Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Teacher and musician who served as organist at Christ Church College, Oxford, and Principal of the Royal Academy of Music.
On the island
Eight records
Richard Lewis, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent
It's associated with my childhood. My father was a professional musician...
I think of many moments of great joy... the feeling of joy and vitality.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore
It stands for all the finest aspirations that any young artist can have.
Brigg FairFavourite
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham
We studied it very thoroughly, and it has always been a piece of music that meant a great deal to me.
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Andre Previn
Vaughan Williams had the greatest influence of anybody upon my life. He was a truly great man.
St. Michael Singers, Halle Orchestra, Constant Lambert
My friendship with Constant Lambert was a very great part of my life... it's a real moment of romantic vision.
Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge, George Guest
It speaks of the desert rejoicing and being glad... I want that joy to be in the island itself.
BBC Chorus, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer
When one is taking part in the B minor Mass, the Sanctus, one can feel that one is taking a small part in the greater act of worship that all mankind offers to the Supreme Being.
In conversation
Presenter asks
6:05What did your father do apart from running the local orchestra?
Well, he taught. He was organist of a church with a fine choir for more than fifty years. He conducted the local orchestra, the local choral society. and the local operatic society, he gave wonderful performances of The Dream of Garantius with Jervis Elwes. And those were great experiences for everybody that took part in them.
Presenter asks
8:48As a young boy of nine or ten, you sang in front of Her Majesty Queen Alexandra. How did that come about?
Well, when I was about nine and a half, I went to be a Chapel Royal Colister. At St. James's Palace and we had many royal occasions. and many great musical occasions it was a hard life. because on some Sunday mornings we had three services, one at Buckingham Palace, one at Marlborough House for Queen Alexandra, and one at the Chapel Royal Saint James's, and there were many rehearsals and many great musical occasions like the coronation of nineteen hundred and eleven. And after the king died, The boys sang in the throne room of Buckingham Palace. where the king's body was lying in state. And it was after that that I was given a watch. by Queen Alexandra, which my son Robert now has.
Presenter asks
13:20After winning an organ scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, you were called up for the war. How did that change your life?
The keepsakes
The book
Francois Couperin
Because I'm going to ask you to let me have a luxury which would be my clavichord. and I should play them on the clavichord.
I was in the OTC for those few months at Oxford, which was memorable for me because we paraded each morning outside Keble College, and as my name was A, I stood next to B, who was Maurice Barra, and near to him stood D, who was Lord Denning. We still remember those parades. And then of course I went off to the two years of war. and music was put aside. I wasn't in the trenches, I was an artillery officer. and I was attached for some time to the eighth squadron of the Royal Air Force. and I knew many of those brave and gallant young men. and I think of them very often still.
Presenter asks
17:49In the 1920s, how did you intend to make your living?
Well, I had various thoughts. Sometimes I thought I would like to be a conductor? But I came to the conclusion that I hadn't got the qualities that are required for that career. And I did find that I was able to speak and to teach. and to conduct choral works. And to help students, and I had many wonderful students and young colleagues. My work just developed in that way. I think there are few careers which are directed entirely by the person concerned. Other fixes take a hand. And I think my career developed by itself in a way. I never expected to become principal of the Royal Academy of Music. But it happened, and it was a wonderful part of my life.
Presenter asks
20:53Would you say Vaughan Williams had the greatest influence on your professional life?
Hugh Allen and Vaughan Williamson, the two of them did, I think.
Presenter asks
29:20You once wrote that music was necessary for a good life. What did you mean by that?
I still stand by that. I think it is. Music gives you the most marvellous experiences. The poets have been quite unanimous about it. I mean, you have Addison speaking about music as the greatest good that mortals know. And all of heaven we have below. You have Aldous Huxley saying that for many people music has taken the place of organized religion. But there's another side to all that, and you've got to remember Bernard Shaw saying that hell is full of musical amateurs, and music is the brandy of the damned. Well, certainly was sometimes when I turn on the radio. The music that I hear doesn't make me think of heaven, and if I'm taken to hear Strauss's Salome, the only thought I have about heaven is a place where I shan't be required to sit through the dance of the seven vales. But music does offer one all that is best in life.
“and I remember him not only with love, but also with intense gratitude.”
“He once said if you write a little bit of music to the best of your ability on every day of your life, you will write one good piece before you die.”
“and I thought of his setting these words, and I had the awful feeling of a man really destroying himself.”
“But there's another side to all that, and you've got to remember Bernard Shaw saying that hell is full of musical amateurs, and music is the brandy of the damned.”
“I am determined to enjoy myself.”