The iconic BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs has been running since 1942, originally
compered by its creator Roy Plomley and now by Kirsty Young. A guest celebrity
is interviewed and invited to imagine he/she is a castaway on a desert island
and asked to select which 8 discs (“gramophone records” at one time) he/she
would wish to have there. The castaway is also allowed to choose one book (The
Bible and Shakespeare are already provided) and one luxury. I am an unknown person
of no interest to the world at large, but I wish to indulge my fantasies, first
with a Classical and later with a Popular music selection.
1.
Come Ye
Sons of Art By Henry Purcell.
Purcell wrote 24 Odes and Welcome Songs on royal occasions
spanning the reigns of Charles II, James II and William and Mary. This
particular one was written for Queen Mary’s birthday in 1694 and is typical of
Purcell’s lively English version of Baroque music. I gravitated towards
Purcell, partly patriotically, as his style is easily recognisable and there is
a rueful spirit in his music which I find attractive. He is arguably the
greatest of English composers.
2.
Te Deum
by Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Charpentier was one of the greatest Baroque composers and
flourished when France, Paris and Versailles were at their apogee. His Te Deum of about 1690 is famous for providing the stirring
signature tune for Eurovision but the piece is full of lovely phrases,
colliding themes and wild dissonances. It is here performed by Les Arts
Florissants, the wonderful Caen-based French ensemble whose playing and singing
of Baroque music made their London concerts an enormous joy for me in the
1990s, directed by the American-born William Christie.
3.
Brandenburg
Concerto No. 5 By Johann Sebastian
Bach
Bach’s immense range and intricate tunefulness makes him essential listening, ranging from cantatas to oratorios, from the most solemn of sacred music to the almost playful Brandenburg concertos of about 1721. Greatly undervalued by his contemporaries, Bach is a shining light for all lovers of music.
4.
Stabat
Mater by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Pergolesi surpassed himself with his moving Stabat Mater of 1736 and its most admired passage is the Sancta Mater, istud agas for soprano and alto (now normally a mezzo-soprano). Describing the Sorrow of Mary at the foot of the Cross, it moved the devout in early 18th century Europe and it can move us still in the unremittingly secular 21st century. Pergolesi died tragically early aged just 26.
5.
The
Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
I am far from being an opera buff – most are too long and too ludicrous - but Figaro is the exception. Some landmark birthday saw me once take a box at Covent Garden for the family and we surrendered to heavenly music for a night to remember. Of course Mozart’s genius embraced symphonies, concertos and almost every other musical genre but this 1786 opera exhibits his inventive and heart-stopping talents to the full, not least in the climactic reconciliation scene in Act IV, Contessa Perdona, the stuff of dreams.
6.
2nd Piano
Concerto by Johannes Brahms.
This lovely concerto dating from 1881 was first introduced to me by a music teacher, Donald Sprinck, at my Edinburgh school. Donald, had been a concert pianist and played beautifully but his wife was killed and house destroyed in the London Blitz. He had a breakdown and was a delicate soul thereafter but he worshipped Brahms and on the composer’s birthday he donned white tie and tails and would wish you a stuttered “Happy Brahms Day!” I came to love Brahms’ symphonies while his Requiem is wonderful too.
7. Cello Concerto by Sir Edward Elgar
If anything epitomises the spirit of England, it is the music of Elgar evoking his home city of Worcester with her cathedral overlooking the Severn and the county cricket ground. Elgar’s elegiac cello concerto from 1919 with its lovely opening theme would soften the hardship of any desert island.
8.
Worthy is
the Lamb and the Amen from Messiah by George Frideric Handel
Like most British schoolboys in the 1950s, I was brought up on Messiah, that most popular oratorio first performed in 1742. The work overflows with lovely solos and choruses, always in one’s head. I recall taking my Greek father-in-law to a performance one Easter at the Albert Hall and he pronounced “I have heard Paradise”. I can think of no better way to leave the stage than with this rousing chorus followed by the Amen replete with trumpets and kettle-drums!
I am conscious that my selection is rather pi, especially for a card-carrying
atheist, but religion has inspired great art. I am basically a frivolous fellow
and my selected book reflects this. There are not many laughs in either the
Bible or Shakespeare and I therefore choose a P G Wodehouse Jeeves Omnibus. Wodehouse still makes me laugh out loud, with his mad-cap
plots and unbeatable turns of phrase, and the palm trees will resound. I break
the rules with my luxury, a turbo-charged Laptop, so that I can keep in touch
sociably with my many friends.
Readers, do produce your own Desert Island Discs!
SMD
20.6.15
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2015
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