Desert Island Discs

[vinteuil]

.

... if I were to do a 'biographical' Desert Island Discs it might include -

Dowland : Fine Knacks For Ladies - in my childhood, relentlessly played on the lute by my father
Monteverdi : il Combattimento... - concert at Bath Guildhall when I was abt 10. Fell in love with the harpsichord.
Brassens : les Amoureux des bancs publics - endlessly played by French colleagues in Africa with the Jesuits. 1970
Kinks : Waterloo Sunset - undergraduate life 1971-74
Bach : the 48. The works I played and fumbled and struggled with more than anything else
Couperin : the Ordres, in Algeria with a student of Kenneth Gilbert 1974/75
Kraftwerk : Showroom Dummies - mindless existence in Saudi Arabia 1982-84
Scarlatti : sonatas - joy and frustration 1984 onwards.

book : Proust (... in the words of John Lanchester in The Debt to Pleasure - "the boxed Pléiade set of À la recherche du temps perdu (the three-volume edition of 1954, with the silly foreword by André Maurois, rather than the portentous, over-annotated, and illogically divided four-volume edition of 1987)".)

luxury - a decent supply of nicely-cellared left-bank clarets.

If I were to draw up a 'nutritious' selection it wd have Haydn, Rameau, Wagner, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert ...




.

[french frank]

book : Proust (... in the words of John Lanchester in The Debt to Pleasure "the boxed Pleiade set of A la recherche du temps perdu (the three-volume edition of 1954, with the silly foreword by Andre Maurois, rather than the portentous, over-annotated, and illogically divided four-volume edition of 1987)."

I hesitated to ask for my own edition of that very thing, to join up all the bits of it that I've read with those I never have.

[HighlandDougie]

Indeed (in a general way). Nevertheless, I think the idea of DID is to tell a 'human interest' narrative about the guests, so what they say between the pieces of music are rather more important than the music itself. I don't really associate music with memories (or rather the ones I remember are less important to me now), but in the spirit of the game:

1. The intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana - an old recording I found in the lid of our wind-up gramophone when I was aged about 7 and which I took a particular fancy to (it had a damaged groove and always got stuck part way through).

2. Pierre Monteux, Boston Symphony,Tchaikovsky 6: one of the handful of classical records my brother owned and which he often played on a Sunday when his schoolfriend Clive came to tea; my interest in classical music began at that time.

3. Dalla sua pace from Don Giovanni, sung by Richard Tauber, from a 10" LP of Mozart arias which my mother gave me when I was about 12 or 13. That's when my love of Mozart and opera began.

4. Mon vieux Lucien, from Edith Piaf at the Paris Olympia (she forgets her words part way through) - reminds me of when I was a paying guest living well above my station with a posh family in a leafy square just off Brompton Road, Knightsbridge - another PG had the record and used to play it often and we smoked Gauloises.

5. Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli - it was performed by our university choir when I was there and is still quite a favourite. Choir West. Cath./David Hill

6. Orlando Gibbons, This Is The Record of John, which was the record du jour of a friend in hall in Aberdeen.

7. Mozart Piano sonata K 310, played by Peter Katin, to remind me of one of the most modest and generous men who has frequented these boards.

8. Bach Art of Fugue: just so that I can indulge in sadness when it peters out at the end.

Book: JL Borges Labyrinths

Luxury: Small blackboard (too small to be useful), supply of white chalk and duster.

I’m on a delayed plane waiting to take off from Hong Kong - so in need of some solace of a higher nature than BA’s cheap fizz. I cannot find the appropriate emoji but what a perfect choice of music et al. FF, you are an inspiration!

[gradus]

I hesitated to ask for my own edition of that very thing, to join up all the bits of it that I've read with those I never have.

Crikey!

[Zucchini]

Bach: Musical Offering (Il Gardellino)
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos (Carmignola/Orchestra Mozart/Abbado)
Bach: Well Tempered Klavier Book 1 (maybe Barenboim)

That will do. Maybe repeat same 3 works with different performers, making 6.

Book: Spinoza Ethics
Luxury: Fever-Tree Ginger Beer

[french frank]

Crikey!

??

I’m on a delayed plane waiting to take off from Hong Kong - so in need of some solace of a higher nature than BA’s cheap fizz. I cannot find the appropriate emoji but what a perfect choice of music et al. FF, you are an inspiration!

Too kind, HD. I felt I was being a little self-indulgent

[vinteuil]

I hesitated to ask for my own edition of that very thing, to join up all the bits of it that I've read with those I never have.

... by "my own edition" are we talking of a bespoke 'French Frank' edition (not currently available in bookshops), paying special attention to the Franco-French desiderata?


.

[french frank]

... by "my own edition" are we talking of a bespoke 'French Frank' edition (not currently available in bookshops), paying special attention to the Franco-French desiderata?


.

Ah! I comprehend. I meant my own copy of the edition to which the Hon Gent. alluded.

[gradus]

Ah! I comprehend. I meant my own copy of the edition to which the Hon Gent. alluded.

Such is my admiration ...

[french frank]

Such is my admiration ...

[antongould]

1) Holy Night - Perry Como ...... the magic of childhood Christmases
2) American Tune - Paul Simon the Master of my teens ......
3) Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould later version my entry to classical music
4) Beethoven String Quartet Op. 131- Quartetto Italiano - discovery of the sublime .....
5) Bruckner Symphony No.9 4 Movement - Rattle and Berliners - a constant source of wonder ....
6) Finzi In Terra Pax - Hickox City of London Sinfonia ..... Back to Christmas
7) Prokofiev VC2 - Jascha Heifetz
8) Chopin Nocturnes - Peter Katin .....

Book - same as vints but in a good English translation ...

Luxury - Wikipedia

[MrGongGong]

I defintely prefer the 'favourite records' approach. I wouldn't want to take things like Ob La Di Ob La Da (first record I can remember hearing) by the Marmalade to the island with me.

I think you will find that is by the "genius" that is St Paul

Is there any way I can un-know this ?

[kernelbogey]

Ah yes. The comlete Oxford English Dictionary and supplements. About 16 volumes I should think. Might as well take plenty of reading material.

Luxury: writing materials (idea pinched from Conchis )

Er... that's complete. (Just looked it up )

[kernelbogey]

But which people? You're supposed to be cast away alone on a desert island, for all that the sheer number of people that now inhabit it after 70 years of series suggests otherwise!....

Old Punch cartoon: two men (of course) sitting on a very small 'desert island'.

Says one to t'other: 'It's quite a short story, really, but I'll make it as long as I can'.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Er... that's complete. (Just looked it up )

(I hadn't noticed! )