings of the cantata title and the duet's first line. The correct piece is the duet from Cantata No. 42. The transcript's 'Teresa Stitch Randall' is corrected to Teresa Stich-Randall and 'Alexander Young' is correct.
The transcript correctly reports 'Beethoven's Quartet No. sixteen in F major, opus one hundred and thirty five, played by the Juilliard Quartet'. The movement described is the slow third movement.
"Labbra di foco" / Duet (Fenton and Nannetta) from Falstaff
Juan Oncina and Gabriella Sciutti
The transcript has 'Juan Oncina' (correct) and 'Gabriella Schutti' – an ASR error for Gabriella Sciutti. The duet is from Act III of Falstaff, though the castaway describes it as recurring.
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein
The transcript has severe ASR garbling – 'Prelude à la Prémie de la Fun' and 'La Primide d'En Thon' – clearly the iconic Debussy work. The conductor and orchestra are given correctly in the transcript.
Petite Symphonie Concertante, Op. 54Favourite
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Ernest Ansermet
The transcript says 'Franck Martin's Petit Samphonie Concertante' and 'Ensemer conducting the Swiss Romonde orchestra' – corrected to Frank Martin, Petite Symphonie Concertante, and Ernest Ansermet / Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Excerpt from The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54
Peter Pears and David Hemmings
The castaway names the opera clearly; the performers are given as 'Peter Pears and a very young David Hemmings'.
Waltz from Valses nobles et sentimentales
The transcript says 'Valse Noble Sentimental' and 'Vlado Perlmutter' – corrected to Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales and Vlado Perlemuter.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:36How well do you think you could adjust yourself to a solitary life?
Well, I don't think at all easily. I've never lived alone in ordinary circumstances, but uh I suppose one can get used to it. Apart from being away from your family and friends, what would be the worst thing? What would you miss most? Well, it's just a a a feeling, I think, of of other people about you. I think it would be very difficult to keep sane even if one were entirely alone.
Presenter asks
5:28You were born in a musical household?
Well, not really, only to the extent that my father was very fond of music and he had a a pianola with all kinds of roles of classical music. This was before the days of records. Yes. And that was really my introduction to music.
Presenter asks
5:57At school, what were your best subjects?
Well, uh I knew French, you see, right from the start, because I'd been brought up to be more or less bilingual, because both my parents families had lived in France... I liked anything to do with with literature too. I always found I could learn poetry by heart fairly quickly.
The keepsakes
The book
The New Oxford Book of English Verse
Edited by Helen Gardner
I thought at first when you said one book, well I perhaps should take the whole of Proust, because that counts as one book, yes. Well, um actually I don't think so, on second thoughts. I think I'd rather take uh uh poetry, uh I think it would somehow keep alive. ... And I'd suggest taking the new Oxford book of first.
The luxury
A painting by Renoir (La Grenouillère)
I think I'd like to take a picture. ... A picture by Renoir which is of the banks of the Marne. It's I rather think it's called La Gourneuiere, after the name of a restaurant on the banks of the Marne, where people go on Sundays, and you see people of Renoir's period dressed in what are now rather picturesque clothes.
Presenter asks
9:46How did you get on with [Nadia] Boulanger? Did you find her a daunting lady?
Well, she she was rather formidable in some ways. But um very easy to talk to and get on with. She had a a sense of humour and uh uh an understanding of people... she had, I think, a way of showing one how to do what one was trying to do better than one did. I can't really put it in any other words, but uh she seemed to understand and to show up what was missing.
Presenter asks
13:34Had you yet had anything professionally performed when you left [Paris]?
Yes, I did have one short orchestral piece played while I was in Paris, and I think of East Chamber music too, but I can't remember what that was. But um I I waited until I got back to to England again, really, to try and get performances, because as I started rather late, I didn't feel that I was ready, really, for it.
Presenter asks
24:08How do you work? Do you work regular hours each day, or in bursts of enthusiasm?
No, I work regular hours and I find that well, sometimes it doesn't happen, as you say, because uh everybody uh has periods when they're rather stuck... I find that the only way of of making it happen or helping it to happen is to sit down and try and do it. And ver very often in in fiddling about with the notes you want to use, something occurs to you. I find that it's in working that that one gets ideas.
“I think it would be very difficult to keep sane even if one were entirely alone.”
“I can't really put it in any other words, but uh she seemed to understand and to show up what was missing.”
“I find that the only way of of making it happen or helping it to happen is to sit down and try and do it.”
“I then discovered that some of the most well known composers uh were in a similar situation, used the piano the whole time. So I thought, well, if it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me and so I've managed.”