Desert Island Disks

Tagged by Lisa with this one: eight significant songs to take to my desert island and two days to come up with them.

Well, the time limit wasn't an issue. A few things made it onto the list and were squeezed off, and a couple of things I'd imagined would stay there were among them (Bach's "Goldberg Variations"; Pulp's "Common People"...)

OK. I've taken "songs " in the broadest sense and included classical pieces as well, in true "Desert Island Discs" manner. Also, while some of the tracks have significance for me in terms of recalling episodes from the past, in most cases the tracks are included because of what they do to me now in terms of evoking an emotional response. Here we go, then:

1) Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention: Camarillo Brillo (from "Over-Nite Sensation")

This reminds me of my student days in University College Durham, when I had a second-hand vinyl copy which I played incessantly. A lot of my friends liked it too. Still a terrific track, really tight and with lyrics that send up the whole New Age attitude. Zappa, the greatest guitarist of his age, a great composer and witty writer, and sadly missed.

2) Kevin Ayers: Take Me To Tahiti

Do I need to justify this? Again, I remember it from the vinyl compilation "Odd Ditties" which I had as a student. It just makes me happy every time I play it. Ayers at his best.

3) Nordman: Om Hon Vill Det Sjalv (from "Nordman")

This is going to sound posy, however I gloss it. I saw a documentary on Channel 4 about the nyckelharpa (Swedish keyed fiddle, like a kind of bowed hurdy-gurdy) which mentioned a band "Nordman", and played a brief extract. I bought their second album "Ingenmansland" on spec, and was pulled up short by the very first track "Det Sista Du Ser" with a "WTF?????" feeling. The rest of my family felt the same when they heard it. So then I bought their other albums, and this track from the first one had (and still has) a similar effect on me. Imagine Giles Farnaby's Dream Band with Rod Stewart on vocals (in Swedish) , and you've got it. Another track that infallibly cheers me up.

4) Abba: The Day Before You Came

Perhaps not so cheery, but one of my favourite Abba tracks (narrowly edging out "One Of Us"). I love the matter-of-fact unfolding of the lyrics. Also, not many pop songs actually modulate from one key to another, and this one goes from minor to relative major and back in each verse. I love hearing it do that. And of course I keep picturing the accompanying (and atmospheric) video of Agnetha on a Swedish commuter train.

5) Mozart: Symphony No 39 (Orchestra of the 18th Century/Bruggen)

First heard this when I first played it, in a scratch orchestra on a chamber music summer school when I was 15. Not too many "classical" pieces (especially not actual classical i.e late 18th century) pieces send shivers down the spine, but the first movement of this one does for me. The other movements are equally wonderful. If I take the Bruggen recording I get Beethoven 2 as a coupling; yay!

6) Wagner: Wotan's Farewell (George London/VPO/Knappertsbusch)

Wagner. Well, what can I say? I couldn't NOT take any Wagner, and assuming I'm not allowed the entire Ring I'll just take this extract from it. One of the few pieces of music that often makes me cry: it's Wotan saying goodbye to his favourite daughter Brunnhilde, whom he is about to lock up in suspended animation for some future hero (Siegfried, in fact) to claim as bride. When the BBC broadcast the Bayreuth Centenary Ring a few years ago, they had verious talks on Wagner to accompany it, and one was by Germaine Greer, all about the father-daughter theme in Die Walkure. If (like me) one has a daughter of one's own it's difficult not to bring one's own paternal feelings to bear on Wotan's wonderful song; not that one has to have a daughter to be knocked out by it. And George London's is one of those magical historical performances that happens occasionally.


7) Part: Fratres (The Cellos of the Berlin PO)

I can remember when and where I first heard this. I was staying in the Birmingham Holiday Inn on a training course, and was cleaning my teeth before turning in. I had Radio 3 on back in the bedroom, and heard the announcer introducng something. As I emerged from the bathroom this track hit me, and I just stopped dead, sat down on the bed, and marvelled. Arvo Part wrote several versions of "Fratres", all good, but this one for 12 cellos is still my favourite. It's almost like Tallis, though actually when you take it apart it could only be by Part. But why take it apart? Just sit there and marvel. A magical and unique sound.

8) Mahler: Symphony No 2 (LSO/Kaplan)

If I could only take one record, this would have to be it. It's a two-CD set: so sue me. I doubt whether any other music ever written has quite the emotional punch this has, and certainly I know of few others that evoke so much in me the sheer Joy of Sound. I turn the climaxes of this up loud and WALLOW. The last few minutes just make me want to lie spread-eagled on the floor, twitching gently. (And sometimes I do.) The Kaplan recording, as well as being one of the best there is, has a nice resonance. Gilbert Kaplan was the owner of the Wall Street Journal or some similar big American financial paper. A friend had a spare ticket so he ended up going to hear Mahler 2 pretty much by accident; and his life changed for ever. Not only did it reduce him to tears (it's one of the fewpieces that sometimes does that to me) but it inspired in him such a fierce love of the piece that he devoted his life to it. he learned to conduct so that he could conduct it, eventually (as this recording shows) becoming extremely good at it. He also bought the manuscript and all Mahler's related writings (it's fun being a millionaire!). And while he has occasionally diversified as far as other Mahler syphonies, basically it's this one alone that Gil Kaplan conducts. I played it myself, not that long after my father died, and it was a shattering experience for me: he'd just begun to take an interest in classical music, and I couldn't help thinking how much he would have liked it. Plus it has a representation of the Last Trump, and it really does sound as though it might raise the dead. Treat this music with caution, because it puts you through an emotional wringer.

There we are. I could live with just those eight records for the rest of my life.

I suppose I should tag someone else. I'll tag Zinnia and Gordon. Over to you, guys.


(Later: Zinnia has responded in the comments box under this post. Gordon's response is here. Thank you both.)