- 7 weeks ago
Joseph Cooper as questionmaster invites you to match your musical wits against Judith Jackson, Robin Ray, Patrick Moore and Guest musician Louis Kentner.
In this series viewers will be able to take part in a crossword.
In this series viewers will be able to take part in a crossword.
Category
ЁЯУ║
TVTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome.
00:19Facing the music tonight is a newcomer to the programme,
00:22the motoring correspondent of the Sunday Times, Judith Jackson.
00:26Good evening.
00:27Then we have our old friend Robin Ray.
00:30Good evening.
00:30And stargazer Patrick Moore.
00:32Good evening.
00:33And I hope you've all got your pencils ready for the crossword later on in the programme.
00:38Now, musical alphabet, as we always start the programme,
00:42three pieces of music, each one has the name of the piece,
00:45or the composer, or the performer, beginning with the same letter.
00:49Tonight the letter is T for Tommy.
00:52Indeed you might say double T, or even T for two, if you like,
00:56for reasons which will become apparent later.
00:58Now, Robin, your alphabet piece.
01:01Oh, I wish we had time to hear it all.
01:29I see what you mean by the double T,
01:31because the T is in the title of the overall suite,
01:35and the title of this piece which comes in the suite.
01:37And the overall suite was a suite by the French composer Maurice Ravel,
01:41in which, incidentally, I think each piece is dedicated
01:43to a comrade of his who was killed in the First World War.
01:46And that's the last piece from the suite.
01:48The suite is called Tombaux de Couperin, first T,
01:51and that's the final toccata.
01:53Correct. Good. Well done.
01:56Toccata and Tombaux.
02:02Now, Judith, is it the piece, the composer,
02:04or the performer that begins with T?
02:06Ah-ha. Well, they've got lots of choices with T's, haven't they?
02:34Um, it's Turandot.
02:37Yes.
02:39Um, and I'll take a...
02:42I mean, I regret that I don't think it's my friend Grace Bunbury that's singing it.
02:46No. I think it's Eva Turner.
02:47It is. Quite right.
02:49APPLAUSE
02:49So, in other words, it was the piece and the performer.
02:55Yes. It's that classic recording of Eva Turner
02:58singing in Cuesta Reggia from Puccini's Turandot.
03:02Quite right. Now, Patrick.
03:03Now, that's The Devil's Trill, isn't it?
03:30Quite right. Yes. It's The Devil's Trill, but who wrote it?
03:33Uh, the composer's name begins with T.
03:36Yes. Something like tacchini.
03:38Something you put jam on.
03:40Tacchanon.
03:41You don't put jam on tacchanon.
03:43Tacchanon.
03:44It's The Devil's Trill by someone beginning with T.
03:47Judith?
03:48Something like tacchanon.
03:48You put jam on toast, don't you?
03:51Well, Harry.
03:53Jam, tatini.
03:54Tatini.
03:54I think I claim 50% on that.
04:03And I don't claim anything.
04:04OK. Now, the next round, true or false?
04:07This is the question where I give you some information about a piece of music
04:10and you have to say whether or not it's correct.
04:13So beware.
04:14Robin, is this true or false?
04:16The composer of this started life by studying myths.
04:20The composer of this is the first time.
04:50true true true do i get my marks you do not you want more you do not get your mark it is not true
05:02it's not true it's not it's a total lie oh well you see i thought it was by berlioz which is a
05:07terrible thing to say i see right judith did you know what it was no it sounds like sansence but
05:12i don't know whether it is patrick do you know what it was i don't well it's the overture to
05:15the opera geneveva by robert schumann who you will agree uh started life as a lawyer yes not as a
05:23doctor yes yes sorry about that that's okay can't win them all joe i like to catch you occasionally
05:28even homer nods right now judith here's your little quote vaughan williams set these words by walter
05:37de la mer
05:38i kiss the ring of words when the light man rings them
05:50true or false judith
06:03yes i think he set those words but i don't think that was the setting
06:08what do you mean well i mean i think he set the words but i don't think that's not how i remember
06:14it
06:15no but let's be quite sure vaughan williams set these words by walter de la mer you're saying
06:21the words are by walter de la mer
06:23say they're not it sounds good no i think i think they are by walter de la mer but i don't know
06:29no i think they are you do yes i see yeah what do you think no they're not by walter de la mer joe
06:34who are they by recognize a hint when i hear one um
06:36they're by somebody else yeah
06:41who i don't know tennyson oh come on somebody i don't think songs are travel
06:47yes yes also three names three names um um three names um three names um three names of what
06:57robert louis stevenson oh i see what you mean yes sorry yes the songs of travel by vaughan williams
07:03and that was bright as the rose the ring of words and sung by bob tier and the poems are by robert
07:10louis stevenson now patrick this composer a pupil of list died in his early 20s
07:17so
07:47I read something about him the other day. He wrote quite a lot of organ music.
