Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A virtuoso of the harmonica, best known for popularising the mouth organ in concert halls.
On the island
Eight records
Italian Symphony, 1st movement
first movement of the Mendelssohn Italian Symphony. Mm-hmm. Why? Well, it's been a favourite of mine for quite some time. It's also a family favourite at home. We play it because it cheers us all up.
Well, I thought I would like to have something which uh reminded me of France, Paris in particular. So I've uh chosen a little accordion number which seems to me very typical of Paris.
This takes us in a way back to Canada. Fritz Chrysler playing the Sharon Rosemarine. Why I say that is because when I was playing violin, I entered for a music festival, you see, and in this particular piece of music, as you'll hear, there's a lot of bouncing bow. And I was never any good at this, but when I went on the stage, I was so terribly nervous that I did the most beautiful bouncing bow you've ever heard. I couldn't keep it still.
A Tree in the MeadowFavourite
Well, I choose this purely from sentimental reasons, I suppose. It's the tune that was very popular when I met my wife. Means quite a lot to me.
Well, I've chosen a Jewish wedding dance. Hm. Why have you chosen that? Well, I'm very fond of folk music. I like it very much because it's so very descriptive. It tells a story probably better than any other music I know.
Well, because Shirley Basie to me is uh such a vibrant character in the entertainment world. She's got the magic of the business and I don't know. Her voice just does something to me.
Because uh when I played violin as a boy in Canada, he was always my idol. I still think even today he's the greatest violinist in the world.
Closing duet from Der Rosenkavalier
Elisabeth Schumann and Maria Olszewska
Well, I'm very, very fond of this part of the opera. One of the fellows in the prison camp had a gramophone and he had this particular record. And I don't know, it's got a soothing quality about it. You sort of feel well. Let the rest of the world go by. It's a lovely thing.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:57Tommy, do you think you're temperamentally suited for a desert island existence?
I think so. I don't think I'd like it very much, but uh I've always been a bit of a lone wolf, you know. I think I'd get on all right.
Presenter asks
6:00Was it very bad, Tommy?
conditions weren't good at all. We only had one meal a day and sort of ate mental loaf of bread. It wasn't too good. But I must say that uh when people do say that's five years out of your life, I don't look on it as that. I think it's five years part of my life. I learnt an awful lot there about people. I learnt an awful lot about myself. And of course as far as my playing goes, it was a boon in some ways. I managed to do a little business with a German welfare officer and he got me harmonicas from the German harmonica factory. I was very lucky. I gave concerts and uh if they didn't have an instrument in the orchestra, like an oboe clarinet, I used to play the part on my harmonica, which was a very big help to me later on.
Presenter asks
8:55As well as the light music for which the harmonica is best known, you also play serious works which have been specially written for the instrument, don't you?
Yes, I play a lot of serious music on the harmonica. As a matter of fact, the first harmonica concerto that was uh written and performed in Europe was written for me by Michael Spivakovsky. It was commissioned by the BBC for the Festival of Britain… several uh continental composers. But the best harmonica music in the world, strangely enough, has been written uh by English composers.
The keepsakes
The book
a big picture book of the nice parts of England
because I'm very pro-English and very pro-England.
Presenter asks
9:51Which background jobs are you happiest about?
Well, the most interesting to me was last year when Dmitri Tyomkin heard some of my recordings at a friend's house in California, and he came especially to England to record the soundtrack to the Warner Brother Pictures, the Sundowners.
Presenter asks
16:49You said that temperamentally you think you'd be able to cope with being a castaway. How good would you be practically looking after yourself?
Well, I don't suppose I'm much of a handyman, but uh I think with the uh years I spent in a prison camp in Germany would stand me in good stead on an island. I'm sure they would… I used to fish as a boy in Canada, so I dare say I might catch one or two… I wouldn't even try [to build a boat or raft]. I'd be terrified to take it out to sea.
Presenter asks
20:35Out of these records you've chosen, if you could only have one, which would it be?
I really think I'd choose a tree in the meadow.
Presenter asks
21:07When you got here, it was up to your expectations?
I can't explain it. I don't know why, but I just knew that I wanted to live in England. The countryside is still up to my expectations.
“I picked the records that uh reminded me of good things in my life. I didn't want to pick the ones that reminded me of not such good things.”
“I was playing in uh Leipzig and uh just before the war broke out I was arrested by the Gestapo there… put in a Gestapo prison for a while. That wasn't very nice. However, I uh was taken from there to uh a prison camp and I was in five different camps during the war for five years, eight months.”
“when people do say that's five years out of your life, I don't look on it as that. I think it's five years part of my life. I learnt an awful lot there about people. I learnt an awful lot about myself.”
“the greatest thing happened to me, I met my wife and we were married. And that was the turning point as far as my life went… I don't mind telling you that she kept me for the next three years.”
“I think I can honestly say I'm the only harmonica player who ever played with [Beniamino] Gigli. Really? Yes. I had a telephone call from the manager of the London Symphony Orchestra… it was an Italian folk waltz. And it was terribly difficult… anyway, Gigli said, 'We'll hear it on your harmonica.' So I played it… he said, 'All right, we'll use your harmonica.' So I'm on his record.”
“I can't explain it. I don't know why, but I just knew that I wanted to live in England.”