My Desert Island Discs

So there's this long-running radio program on the BBC called Desert Island Discs.  I've been aware of it for years but I recently stumbled across podcasts of it on the BBC website, and, after listening toand browsing the shows, I decided to do a list of my own...


Here is the concept.  People from all walks of life are invited on the show and are asked what 8 pieces of music would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert isle?  Of course this presupposes that you would have the means to play music, so, OK, you do.  Also, 8 'pieces' means single songs, so no whole albums, symphonies, or the complete recorded works of Slim Whitman.  So one night at work I scratched out a list and stuck it in my back pocket ... and I can't find it now.  Memory should serve however, and I am going to post these one by one.


I would like to point out that, even though my tastes are quite far-ranging, this list will be heavy on the classical music side.  The reason for this is very simple..  one of the programs' featured guests, I think it was Elvis Costello, said that if he were on a desert island, he would need music more for sustainment than pleasure.  I agree, and so my list leans heavily on things that have a very spiritiual connection for me.


Also, wherever possible, I will post a link to sound files so any readers may sample the works for themselves. And, as I am pulling this list out of my ass, they are in no particular order.  At the end of though, I will pick an overall favorite, painful as that will be, and then I am probably going to blog forever about all the runner ups, which WILL include whole albums, symphonies, and such.  But not the complete works of Slim Whitman.


So here goes.


#1  Beethoven, Symphony #5, Fourth Movement, Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra


When I was sixteen, I was becoming increasingly starved for music.  I had been listening mostly to top 40 radio since I was six, but I was not all that enamored by what was coming out of the airwaves by 1971.  Luckily, FM radio at the time was still good, but I needed more.  Also, the film A Clockwork Orange had just come out, and I really liked the electronic classical music in it.  So I decided to raid my parent's decaying record collection.  Among the many jazz, big band, and musicals LPs, were quite a number of classics, and having been primed for "lovely lovely Ludwig Van" by Alex from the movie, I selected a recording of Symphony #5 from the pile, thinking, well I already know some of this... da - da - da - daaaaah, da - da  - da - daaaahhhhhh.....  I didn't realize at the time just what a great selection I had made.  This particular recording was and still is considered one of the greatest made of this symphony.... The tempos are furious where they must be, and langorous where they should be, and the playing is sumptuous throughout.  I could easily close my eyes and relate the music to my daily life, my struggles with school, emotions, hormones, bullies  (don't laugh)  ... it all made sense.  The "fateful" first movement, the stately, reflective second movement, the mysterious, dark third movement ... and then, like a burst of brilliant sunlight through the clouds, the utterly triumphant fourth movement... I could envision simply rising above all  my troubles and basking in the glow of godlike mercy, salvation, redemption.... breathtaking.  This is just one of those pieces you have to stop what you're doing and listen.  And midway through, the darkness of the third movement returns just for a moment, to be swept aside by the exultation once again.  A complete cure for a bad mood.


And here it is.  Enjoy.