07:49He died at the age of 21, I think.
07:51His name began with R. I think it was the Romart or Rona.
07:54Romar.
07:55You're very near.
07:57He wrote quite a lot of organ music, not very much else.
08:00Showed signs of being an organ virtuoso.
08:03I see a list of what very highly of him, I know.
08:05Yes.
08:06Romar, Ronart, something like that.
08:08Well, you're very near. It's Roibke.
08:11Roibke.
08:11R-E-U-B-K-E.
08:14Roibke.
08:14Roibke.
08:15I think that was a very good answer.
08:16And he did die very young.
08:19I believe it was 24, actually.
08:21But this organ sonata on the Psalm 94 is the great showpiece of all organists.
08:30You know, Simon Preston is playing it there on the organ of Westminster.
08:34The predecessor of Vidor.
08:35Yes.
08:36Now for the hidden melody.
08:38This is where I wrap up a tune in the style of a certain composer,
08:47and you have to guess the tune and the composer.
08:50If you're a dancer.
10:45Vicar of Bray, played by Joseph Cooper Chopin.
10:50Very good indeed.
10:51Correct.
10:52Arranged, one might add, as a grand polonaise.
10:55Yes.
10:55And taken from three, the F-sharp minor opus 44, the A-flat major opus 53, and the A major opus 40.
11:03Follow that if you can.
11:05That is, he's getting his own back on me for that little blob earlier on in the programme.
11:10Oh, not knowing, barely, yes.
11:12Very well spotted.
11:13Vicar of Bray in the style of a Chopin Polonaise.
11:16Right, now funny instruments.
11:18This is where we play you a tune on the wrong instrument, and you'll have to say what the right instrument should be.
11:23First, Robin.
11:24Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.
11:46Oh.
11:48Played on a wind instrument.
11:50Played on the, um, on the oboe.
11:53It was being played on a coranglais.
11:54A coranglais, sorry.
11:55What should it be played for?
11:56I don't know.
11:57Should it be written?
11:58I don't know.
11:59Really?
11:59No idea, no.
12:00No?
12:00I've never heard the tune.
12:01Judith?
12:02Double bass.
12:03No, not quite as big as that, dear.
12:05Cello, yes.
12:06Yeah, I knew it was somewhere down there.
12:07Yes.
12:09Anyone know what the piece was?
12:11I can sing it for you, but I'm afraid I don't know.
12:13Well, sing it.
12:14Da, ba, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom.
12:17Yes.
12:17It goes on.
12:18If I said a Rococo.
12:20Oh, yes, the Rococo suite.
12:25Variations on a Rococo theme.
12:26On a Rococo theme by Tchaikovsky.
12:27God, that's it.
12:29Yes.
12:30So the answer was cello.
12:32Yes.
12:32Right.
12:33Now, Judith, a funny instrument for you.
12:55It sounds rather nice like that, doesn't it?
12:57Wonderful.
12:58I think it should probably have been a saxophone.
13:01Really?
13:01Yeah, be careful.
13:02No?
13:03Be careful.
13:04Well, if it wasn't a saxophone, it was a clarinet.
13:05Yes, clarinet.
13:06But it was one of those lovely reeded ones, but I thought it was a saxophone.
13:08No, it was a clarinet.
