Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, upholder of the Proms tradition, and ambassador for British music worldwide.
On the island
Eight records
He hath borne our griefs (from Messiah)
Sir Malcolm Sargent (conductor)
the first one I would certainly choose would be uh a good recording of the complete Handel's Messiah... I would certainly know that I would get a great deal of pleasure occasionally putting on a recording of Shawley... He has borne our our griefs, the the uh from from the um from the Messiah. Yes, and I hope you would choose your own recording of that, would you? Well, modesty forbids me mentioning the name of the recording, which I think the best so far. Well, perhaps in this case, I'll be allowed to choose myself.
Sanctus Fortis (from The Dream of Gerontius)
Huddersfield Choral Society, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
the next thing I would choose would be something from Elgar's Dream of Gurantius... I would like to have the Sanctus Fortis, which is sung by the tenor Gorantius himself, professing his complete faith, his creed, his belief in everlasting values at the point of his death.
Sanctus (from Mass in B minor)
I must go for the Bach B minor, and I would like to have on my desert isle an occasional chance of hearing a fine choir singing the Sanctus from that very great work.
Adagio molto e cantabile (from Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125)
Perhaps the slow movement, which is is is so beautiful, of the ninth symphony of Beethoven.
Caprice viennois, Op. 2Favourite
I would like to take with me one of his early recordings when he played with the fervor of youth and the maturity perhaps of middle age. And the caprice vignoir has always given me very, very great pleasure.
Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61
Jascha Heifetz (violinist), unidentified orchestra
I would like to have with me obviously the recording that Heifitz did, the supreme recording of that wonderful work, the Elgar violin concerto.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ('Emperor')
Artur Schnabel (pianist), Sir Malcolm Sargent (conductor), unidentified orchestra
I also would like to have any of the recordings that Snarble did with me of the Beethoven concertos.
Suite in F-sharp minor, Op. 19 (last movement)
I'm going to play suggest something quite light, the Danyani suite in F sharp minor... I would like to play and have with me the last movement of the Dognani Sweeten F sharp minor.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:29How much does the gramophone mean to you in private life? Do you play it a lot for pleasure?
I don't actually have time to play gramophone recordings for my own actual pleasure as a part from the good they can do me in my work. I mean, I put on records always with a purpose. I put them on because I wish to hear somebody's reading of a certain thing to see what I can learn from it. But the chances of really just putting it on for the pleasure of hearing it are very, very few.
Presenter asks
6:12Do you find that conducting in the Opera House as exciting and satisfying as working in the concert hall?
It's certainly usually more exciting, and particularly with a work such as this, which I look upon as one of the great works of the last fifty years for the operatic stage of the world, it is of great excitement and satisfaction. A satisfying is rather another point, because you have so many more people under your control, the sta at working at a disadvantage, running about on the stage and so on, and perhaps one can get a more satisfying form of a symphony than of an opera. But I shall always hope to be in touch with operatic work because it is a great field for one's best technical experience and of great importance musically, and it's one that I shall always love doing.
Presenter asks
8:55The keepsakes
The book
Not recorded.
The luxury
if it were a very hot island, I suppose, I would like some form of ice-making machine. And if it were a very cold island, I would like something in the nature of a hot water bottle.
How old were you when you decided that music was to be your life?
Well, actually, no, I believe that on arrival I burst into song. But it was not recorded... But by the age of four, I am told that when a cousin of mine, who was older than much older than me, played her piece on the piano, I then went to the piano and sat down with the utmost conviction, banged about on the piano, at least to my satisfaction, for no one's else. By eight years of age, I was singing in a choir and was able to sing the alto part. My father's an amateur organist, and he was delighted to find a boy who obviously could sing the alto, which is very difficult to get in country places. And from that moment, I became uh fascinated in music and really wanted to take it up as a profession, um not really from any any larger ambition than really to take part in church services and to become an organist.
Presenter asks
11:16I notice that so far you've chosen sections from three religious works. Is that advisably so?
Oh yes, you see, I think that if one were cast from a desert island, it's an experience I've not yet had, one would be free from most of the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil. The world certainly wouldn't tempt one at all. Flesh, I suppose, was there a little bit, but certainly gluttony and drunkenness and other forms of fleshly excesses would be at a disadvantage as temptations. The devil, I suppose, will be there, but I've not experienced what he's like on a desert island. But however, I do feel that perhaps it's important, lest one should suffer from some form of spiritual pride through this lack of temptation, that one should be continually refreshing one's spirituality by listening to seriously religious music.
Presenter asks
13:29What sort of castaway do you think you'd be in a practical sense? How could you look after yourself? Have you any skills or crafts or hobbies or theories that might be useful?
None whatever. But I've always found that, I mean, I'm the most incapable of people until I have to do the job and then quite suddenly something turns up and I find I get over the difficulty. But I have never hitherto been cast upon a desert island. I did. I was stuck once in in an island in the in the Pacific by a plane crashing down and I had four incredibly lovely days in in really a blue lagoon which I just adored. It was pretty primitive and pretty rough, but I must say other people did the cooking and uh there was no hut that had to be built. I suppose if you're put to it, you have to decide how to burn. I really wouldn't have the slightest idea how to do it. Of course, you see, you're not telling me whether I'm going to be a Robinson Crusoe and find a convenient ship with a treasure trove of saws and nails and hammers and things to do with it. Not at all. Not even ropes. I've got to set to work. I don't think I should live very long on this island. I think I'd be content to listen to these records and die very contentedly from starvation.
“I don't actually have time to play gramophone recordings for my own actual pleasure as a part from the good they can do me in my work.”
“I would rather have the scores of the great works than have gramophone recordings.”
“By eight years of age, I was singing in a choir and was able to sing the alto part.”
“If one were cast from a desert island, it's an experience I've not yet had, one would be free from most of the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil.”
“I don't think I should live very long on this island. I think I'd be content to listen to these records and die very contentedly from starvation.”