MUSIC FOR CASTAWAYS:

New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 229, 12 November 1943, Page 6

MUSIC FOR CASTAWAYS:

Six Lists of Favourite Compositions

FEW weeks ago "The Listener" invited a group of literary people to name lists of twenty books suitable — for a hypothetical military unit, likely to be isolated on an island for six months. The idea developed into what one of the contributors called "that desert island library game," and when we had published the lists submitted by our chosen contributors, letters came to "The Listener’ making further suggestions. Then a correspondent suggested that we should start all over again with gramophone records, and by the time lists had reached us from some musical people to whom we put the suggestion, the game that had started with books for an isolated military unit had really got round to the desert-island stage-see, for instance, how this aspect of it appealed fo our artist. So now, ignoring the fact that good records are even harder to get these days than g00d books, and ignoring all the other improbabilities, we print the answers we have received.

DR. VERNON GRIFFITHS (Chair of Music, Canterbury University College) : HE list submitted by your correspondent, D. Scott (Dunedin), has some excellent suggestions. .I think, however, that if the inclusion of entire symphonies is permissible-each symphony being contained in one album of records-we would be justified in including also (a) other albums each containing various works by one composer, and (b) single records with several works by one composer or by different composers. 1. Bach: B minor Mass. Vol. 1. 2. Bach: B minor Mass. Vol. 2. 3. Beethoven: Mass in D. 4. Brahms: Academic Festival Overture. §. Bloch: Concerto grosso for Piano ‘and Strings. 6. Byrd: "Have mercy upon me, O God." 7. Delius: Brigg Fair. 8. Delius: Delius Society Vol. 1 containing (a) Closing Scene from "‘Koanga."’ (b) "‘Paris." (c) "Eventyr." (d) Serenade from "Hassan." (e) Songs: "To the Queen of My Heart" and ‘‘Love’s Philosophy.’ 9. Dvorak: Symphony in E minor, No. 5 (‘New World’’). 10. Gibbons: 1 record: containing (a) "God is gone up." (b) "O Lord, increase my faith." (c) "O Clap your hands," 11. Elgar: Symphony No. 2 in E flat, Op. 63. 12. Elgar: Violin Concerto in B Minor,-Op. 61. 13. Haydn: Haydn Quartet Society, Vol. 5, containing i (a) Quartet in D major, Op. 20, No. 4. (b) Quartet in F major, Op. 74, No. 2. (c) Quartet in" F major, Op. 77, No. 2. 14. Mozart: Symphony in G Minor, K550. 15. Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli. 16. Schumann: Symphony WNo. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38. 17. Sibelius: Sibelius Society Vol. 1 containing (a) "Pohjoya’s Daughter." (b) Sf wings No. 5, in E flat major, Op. (c)"‘T apiola."’ 18. Sibelius: Sibelius Society Vol. 2, containing (a) Symphony No. 3, in C major, Op. 52. (b) Symphony No. 7, in C major, Op. 105. 19. One Record containing "Round-about" (Bennett). "Fair Phyllis’ (Farmer). "Welcome, Sweet Pleasure’ (Weelkes). "Flora Gave Me Fairest Flowers" (Wilbye). 20. Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony. H. C. LUSCOMBE (Lecturer in Music, Teachers’ Training College, Auckland) : HAVE tried to make a selection which will represent, not exclusively, what I consider to be the finest works I know -a task which in any case would be impossible, but which I think would be

likely to maintain, as normally as possible, in my new surroundings, the ebb and flow of my ordinary emotional life. This range would be represented by as widely diverse music as that of the Bach double concerto for violins, second movement, and the "Festival in Bagdad’’ from "Scheherazade." The chosen works would need to be typical of many others of the same genre. They would need to represent as fully as possible a cross-section of musical expression in all ages and in as many forms as possible.