13:09It was being played, actually, there on the viola, very beautifully.
13:12Yes, it sounds marvellous like that, I must say.
13:14But it was actually a clarinet.
13:15But it was actually a clarinet.
13:16Right, now, finally one for you, Patrick.
13:18It's an amethyl xylophone, so I can appreciate that.
13:30It's Mozart, isn't it?
13:31Yes.
13:32It's Don Giovanni, and it should be on a cello.
13:33On a what?
13:34On a cello.
13:35On a what?
13:35On a cello.
13:36On a cello.
13:37Oh, my God.
13:38Oh, my God.
13:40What?
13:41Loot?
13:42Loot.
13:43What should it be?
13:45It's Don Giovanni's motai motor.
13:47He's placed on a lute.
13:48No, no, it's a lute thing.
13:49A lute thing.
13:50No, lute thing, you know.
13:51It should be a cello, surely.
13:52No.
13:53Pom, pom, pom, pom, pom.
13:54Yes, you're right.
13:55You're quite right, yes.
13:56Ha, ha, ha.
13:57Violin.
13:58Ha, ha, ha, ha.
13:59A violin.
14:00Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
14:02Oh, that's right.
14:03I keep doing it.
14:04It's a lute.
14:05Double bass.
14:06Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
14:08Not a double bass, ma'am.
14:10Why don't you answer it?
14:11No, I don't answer it.
14:12I don't know.
14:14It's a lute.
14:15It's not a lute.
14:16Guitar.
14:18Robin.
14:19Mandolin.
14:20Mandolin.
14:21Oh, come on.
14:22Make me a liar for six strings, Joe.
14:25At least I knew what it was.
14:27You've heard the serenade from Mozart's Don Giovanni.
14:30The tune before the voice comes in should be played on the mandolin.
14:35Right, well, you can take a rest because it's time for our guest.
14:38And tonight he's a famous pianist who wasn't actually born here
14:42but has for many years made England his home.
14:46He has a vast repertoire but perhaps we specially associate him with the music of Liszt.
14:51Tonight we welcome Louis Kentner.
14:53This is very unnerving.
15:06Be kind to me.
15:07We will be very kind to you but I'm sure that you know it all anyway.
15:10But something I don't quite know is were you born in Hungary or in Austria or in Czechoslovakia or where exactly?
15:19I was born in a place which when I was born was Austria which is now Czechoslovakia and if anybody says I was born in Czechoslovakia I answer I am much older than Czechoslovakia.
15:32Yes.
15:33Fine.
15:34Now to your first question.
15:37Which three nationalities are involved here?
15:41The nationalities are involved here.
16:09Well, I would say... I would say, certainly, Spanish.
16:13And if you think of Liszt as having two nationalities,
16:19Hungarian and something else,
16:21then he was Hungarian and he became French, I think.
16:28I can't think of anything else.
16:31I can.
16:32Spanish and...
16:34Well, let's establish what the piece was first.
16:36Oh, the Rhapsody Espanol.
16:38Yes, by Liszt.
16:40So that's Spanish and Hungarian.
16:42Based on the Spanish folk melodies.
16:45Who was the pianist?
16:47Ah, that I couldn't tell. I don't know.
16:50You must be joking.
16:53It's not me.
16:54Yes.
17:03Well, that's the last national. British.
17:07Let's go back to the early beginnings.
17:10You studied at the Budapest Conservatoire.
17:14Yes.
17:15And Kodae, I think, played a major part in your training.
17:17Yes, he was my teacher of his composition.
17:19Have you any particular memories of him?
17:21Yes, many memories.
17:23Yes, many memories.
17:24I...
17:25But for this story, I must change my instrument and blow my own trumpet.
17:30Can I do that?
17:31Yes, blow away.
17:32Ah, Kodae, I was Kodae's pupil in composition when I was about 16.
17:39Mm-hm.
17:40And he wrote a piece called The Dancers of Marsh's Sake.
17:45And before he had written it, he asked me if I'd give the first performance.
17:51And, which I, of course, I felt very honored to accept.
17:56But then he forgot all about it.
