# Birthday 'Desert Island Discs'



## cjvinthechair (Aug 6, 2012)

Tomorrow is my birthday (yes, thank you, but I stopped celebrating & started counting backwards many years ago !).
Would like, at least, to treat myself to a 'special' concert, so rather like the radio programme once very popular in Britain, thought I'd try to choose 8 works, each of which has to be quite different in style, instrument/voice combination, and composer (they should, for this, all be classical - though that's not the case on the show).

Will put my selection up tomorrow night - wondered if anyone might fancy selecting and sharing their 8. Remember - no two the same in composer, style, instrumentation (yes of course more than one might have strings, or be from the same century, but as varied as you can make them).
Go on, treat yourselves !


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Berlioz - Les Troyens
Shostakovich - Songs from Jewish Folk Poetry
Sibelius - Violin Concerto
Beethoven - Symphony No 6
Schubert transcribed Liszt - song transcriptions (cos I already have a song cycle in the list)
Josquin - Missa l'homme armee
Bach - well tempered clavier
Haydn - String Quartets (complete - well, I will be on the island for a long time, possibly!)

sorry CJV - Happy Birthday

oh .... and my selection all have something in common - Mrs Hermit demands the headphones are plugged in if I wish to listen to them :lol:


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Interesting question. I'll try to choose eight different genres to keep it varied

Orchestral - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
Concertante - Mozart: Concerto for Flute & Harp
Solo Keyboard - Schumann: Fantasie Op. 17
Chamber - Brahms: Piano Quintet
Opera - Wagner: Die Meistersinger
Choral - Josquin: Missa Pange lingua
Songs - Schubert: Winterreise
Other - Bach: Clavier-Übung III

...all is likely to change of course! Happy birthday for tomorrow


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

In choosing the ones I did, I began first looking at my own personal "desert island" discs - which I choose on the basis of various criteria: a favorite work, a favorite performance of that work, and high quality recording (I'm pretty finicky about recording quality as a rule). Because of the latter criterion, most are fairly recent recordings. Hope this is varied enough:

(1) Manfred Cordes / Weser Renaissance Bremen, _Josquin Desprez: De Profundis - Motets_ (CPO, 2012). Distinguishing features: Vocals, polyphony; Renaissance (period); Flemish, but composed in Italy (location).

(2) Freiburger Barockorchester, _Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concertos BWV 1041-1043_ (Harmonia mundi, 2013). Distinguishing features: Concertos (genre); baroque (period); German; orchestral HIP with authentic instruments.

(3) Quatuor Mosaiques, _Haydn: String Quartets, op. 20_ (Naive, 1992; reissue as part of complete set, 2013). Distinguishing features: String quartet (genre); Classical (period); chamber with authentic instruments.

(4) Carlos Kleiber, _Brahms: Symphony #4_ (Deutsche Grammphon, 1981). Distinguishing features: Symphony (genre); Romantic (period); well-acclaimed as classic recording.

(5) Marc-André Hamelin, _Albeniz : Iberia_ (Hyperion, 2005). Distinguishing features: Solo piano (genre); Spanish. While many acclaim Alicia Delaroccha's classic performance, I find Hamelin's superior. And the quality of the recording is much superior.

(6) Montreal Chamber Players, _Autour de la harpe: Roussel, Ropartz, Debussy, Ravel, Koechlin_ (ATMA Classique, 2006). Distinguishing features: unusual mixture of chamber instruments (flute, viola, harp); French; little-known masterpieces by lesser known composers (e.g. Roussel, Ropartz, Koechlin). I should add that this includes the finest performances I've ever heard of Debussy's late _Sonata for flute, viola, and harp_, and the quality of this recording overall is unmatched by others that I have heard of these French chamber works.

(7) Valery Gergiev / Kirov Symphony, _Stravinsky: Rite of Spring_ (Philips, 2000). Distinguishing features: ballet (genre); Russian; modern (period); unusual interpretation.

(8) Michael Tilson Thomas / San Francisco Symphony, _John Adams : Harmonielehre_ (SFS, 2012). Distinguishing features: No distinct genre (symphony is closest); contemporary (period); American; post-minimalist (style); a live recording.


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## JCarmel (Feb 3, 2013)

This is dead difficult...but without too much preparation, t'would be something like this...

