Main content

Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn shares his musical passions with Michael Berkeley and talks about his career, which spans novels, philosophy, Russian translation, and his celebrated farces.

The playwright and novelist Michael Frayn shares his musical passions with Michael Berkeley.

Michael Frayn is an acute observer of the absurdities and pain of the human condition, and his writing career has spanned journalism, novels, philosophy, Russian translation, and plays both philosophical and farcical. Noises Off, his 1982 farce about a farce, has become one of the twentieth century's best loved and most successful plays and is frequently described as the funniest farce ever written. Equally praised have been his philosophical plays such as Copenhagen and Democracy.

He tells Michael about his childhood in Surrey, which partly inspired his award-winning novel Spies, his time in the army learning Russian, and the pain and pleasure of farce - the most technically demanding of all literary forms.

And he shares his lifelong love of classical music, choosing pieces by Beethoven, Prokofiev, Mozart, Mahler, and Brahms - and a piece by his late mother-in-law Muriel Herbert.

Producer: Jane Greenwood
A Loftus production for 大象传媒 Radio 3.

Available now

34 minutes

Last on

Sun 1 Jul 2018 12:00

Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Violin Sonata in F major, Op.24 (Spring) - 1st mvt: Allegro

    Performer: Itzhak Perlman. Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Violin Concerto no.1 in D major, Op.19 - 1st mvt: Andantino

    Performer: David Oistrakh. Orchestra: State Academic Symphony Orchestra of The Russian Federation. Conductor: Kyrill Kondrashin.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Ich atmet' einen linden Duft; Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder (Ruckert-Lieder)

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Karl Bohm. Singer: Dietrich Fischer鈥怐ieskau.
  • Muriel Herbert

    The Lake Isle of Innisfree

    Singer: James Gilchrist. Performer: David Owen Norris.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Lo Sposo Deluso - overture

    Orchestra: Antwerp Transparent Chamber Opera. Conductor: Hans Rotman.
  • Johannes Brahms

    String Sextet in G major, Op.36 - 2nd mvt: Scherzo

    Ensemble: Raphael Ensemble.
  • Bob Brookmeyer

    Open Country

    Ensemble: Gerry Mulligan Quartet.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 10 Dec 2017 12:00
  • Sun 1 Jul 2018 12:00

What makes Boogie-woogie piano legend Jools Holland tick?

What makes Boogie-woogie piano legend Jools Holland tick?

For Private Passions, Jools Holland revealed his piano history to Michael Berkeley.

11 things we learned from Harry Enfield鈥檚 Private Passions

11 things we learned from Harry Enfield鈥檚 Private Passions

Harry doesn't usually give interviews 鈥 but he couldn't say no to Michael Berkeley.

Archive Unlocked: Two Decades of Private Passions

Michael Berkeley introduces memorable interviews from Private Passions' archives.

Podcast