Desert Island Discs

I’ve had my list of 8 records for Desert Island Discs ready for thirty years or more waiting for the opportunity to share them to the world. The usual format for DID is the guest to choose discs relevant to their life story but for heaven’s sake I’ll be marooned on a desert island and don’t want to be stuck with something from my primary school but to give some structure to the programme I’ll take the pieces in chronological order of composition.

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George

1. Joseph Bologne’s Quartet no. 4 in C minor was composed in about 1771. Bologne was a virtuoso violinist, conductor and composer. He was a champion fencer, a Parisian socialite, excelled in swimming and riding and fought in the French Revolution. This is the music I would have as the sun sets on my island and peace reigns (with a Guinness). Here is the piece being played by the Belinfanti Quartet: Quartet no.4 in C minor

2. Beethoven 7th Symphony 2nd movement. At its premiere at the University in Vienna on 8th December 1813, Beethoven remarked that it was one of his best works. The second movement was so popular that audiences demanded an encore. Here is a link to the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in a performance at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Spain in March 2017: 7th Symphony 2nd movement

3. Duet from Georges Bizet's 1863 opera Les pêcheurs de perles. Generally known as ‘The Pearl Fishers' Duet’. Best if you don’t know the words, I did look them up once. It’s the same for all of the operas I’m mentioning. It’s the voices that count.

I do remember hearing this for the first time. It was in Abu Dhabi and my friend asked if I’d heard this piece. I hadn’t and thought it was just ok. She said take the cassette home and try again. I did and was moved to tears on second hearing. How many times has a piece of music hit home on a second or third hearing. Here’s a link to Dimash Qudaibergen and Placido Domingo au fond du Temple Saint (2023): The Pearl Fishers' Duet

4. Léo Delibes. The ‘Flower Duet’ is a duet in the first act of the opera Lakmé, premiered in Paris in 1883. You may recognize the work from an advert. And damn them for using such beauty for commercial gains. Here is a link to Sabine Devieilhe and Marianne Crebassa performing: The Flower Duet

5. Sibelius 2nd Symphony, 3rd movement and Finale. The revised version was given its first performance by Armas Järnefelt on 10th November 1903 in Stockholm to immediate acclaim.

I remember being electrified by this music on the first time of hearing at the Guild Hall (RIP) in Preston back in about 1996. At the end I didn’t want to move. This is the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra performing at Joran Hall in 2017: 2nd Symphony 3rd and 4th movements

6. In Paradisum from the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré. The piece premiered in its first version in 1888 at La Madeleine, the church in Paris where the composer served as organist. In 1899–1900, the score was reworked for full orchestra. This final version was premiered at the Trocadéro in Paris on 12 July 1900. The composer said of the work, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest."

I first heard this in Dorset in about 1993. I’d been to Christchurch Priory and picked up a cd at random from their shop. I played it on a balcony overlooking the sea late in the evening and it hit me on the second hearing. I was overwhelmed. John Rutter, Cambridge Singers, City of London Sinfonia: In Paradisum

7. America, from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein AND STEPHEN SONDHEIM. The original from the 1961 film is still sharp and thrilling and much better than any attempts (yes, I am looking at you Mr Spielberg) afterwards. It still bugs me that it is called Bernstein’s West Side Story: America

8. ‘Baker Street’ by Gerry Rafferty was released in February 1978. It won the 1979 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. The song is known for its saxophone riff, written by Rafferty and performed by Raphael Ravenscroft. I seem to remember hearing this by a swimming pool somewhere and asking a stranger who it was by: Baker Street

This blog has taken about five times longer to write than anything before. Listening to music that means such a lot and then choosing the version I like best. Actually make that ten times longer.

And I’d have Outdoor Survival by Ray Mears as my book and cans of Guinness as my luxury item. The disc I’d save from the waves would be America.

As for the poem:

l'eglise de la Madeleine

Faure’s Requiem

I’d turned on the radio
ready for the game
but instead of a whistle
came familiar sounds
easing into Requiem Aeternaum

I’d be ready for this usually
getting the timing right
in some hotel
a cassette or cd
filling me with pleasure
before an evening stroll

but tonight’s a surprise
so all I can do
is slowly stand quite still
way ahead of mindfulness
until the baritone
brings Hostias
into a spell where
knowing the meaning of words
spoils the meaning

everything he imagined
by way of religious faith
was put into this Requiem
and everything I take
can be understood
after the four minutes
of Pie Jesus
wishing I could press pause
and watch notes drift down
from the domes
of L'église de la Madeleine
instead of my kitchen ceiling.

First published in French Literary Review Jan 2021

Thanks for reading and listening, Terry Q.