Choral...Mozart's C Minor Mass

Symphonic...Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony

Chamber ....Schumann Piano Quintet

Concerto...Brahms Violin

Recital ....'Two Loves'...Dowland Lute Pieces from Julian Bream, Shakespeare Sonnets read by Peggy Ashcroft

Opera... Verdi's Don Carlo

Sonata... Beethoven Piano, No 30

Song....Schubert's Schwanengesang


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Of the top of My head:

*Allan Pettersson* - Violin Concerto No 1 (f. Violin and String Quartet)

*Gustav Mahler* - Kinxdertotenlieder (Orchestral songs)

*Bela Bartok* - A Gyermekeknek Sz 42 (Solo piano)

*Helmut Lachenmann* - - Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern (Opera)

*Leoš Janáček* - Sinfonietta (Orchestral)

*Minoru Miki* - Marimba Spiritual (Percussion)

*Pierre Cochereau* - Suite de Danses Improvisees (Organ)

*Jim Parker* - A Londoner in New York (Brass Band)

Predictably conservative indeed! 

/ptr


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## cjvinthechair (Aug 6, 2012)

Thanks for replies - and wishes. Glad you enjoyed compiling your lists; harder than I/we thought !

Earlier times: Dowland - Lachrimae - 



18th Century: Brixi - Missa Pastoralis - 



19th Century: Boieldieu - Harp Concerto - 



Favourite stringed('bowed') instrument: Holmboe - Viola Concerto - 



 (Sorry - excerpt)
Favourite singer: Thomas Allen, in Vaughan Williams - 5 Mystical Songs - 



Favourite concerto instrument: Keuris - Organ Concerto - 



Favourite from afar: Fei - Erhu Concerto no. 4 - 



Favourite choral piece: Shchedrin - The Sealed Angel - 



 (Sorry - excerpts)


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Wow, I will try my best,

Symphony: Mahler 5
Concerto: Beethoven 5
Sonata: Liszt b minor
Chamber: Medtner Piano Quintet
Opera: Mozart the Magic Flute
Songs: Schubert Winterreise
Suite: Bach Orchestral Suite 1
Sacred: Poulenc Gloria


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Well, chaps, looks as if many of us could tolerate each other's desert island ..... so long as we listen without talking to each other, that is :lol:


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## cjvinthechair (Aug 6, 2012)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Well, chaps, looks as if many of us could tolerate each other's desert island ..... so long as we listen without talking to each other, that is :lol:


Gee - no gassing; headphones on at all times when not swimming ! 
Recommended for all castaways - Victoria Poleva 'No man Is An Island' Chamber Cantata


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Brahms - Piano Concerto 2 - Fleisher
Mozart - Requiem - Harnoncourt
Chopin - F Minor Fantasy - Zimerman
Liszt - Piano Sonata - Gilels
Beethoven - String Quartet 14 (Vegh Quartet)

 (Chilli con carne, chilli con carne, chilli con carne, chilli con carne, chilli con carne)


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## cjvinthechair (Aug 6, 2012)

Burroughs said:


> Brahms - Piano Concerto 2 - Fleisher
> Mozart - Requiem - Harnoncourt
> Chopin - F Minor Fantasy - Zimerman
> Liszt - Piano Sonata - Gilels
> ...


You're obviously expecting quicker rescue from the island than the rest of us, with only 4 choices...or maybe your piano will have worn out by then ?!
Thanks for taking part !


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

cjvinthechair said:


> You're obviously expecting quicker rescue from the island than the rest of us, with only 4 choices...or maybe your piano will have worn out by then ?!
> Thanks for taking part !


It was getting hard


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Britten - On this island
Handel - Water music
Barber - Hermit songs
Purcell - What a sad fate is mine
Glass - Einstein on the beach
Stanford - The monkey's carol
Rachmaninov - I am alone again
Elgar - Sea Pictures


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## cournot (Jan 19, 2014)

Nice game. Hmm, let's see, a desert island bday would require both high and low music.

So, going in order of the concert
Rossini Overtures
Bartok String Quartets
Sweeney Todd 
Howard Hanson performing his 3rd Symphony
Leroy Anderson selection (Frederick Fennell of course)
Gotterdamerung
Goldberg Variations (Gould 81)
Strauss Four Last Songs


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