The omission of art songs would be made up for by my being able to sing many of them myself. The omission of contemporary works is balanced, if not justified, by the enforced omission of those written before 1600. But the Songs of the Auvergne would suggest folk songs and my eyes would go back to "Sumer is i-Cumen-in" and hence the madrigals, and forward to _ national music, Holst, Vaughan Williams and associated ideas, The works would be so well known to me as to be as close as family or intimate friends. They would stir my imaginaticn, exercise my mind and afford, by their superlative beauty, a world where loneliness would be impossible. So you will find in my list all human emotions portrayed in the most eloquent form. Mozart is there for his beauty of line and form; Tchaikovski’s "Romeo and Juliet" is there because I am a creature of flesh and blood; Beethoven’s seventh symphony ‘is there for its own sake and to remind me of the other eight; and Bach is there because, at a pinch, he would have been all-sufficing. } VOCAL, 1. Bach: Certain arias and choruses from B Minor Mass. "a 2. Mozart: Certain arias and choruses from "Don Giovanni." 3. Wagner: Act III. of. "Die Meistersinger." 4. Canteloube: Songs of the Auvergne. INSTRUMENTAL. we eet . Bach: For two violins. 6. Brahms: For violin. 7. Elgar: For violin. 8. Beethoven: No. 4 in G for piano. 9. Schumann: In A minor for piano. Orchestral- : 10. Elgar: ‘Enigma’ variations. 11. Tchaikovski: "Romeo and Juliet.,’"’ 12. Glazounov: "‘Seasons’’ Ballet. 13. Rimsky-Korsakov: ‘‘Scheherazade." Symphonies14. Beethoven: No. 7. 15. Mozart: G Minor. 16, César Franck: D Minor, 17. Tchaikovski: No. 4. Chamber Music18. Franck: Violin Sonata in A Minor. 19. Brahms: Piano Quartet in G Minor. 20. Schubert: Octet. T. J. YOUNG (Lecturer in Music, Teachers’ Training College, Wellington) : UT for the condition "not more than two works by one composer" I would include an album of later Beethoven sonatas, and an album of selected Preludes and Fugues by Bach, but my Bach (continued on next page)

That Desert«-Island Library Game Extends Vo Gramophone Recordings

(continued from previous page) ; and Beethoven choices have proved such an unfailing source of enjoyment over a long period that I give them the places. s for the other choices, they present (a) variety of appreciation, from shapely beauty (Brandenburg concerti) to romantic and emotional appeal ("Dichterliebe"), (b) variety of types of composition, (c) examples from the leading exponents of the art of music, (d) tonal contrasts, eg. string quartet against full orchestra, (e) a list of works which are to my mind all of lasting interest, I would probably choose about two thirds of this list again in two years’ time, but I might have changed my mind about one third of it. . Bach: Concerto in D minor, for two violins. . Bach: Album holding the six Brandenburg Concerti. . Beethoven: Ninth Symphony. Feenent Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. . Brahms: Fourth Symphony. . Schurnann: Piano Concerto in A minor. . Schumann: Song Cycle "Dichterliebe." . Schubert: Symphony in C major ("The Great"). 10. Schubert: Album of selected songs. 11. Franck: Symphony in D minor. 12, Mozart: Clarinet Quintet, 13. Mozart: g ory, No. 29. 14. Debussy: String Quartet in G minor. 15. Sttavinsky: Symphony of Psalms. 16. Sibelius: Fifth Symphony. 17. Hugo Wolf: Society Album of Songs. 18, Chopin: Album of Four Ballads. 19. Dvorak: Violin Concerto in A Minor. 20. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto in D minor. L. D. AUSTIN (musician and writer on music, Wellington) : ERHAPS nothing more difficult could be asked of a musician than to name twenty compositions with which to be mafooned on a lonely island. My own list, severely rationed, is liberally besprinkled with tears for the innumerable and equally loved works necessarily omitted. A music library restricted to twenty items must contain no dull numbers, therefore I have excluded Beethoven’s Symphonies-a remark which will doubtless excite pious horror in the academic breast! My selections are: — 3: Bidter "Taunt Eelante™ tBine). 3. [ to "Tristan and Isolde’ (Wagner). 4. Overture to "Die Meistersinger’ (Wagner). 5. Tchaikovski's Violin Concerto (Heifetz). 6. Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto (Rubinstein). 7. Chopin’s F minor Piano Concerto (Cortot). 8. 8 Piano Concerto (Backhatus). 9. : minor Sonata (Horowitz). 10. Variations on a Nursery Tune (Dohnanyi), 11. Bach's Prelude and Fugue, A minor (Eileen oyce). 12. Beethoven's "Waldstein Sonata" (Giese13. sethover’s "Appassionata Sonata" (Harold ‘auer). 14. Baie rev’s "Islamey" (Simon Barer). 15. Fiumane "Carnaval" (Rachmaninoft). 16. Lisat’s " — Paraphrase"’ een Petri). 17. Brahms’ Piano Quartet, G nor (with Artut Rubinstein), 1 2 3 4 5. Brahms: Variations of a Theme by Haydn. 6 7 8 9

