Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Conductor who revived Baroque and Classical music with period instruments and faster, more lively tempos.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (opening)
London Classical Players, conducted by Sir Roger Norrington
I think it would be wonderful to to have on my desert island uh Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the the opening, the famous opening.
a wonderful lute song, the sort of thing I used to sing when I was a young man, and the whole sort of world of singing and that world of Renaissance music which I was brought up with.
Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
Schütz Choir of London, conducted by Sir Roger Norrington
I would laugh to have my old Schutz choir singing some of this extraordinary music of Heinrich Schutz, who lived a hundred years before Bach wrote about four hundred pieces of church music.
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051 (third movement)Favourite
I can remember sitting in the drawing room in Oxford putting this record on and thinking, wow, so classical music can be fun as well as serious.
The Marriage of Figaro (Terzetto from Act I)
I've got to have some Mozart, I've got to have some Mozart opera, his greatest form perhaps. Therefore I've got to have the marriage of Figaro, because it's it's the best of all.
Symphonie fantastique (Marche au supplice)
London Classical Players, conducted by Sir Roger Norrington
when I came to doing balioz it was with the new coloured glasses of of early instruments and a kind of this this strange early music approach. So I was able to bring new things to it
Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55 (Adagio)
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Edward Elgar
I would really love to have some English music on my desert island. Um Elga. would would do that for me beautifully.
Peter Pears, Bach Choir, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Benjamin Britten
I knew Britton and and Piers indeed, and and it's it's marvellous to have music written by somebody you knew and I was involved in early performances, indeed I'm singing on the on the on the in the chorus of this this recording.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:00Who put the pomposity into [classical music] in the first place, that you're stripping out?
I think it really happened in this century, as a matter of fact. I don't think it happened in the nineteenth century. … I think what happened was in the early 20th century, music became rather took the place of religion for some people. … And then during the time of the totalitarian regimes, music became totalitarian as well. And a lot of conductors kind of took up the baton in every sense.
Presenter asks
5:55How do you know that that's how Beethoven would have wanted it [played so fast]?
Well it's very easy with Beethoven because he puts a metronome mark which tells you the number of notes per minute. at the front of every movement of every symphony. So we simply know how fast he had in mind.
Presenter asks
7:52How do you say to the Vienna Philharmonic, 'Cut the vibrato'?
Well, actually, I don't until it really crops up. I mean, the first time I was with them. Three years ago I didn't say a single word about vibrato. We just played our Haydn, our Mozart and our Beethoven, and and at the end the leader said Sorry about the vibrato, Maestro, it's the younger players.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Presenter asks
14:34Why did you choose Schütz [when you formed your choir]?
Two reasons, I suppose. One one conscious, which is I suddenly came across this amazing composer that I whose music I didn't know at all. … And that was very exciting. … But I think an unconscious reason is oh I'm always looking for bits of empty field. Pitch my tent. You know, I'm always looking for places where there aren't lots of people already doing things.
Presenter asks
21:47What do you mean by [music being] 'industrialized'?
orchestras in uh the in the time of Bach, that would that piece would have been played with one first viola … In Haydn's day, the orchestra was eight first violins … but from about 1880-90 onwards. until nineteen thirty the orchestra grew bigger every year, you know, like motor cars. And so now they're twice the size of strings. … It becomes a big business, whereas music in Pakistan is a Two or three people sitting around listening to it.
Presenter asks
30:37Has [having cancer] changed the way you approach your work? Is it in terms of time and balance in your life?
No, it hasn't really. I had already planned to to to control the the the the The reckless horse of career, you know, which is which is once you know how it is in this business, you spend 20 years trying to get a job and then you spend the next twenty trying not to be desperately overworked. There ain't no balance. So I just have to make a balance.
“You you you become historical to be new, and you go back in order to go forward.”
“If you want to become big and grand, you write your name on a balloon. And if you blow the balloon up big enough, your name becomes bigger too, bigger and bigger and bigger. And so if you make music huge and very slow, you will be grand too.”
“I want to try and. as it were, worship the the composer, not the performer. We are the servants of these incredibly great people.”
“the trick, the interesting thing about per performing is you've got to believe in yourself to do it. So you've got to be you've got to have a big ego, like an actor, you've just got to have that, but you haven't got to show it.”