17:58And when the day before the first performance, the proposed first performance came, it was not written.
18:08And he said, he said, all right, well, you come to my house tomorrow morning at nine o'clock and it will be ready for you.
18:15On the day of the concert?
18:16On the day of the performance.
18:17This is ridiculous.
18:19I thought this is something that I perhaps can do.
18:23And so I went to his house and he answered the door with a sheet of music paper in his hand and said, this is the first page.
18:34And then he took me into a room where there was no piano, because it was a dining room.
18:41But there was a sofa.
18:43And he said, sit down on that sofa and learn it.
18:46So I had to learn it like this.
18:50Well, he went into the next room and pounded away on the piano because he couldn't compose without a piano.
18:56I had to learn it without the piano.
18:58So you had to...
18:59I had to memorize it there and there.
19:01But I mean with the sound going on.
19:03Yes, he went on with the composition.
19:06And then after about half an hour, he came back with another sheet and said, learn this.
19:11And by midday, lunchtime, the whole thing was finished.
19:18He'd finished composing and I finished memorizing.
19:21Then I went home, practiced the whole afternoon, and I played it in the evening from memory.
19:28God!
19:29I think you have every right to blow your own trumpet.
19:32It was a big affair.
19:34It was even broadcast.
19:36Now, your next question.
19:39Why is this music specially spellbinding?
19:43How does it build the ground?
19:45Don't you realistic speech when you were meeting?
19:48It wasхЯЛуБ╛ing.
19:50What style ╨╡╨┤╨╕╨╜.
19:52I must pass.
20:19I never heard this music.
20:21Could you guess the composer?
20:23It could be the fire or Stravinsky.
20:27It couldn't be Bartok.
20:28Is it the cantata?
20:29Yes!
20:30Is it the cantata profana?
20:31You've got it!
20:32Yes.
20:33It's only guessing, it's only guess work.
20:39I have seen the score of that work with all these young men becoming stag.
20:46That's right, yes.
20:47But I didn't know it very well at all.
20:50Well, that was why it was spellbinding, because it was done by magic.
20:53You, of course, gave the world premiere of Bartok's second piano concerto, correct me if I'm wrong, with Klempera.
20:59That's right.
21:00Right?
21:01In Budapest.
21:02Yes, yes.
21:03I don't remember the year.
21:05I was very young then.
21:06I think I was about 20, perhaps.
21:09Yes.
21:10But Bartok was very much around, very much a pianist.
21:13Why didn't he play it?
21:14Bartok was then in a state of...
21:17He was a very embittered man.
21:19He announced that he would never play in Budapest again.
21:24He was offended with the public, offended with the press.
21:28I think rightly so.
21:30He was not very well treated.
21:32But nevertheless, I think he should have had the courage to play it.
21:36Did he come to your concert?
21:38No, he didn't come.
21:39He came to all the rehearsals.
21:41Yes.
21:42He came to all the rehearsals, but he never took one step to influence anybody.
21:47He never said anything to the conductor.
21:50He never said anything to me.
21:51But I had been to his house many times and went through the part.
21:57Oh, that's marvelous.
21:58So I knew exactly what he wanted.
22:00And one other thing.
22:01You've just brought out a book on the piano.
22:03Yes.
22:04Now, is this a sort of method or what?
22:06Oh, no.
22:07Nothing like it.
22:08Nothing like it.
22:09I like to say that it's a sort of novel.
22:11A novel?
22:12Well, I have a fiction...
22:14It's totally fiction.
22:15Is it bedside reading?
22:17What?
22:18Bedside reading?
22:19I think...
22:20Well, I like to think so.
22:21It was far from my intentions to write a scientific book.
22:25No.
22:26Or to expose some sort of theory or method.
22:31Far from it.
22:32Well, if it's as entertaining as you have on this interview, it should be a bestseller.
22:35It should be literature.
22:36Thank you, Louis, very much indeed.
22:45Now it's time for the competition.
22:50In each program, we give you a clue for a crossword puzzle, so that the crossword gradually takes shape.
22:57The last clue comes in the seventh program, and after that you send in your completed answers.
