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.
Last on
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´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3
What makes Boogie-woogie piano legend Jools Holland tick?
11 things we learned from Harry Enfield’s Private Passions
Archive Unlocked: Two Decades of Private Passions
Michael Berkeley introduces memorable interviews from Private Passions' archives.
Podcast
-
Private Passions
Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical loves and hates