Simply..desert island choices....

2/7/2020

I mentioned recently that friends and I are sharing our choice of music we would take to a desert island.

As in the long-running poplular radio show we are allowed 8 discs, one book and one luxury.

Here is my first one. When this started to play on the car radio, Barry and I pulled over to listen properly. It is one of the most profoundly moving and beautiful pieces I have ever heard.

This is a lovely (7 min) video, but my favourite recording is by The Vanburgh Quartet.

I'd love to know what your first choice would be!

23 Comments

PennyL

2/7/2020 02:21:22 pm

Gosh, that Beethoven is sublime.
My first choice would be ‘Spiegel im spiegel ‘ by Arvo Pärt. It’s another beautiful piece of music. I first heard it at my children’s school concert when a very talented sixth former played his violin with his equally talented music teacher. I can still remember the goosebumps and the silence in the hall afterwards, before everyone started clapping.

Freda

2/7/2020 02:55:48 pm

Oh yes! And that silence. It's so moving when that happens.

Rosemary

2/7/2020 02:54:39 pm

I'd have to choose Edwin Fischer playing one of Schubert's 'Moments Musicaux', No.2 in A flat Major. Mu husband and I listened to that so many times together and now it expresses to me everything that was lovely about him.

Freda

3/7/2020 01:59:19 pm

Barry and I once heard Daniel Barenboim play this in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh - the first concert we went to together, so it is very special to me too Rosemary., and in a similar way. Thanks for sharing that.

Madeleine

2/7/2020 05:16:32 pm

What an impossible choice, I'm going to have to get back to you.

One book - only one? Are we stuck on the island forever? My choice would be different if I was there for a lifetime as opposed to a month!

Does a fabulous moisturiser count as a 'luxury'? If yes, it would be Dr Hauschka Rose cream. If not it would be dark, organic chocolate. I think...

Lucille

3/7/2020 02:24:44 am

You are given the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare on the programme.

Lucille

3/7/2020 04:14:51 am

And my book choice today would be Mrs Miniver Jan Struther. Chiefly because I doubt if I would settle to anything weightier judging by my lockdown reading, and this would give me easily digested nuggets of nostalgia.

Freda

3/7/2020 02:03:30 pm

Oh yes! I'd forgotten.

Freda

3/7/2020 02:02:23 pm

This fun little game has kept us going for weeks and I have only decided on four so far. Haven't even thought about the book and the luxury yet...but I like the sound of that moisturiser..

Gwendoline

3/7/2020 01:10:36 am

What a ghastly question! ;-)

Marais: Sonnerie de Sainte-Geneviève du Mont, Suites pour violes 1, 4

Freda

3/7/2020 02:09:37 pm

Do you love the film Tous Les Matins du Monde too? Wonderful. Music by sainte-Colombe as well as Marais. We heard Jordi Savall play some of it at the Edinburgh Festival a few years ago.

Gwendoline

4/7/2020 06:55:45 am

Not seen the film but will check it out!Along with everything else on this thread that looks so fascinating. Jordan Savall is a wonder and cant de Sybilla is way up on my list of marvellous music too.

Lucille

4/7/2020 09:41:04 am

I’d never heard of this film but an excerpt reminded me of Michael Nyman’s Draughtsman’s Contract.

Lucille link

3/7/2020 02:23:58 am

I’ll take the Schubert Impromptu No 2 E flat Maj.
I first heard this trickling through my bedroom wall in the middle of the night. I was staying in a house on a lough in Ireland with a fellow student and her family. Her mother was insomniac and played this on a tiny cassette player.

Freda

3/7/2020 02:12:11 pm

Astonishingly virtuosic! What a nice memory. I like the way you say 'today' about your book choice. It's really quite hard isn't it..

Sheena

3/7/2020 05:19:32 am

There are many pieces of Beethoven it could be , also Schubert and Sibelius but if absolutely pushed think it would Mozart's Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments. Though ask me tomorrow and you might get a different answer. Favourites are really hard.

Freda

3/7/2020 02:19:29 pm

f,I agree avourites are almost impossible - but fun and Mozart just has to be up there. Lovely memories of Sibelius under Sir Alexander Givson and the SNO (we were related - an aunt in common - and I knew him a little - my claim to fame!)

Judi

3/7/2020 06:05:00 am

Thank you Freda - the Beethoven piece is so beautiful! My choice would be Chopin’s Étude in E major (Op 10 No3) - I’ve always loved it. I’m still thinking about my book choice - I keep changing my mind, so many books to choose from!

Freda

3/7/2020 02:21:08 pm

I am having such a lovely nostalgia trip with all your choices! Valldemossa this time,,,glorious

Grace

3/7/2020 10:13:47 am

John Butler's Ocean seems like an apt first track for me. I would be surrounded by the ocean, I really love this piece of music and it has the advantage of lasting about 12 minutes. I will need to give some thought to the choice of a book and a luxury item.

Freda

3/7/2020 02:23:10 pm

New to me Grace - I shall love exploring it. Thank you.

I am so glad I asked this question

Mary

4/7/2020 06:22:12 am

After seeing your question, I spent yesterday listening to different pieces. Alas, no farther along in choosing a favourite. Always seems to be the last one I listened to. Did love Beethoven's 5th in that 60th anniversary gala concert from last November that Joshua Bell and Academy of St Martins just put up on youtube. Or the Mendelssohn's violin concerto in the same concert, or the Piazzolla Four Seasons of Buenos Aires we heard in January....arrrghh. Too many!

Freda

5/7/2020 11:57:15 pm

That was one wonderful concert! And the Piazolla! Of course choosing a favourite isn't really important but it made me listen for an evening too which was lovely!

Simply..desert island choices....

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