18. Song Cycle: "In a Persian Garden’ (Liza Lehmarin). 19. Overture: "Ruy Blas’? (Mendelssohn). 20. "Hear My Prayer" (Mendelssohn: sung by E. Lough and Temple Church Choir). FREDERICK PAGE (Music critic, "The Press," Christchurch) : OULD you not make that raft, please, a grand piano? The thought of spending one’s life with gramophone records is horrible and degrading, Even a knife and a piece of wood with which to make a flute, of sorts, would be something. Yours, con molto expressione, Frederick Page. MARSYAS (Music critic of "The Listener") : HE book choosers had their Shakespeares and their omnibus volumes, so why not I? Beethoven symphonies would be all the better discovered afresh on return, so in goes a quartet instead that could do with concentrated listening in solitude (suits a portable gramophone better, too). The Brahms sextet goes in to appease the voluptuary when necessary, the Stravinsky for good fun, the home-made anthology (18) for odd moments that couldn’t be filled by fragments from the long works. Except perhaps for one (the Monteverdi madrigal in No. 18 which I already possess) all the records named have been or could be used on the air. 'To‘eke out steel needles, I'd take a’ lot of cherry-plum thorns and plenty of sandpaper. ; 1. Album of 16th Century Polyphonic Music oe Josquin atid Palestrina (Dijon) Tv, 2. Volume II. Columbia History of Music (Monteverdi, Purcell, Corelli, Bach and Handel), 3. Bach: Album of preludes and fugues. 4. Handel: ‘Messiah’ (or as many records of it as D. Scott has of the "Passion’’). 5. Handel: "Water Music.’ 6. Gluck: Several records from "Orpheus." 7. Mozart: G minor Quintet, frabass! Gas Symphony. . Haydn: "Oxford" mphony. 10. Beethoven "Archduke" Trio. 11. Beethoven: Quartet no 15 in A minor. 12. Schubert: Song Cycle "The Maid of the Mill" ("Society" Album), 13. Brahrmis: Sextet in G Major. 14. Songs of the Auvergne (art. Canteloube). 15. Stravinsky: "Petrouchka," 16. Hindemith: Symphony, "Mathias the Painter" (with reproductions of the Grunewald altar paintings if possible). 17. Sibelius: Fitth Symphony and Tapiola "Society" Album). 18. orverpenaand to the Anthologies named in the book lists, an album containing short feces by Monteverdi ("Ecco Mormorar "onde"’) Couperin and Scarlatti (harpsichord), Bellini ("Casta Diva’ issy (L’Aprés-Midi d’un Faune’’), ‘chaikovski, Strauss ("Tales from the Vienna Woods’), Grieg ("Elegiac Melodies’) Vaughan Williams ("Songs of more if room. 19. Something by glas Lilburn, which will have been recorded by the time I can afford the fare to the island. 20.Not on records, but on manuscript paper rounds and canons-Elizsabethan, Purcell, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven — to be taught as tunes to the local residents (see illustrations) and then sung in parts.