Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Opera singer most associated with the role of Mozart's Don Giovanni, having performed in all the great opera houses worldwide.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 ('Scottish')
London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink
Well, I suppose it's opening the nostrils and trying to get rid of the pit. This is um Mendelssohn. I love Mendelssohn. He was a man of many parts, a g a a brilliant composer from an early age. And this is actually the Scottish Symphony because it's full of fresh air.
Symphony No. 2 in C minor ('Resurrection')
London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Klaus Tennstedt
I suppose trying to purge ourselves of the sins of Don Giovanni. This is the Resurrection Symphony of Mahler. Mahler has been a quite an important figure in my life. I've sung a lot of Mahler over the years, and this particular symphony I si think says so much spiritually as much as physically and mentally as well.
The Seasons, Op. 67: Autumn (Bacchanale)
Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Neeme Järvi
I think on a desert island there'll be lows and there'll be highs and one thing or another, and I think perhaps first thing of a morning perhaps it might be possible to wind up the gramophone and stick this on. This is Glazinoff's The Seasons. There may not be seasons on the Desert Island, so providing one's own might be quite useful.
This is going to come as a complete surprise to anybody that knows me, because my ignorance of pop music is um legendary. But there are certain things that that that resonate. When I hear them I realize that they strike a chord in just the same way that hearing Don Giovanni struck a chord with me many years ago. And this particular song, when I hear it, there's something very basic and animal about it, and I think it will restore the spirits to a very great degree and and get the blood flowing more than anything else on a desert island.
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 ('Death and the Maiden')
Schubert is very important, obviously, in my life. He was the ultimate song and melody writer. I don't need reminding of the songs. The songs are all in my not all of them, but a lot of them are in my head, buzzing around all the time. So Death and the Maiden, I think, has another lyrical quality that that I would need on the island.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act IIIFavourite
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rafael Kubelík
A few years ago I. It was fortunate enough to have two people say to me, You should learn the role of Bechmesse in Meistersinger. So I looked at Bechmesse. And sometime afterwards, having looked and looked and looked and looked and studied, I started to rehearse this piece, and thank God I did. This is Maistersinger, and uh it gives me goose pimples every time I hear the overture to Meistersinger, but I want to hear the more meditative prelude to the third act.
Shakespeare's Sonnet No. 73 ('That time of year thou mayst in me behold')
It leads naturally into the spoken word. Some years ago, I remember it was a memorial service to Dame Peggy Ashcroft. The great and good of the acting profession were there in Westminster Abbey, giving their all, and it was extraordinary. But they saved the best to last, and the best seemed to me, head and shoulders above anything else that had gone before, and that was John Gilgood.
Peter Pears, Gwynne Howell, English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Britten
I'll be on my own on the desert island, so for two reasons I've chosen this last record. One of them is that it's Bach and the St. John Passion. How strong my faith, or whatever faith I might have, is, I'm I'm not sure every day, but there is, I think, perhaps something there that gets tested every now and then. And I think Bach's St. John Passion might be a a reminder of that. And it it also means that there'll be several voices on it that I can tolerate listening to. They're all friends of mine, or have been at one time or another. Some of them are gone now. But I think it'll be rather special to to have them there with me on the island.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:45Is it that you just don't think that singing is a proper job?
No, it's true. Uh that's why as uh you use the phrase, what have I done to deserve it? I suppose it starts with the number of people during one's life of uh of being an artist who say regularly to you, Yes, but what do you do during the day uh for a proper job? And it's very difficult still. I I can understand why they say that, because there was a long period in my life when I didn't realize that uh a job such as mine existed.
Presenter asks
2:01Did you think you were the only guy around who could sing when you set off for London?
Oh no, I didn't. And uh if I did so I I would quickly have had that idea dispelled, because I walked into the Royal College and felt very humbled by it, in fact intimidated by it. There were people there who were already somehow channelled into that way of thinking, knowing where they were going. I didn't and I was I had everything to discover.
Presenter asks
5:15Why is there something special about this [role of Don Giovanni]?
It's a fascinating study. I mean, he's a legendary figure. He's a byword for so many excuses and reasons for ways of living or whatever it might be. As a baritone, one was always aware that this music was there, this role was there, this figure was there. And would he ever come your way? And he did. And the first offer I resisted, knowing that it was quite a mountain to climb. And then the second time it came around, which was at Gleinbourne, I accepted. And it's been an experience rather unlike any other, because I think it really allowed, if there is an actor in me, it allowed me to delve much more deeply inside myself.
The keepsakes
The book
Thomas Hardy
I'm going to take Thomas Hardy. Under the greenwood tree And maybe could you add some of the short stories, particularly A Pair of Blue Eyes, just at the end?
The luxury
paper, canvas, paints, brushes, and pencils
some paper, canvas and some paints and brushes and pencils, if that's not too much
Presenter asks
13:32When did you discover opera?
I started to get interested in singing after having sung this Simon the Cellar owner school concert. And then Dennis Wetherly offered me um my physics master, come a singing teacher, suggested I might like to learn something about singing with him, and I accepted. So when everybody else was kicking a football around or hitting a cricket ball, I would be having a half an hour singing lesson. And so the interest grew, and whenever anything musical came into town, I would try to see it then.
Presenter asks
19:57Have you ever gone on stage and not met before your opposite number?
The worst one, I suppose, was was at Covent Garden a few years ago. I'd flown overnight from Los Angeles, just about to watch the six o'clock news with a cup of tea, and then I was going to have a sleep, and that was it for the day. And about ten past six the telephone rang, and it was a lady called Terry Jane Griffin, who was company manager at Covent Garden, and she said, Hello, Tom and I said, Hello hello, how are you, Terry? I'm fine. Tom, would you like to sing Figaro? and I said, Yeah, sure, when. And she said in about uh forty five minutes' time. And I thought, Oh, my God Jet lagged, you know, to the tune of eight hours.
Presenter asks
22:42Have you ever been booed?
Famously, on one occasion in Munich a few years ago, I was involved in a production of Fledemaus, which I was quite looking forward to. And the first day of the scheduled productions when I was there, I realized that the young man who was to direct this thing had no idea what he was doing. He was presenting us with a set that was extremely ugly. And each day was a labour of great, great drudgery. And I used to trail myself to rehearsals very reluctantly. And sure enough, five or six weeks later, whenever it was we opened, the audience booed at the end of the first act, the audience booed in the middle and then started shouting in the middle of the second act. And by the time we got to the third act, there was almost a riot, and you know, we couldn't care less by now. We knew that we were on a disaster.
“Finding Don Giovanni for me was like finding a role that was always there inside me, that just needed to be revealed. I had to learn the music, obviously. And I just found that this thing was in me, and it was rather like Michael Angel discovering prisoners inside blocks of marble, and he would carve and carve away at these things, and they would emerge, rather than him imposing a figure on the marble, they were already in there, and that's how Giovanni's always felt to me”
“I think a North East boy dragged away from his roots finds it hard to um to adjust to a a town like this.”
“It it it feeds the soul rather like a good beer and reaches parts that other arts can't reach. That's what I feel about it.”
“I've spent a lot of time on my own over the years. There's an awful lot of time that you are alone as a singer. It's not all first night parties and big hotels and restaurants and what have you. It's not at all like that. Yes, that I I'm quite happy with my own company.”