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Patrick Leigh Fermor

Edition from 2005 in which Michael Berkeley talks to the late travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. Choices include Victoria, Couperin, Mozart, Berlioz, Debussy and Irving Berlin.

Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, travel writer and war hero, died in June at the age of 96. In 2005 he recorded an edition of Private Passions, in which he talked about the music he loved. This is another chance to hear that conversation with Michael Berkeley.

Patrick Leigh Fermor was born in London in 1915, the son of a distinguished geologist. He was brought up in England after his parents left for India, and attended The Kings School, Canterbury, from which he was expelled for holding hands with a local greengrocer's daughter. At the age of 18 he set off to walk across Europe to Constantinople (now Istanbul), a journey which later inspired his two finest travel books, 'A Time of Gifts' (1977) and 'Between the Woods and the Water' (1986). After further travels in the Balkans, he fought in Crete and mainland Greece during World War II. His exploits with the Greek Resistance in Crete inspired his fellow-officer Captain Bill Stanley Moss's book 'Ill Met by Moonlight', later adapted as a film, with Dirk Bogarde playing Leigh Fermor. He published his first travel book in 1950, and became widely regarded as Britain's greatest living travel writer. He divided his time between his beloved Greece and Worcestershire, and was knighted in 2004.

Patrick Leigh Fermor loved music of all kinds, from Greek folksongs to Irving Berlin. His eclectic selection for Private Passions includes an extract from Mozart's Don Giovanni and the finale of the Sinfonia concertante K364 for violin and viola; part of Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet; part of the Tenebrae Responsories by Victoria; Debussy's Gigues (from Images); Britten's arrangement of The Salley Gardens, and Michael Berkeley's own Variations on Greek Folk Songs for solo viola, inspired by Leigh Fermor's own celebrated vocal renditions.

1 hour

Last on

Sun 31 Jul 2011 12:00

Music Played

  • Claude Debussy

    Gigues (from Images)

    Performers: Orchestra of the Suisse Romande/Ernest Ansermet

    • DECCA 433 712-2.
  • Irving Berlin

    Let's face the music and dance

    Performers: Fred Astaire with Johnny Green and his Orchestra

    • ASV CD AJA 5245.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Vedrai carina (from Don Giovanni Act 2, Scene 1)

    Performers: Mirella Freni (Zerlina), New Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer

    • EMI SMS 7 63841-2.
  • Michael Berkeley

    Variations on Greek Folk Songs

    Performers: Penelope Thompson (viola)

    • Private recording.
  • Tomás Luis de Victoria

    Responsorium IX: Seniores Populi (from the Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday)

    Performers: Westminster Cathedral Choir/David Hill

    • HYPERION CDA 66304.
  • Franz Schubert

    Quintet in A, D667 The Trout (Variations 4th movement)

    Performers: Andras Schiff (piano), members of the Hagen Quartet, Alois Posch (double bass)

    • DECCA 458 608-2.
  • Hector Berlioz

    The young Capulets leaving the ball (Romeo et Juliette , Part 2)

    Performers: Choir of Bavarian Radio, Vienna PO/Sir Colin Davis

    • PHILIPS 470 543-2.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Sinfonia concertante in E flat, K364 (Presto Finale)

    Performers: Norbert Brainin (violin), Peter Schidlof (viola), London Mozart Players/Harry Blech

    • TESTAMENT SBT 1157.
  • Louis Couperin

    La tromba

    Performers: Pierre Fournier (cello), Lucerne Festival Strings/Rudolf Baumgartner

    • LP: DG 419 349-1.
  • Benjamin Britten

    The Sally Gardens

    Composer: trad Performers: Jamie McDougal (tenor), Malcolm Martineau (piano)

    • HYPERION CDD22042.

Broadcast

  • Sun 31 Jul 2011 12:00

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