Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Celebrated English composer.
On the island
Eight records
Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, directed by George Guest
I thought of things from my childhood, you know, I thought, what have I sung that day? So I chose this one by SS West then.
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488
Daniel Barenboim and the English Chamber Orchestra
It's just a piece I happen to like very much.
It's one of three poems that I turned into songs. They weren't very successful because everybody found very difficult. The only person who could sing her name is Kirite Kanawa.
Violin ConcertoFavourite
I think the violin concerto I'd miss most myself on my desert island.
Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
It's one of my favorite symphonies. Even more than Beethoven five. And uh it's very accessible and it had a great influence on me really.
Tosca (Act III: E lucevan le stelle)
I should like to have a girl at Puccine, who's really almost my favorite. Jim and Verney are my two operatic favourites.
Five Neapolitan Songs: No. 2, A l'acque de l'fontanelle
He is also a great opera composer. This isn't actually from uh any of his operas, but there's five Neapolitan songs and they're wonderful songs.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:36How good would you be at enduring loneliness?
I think I wouldn't be too bad, actually, once I got used to having no Robinson Crusoe.
Presenter asks
0:53Did you find [your eight records] very difficult to choose?
Not really, no. I mean, I thought of things from my childhood, you know, I thought, what have I sung that day?
Presenter asks
2:42Were you teased for [your Lancashire accent]?
Oh, yes. My first term was absolute hell from that reason.
Presenter asks
9:10Is it true that some of the choristers threatened to quit [Belshazzar's Feast] because they found the music too difficult?
Well, I was told at the time, so then I had been told lately that it was quite untrue. They all sang it sight.
The keepsakes
The book
Russell Page
I have taken this interest rather late in life, I have taken this interest in gardening, I shall take The Education of a Gardener by Russell Page.
The luxury
A funicular, a railway. ... because you see our gardens on the side of a hill. ... It's a great, great walk. ... So you've got this little [funicular]. Just for two people.
Presenter asks
10:51Which English musician influenced you most, do you think?
I was great friends with Constance Lambert. I I think in a way he did influence me, though not his music ... I can't say it influenced me, but uh I got a lot of ideas from him, you know.
Presenter asks
11:21Are you one of those people who have to have a deadline before you can deliver a new work?
Well, no, I'm not. I'm no good at that. I became good at it later on when I took to film writing. Yes. But till then I had was very very ... Slack about when I finished the picture.
“My first term was absolute hell from that reason.”
“I had no uh intermediates, a sort of public school business. Mhm. Thank God, I think, probably.”
“I had no idea what the hell I was up to at all. I had never thought of writing film music, and I didn't know how to, you know.”