23:03And we give you the final result in the last program of the series.
23:07And the first four correct solutions open will bring ┬г25 worth of record tokens to each sender.
23:15Now, here's the actual crossword with the word I originally gave you, pen.
23:20Here's today's clue.
23:22Three down, three down.
23:24Number, please.
23:38Right.
23:39There'll be another clue next week.
23:41Now, back to the panel for Find the Link.
23:44Here are three pictures, and you have to say what the connection is between each one and the music you hear.
23:49Tonight we've gone very queenly.
23:52Robin, can you find the link?
23:54Or maybe or have a Liebe.
23:55Maybe...
23:56An unnecessary Tinder
24:19She's listening and definitely not amused, is she?
24:31That was Anna Neagle that we saw.
24:36Queen Victoria.
24:38Yes.
24:38And it's Mendelssohn Symphony, isn't it?
24:40Yes.
24:41Is it what they call the Scotch?
24:43Yes.
24:44It should be the Scottish.
24:45The Scottish.
24:46Yes, because Scotch is what you drink, isn't it?
24:47Yes.
24:48And he wrote it.
24:49He wrote it as a result of coming over here.
24:51He wrote the Hebrides over here.
24:53He liked Scotland.
24:53Yes.
24:54And enjoyed it.
24:54And he had a trip to meet her.
24:56Yes, what's the link?
25:00The link between Mendelssohn and Queen Victoria.
25:04Something at the top of the score.
25:05He dedicated the work to her.
25:07How did you guess?
25:08How did you guess?
25:13Now, Judith, you'll find the link.
25:16The song of the sea, the song of the sea.
25:45Behold the storm of the sea.
25:56Well, I know that wasn't Anna Neagle.
25:58That was Queen Elizabeth I.
26:00Correct.
26:01It was written for her.
26:03No, it wasn't.
26:03Well, it was written all about her.
26:06Ah.
26:09Ah.
26:09No, it had to be quick.
26:11Yes.
26:12Who wrote about Queen Elizabeth?
26:14For Lord's sake be quick.
26:16Tavener.
26:20For Lord's sake be quick.
26:23Oh, Lord's Tavener.
26:24I thought that was quite clever.
26:25Was Tavener ever made a lord?
26:28Oh, um, Essex.
26:33No, no, no, no, no, no.
26:35You see, he's giving me all the wrong clues.
26:37Um, Raleigh.
26:39Britain.
26:40Benjamin.
26:40Oh, was that Britain?
26:43I knew I shouldn't have come tonight.
26:45I know what I was going to say.
26:47Yes, I beg your pardon.
26:48It's all right.
26:49It was lovely.
26:50It was the greatest fun.
26:50You saw a picture of Queen Elizabeth I
26:54and you heard one of the choral dances
26:56from Britain's Gloriana.
26:57Gloriana.
26:58The opera based on the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
27:00so the link was Queen Elizabeth I.
27:04Well played against a very sticky wicket.
27:07Now, Patrick, yours.
27:08Well, I know the music, of course.
27:37It's Elgos Nursery Suite.
27:39Mm-hmm.
27:39Quite a bit.
27:39But, um, I've got that far.
27:41Yes.
27:42But who that was, I do not know.
27:46Well, God save us.
27:51Elgos Nursery, dear.
27:52Oh, God, I'm in a set of children.
27:53I pass.
27:57It's Elgos Nursery Suite.
27:58Don't you need your eyes testing?
28:04Ah, the Prince of Wales.
28:07Would anyone like to comment?
28:10Because we're getting near the end of the programme.
28:12I think, I mean, I'm only guessing here,
28:14but I think it was the Queen.
28:16But what the link is between...
28:18It was an anagone of the Queen.
28:20What's the link?
28:21The link is a dedication.
28:23You saw a picture of Queen Elizabeth II
28:25and when there was little Princess Elizabeth
28:28and Princess Margaret Rose,
28:30the ageing Elgar wrote this little suite
28:32and he was inspired to dedicate it
28:35to the two princesses.
28:36It's no wonder he can't see the sky.
28:42I always thought it was all guesswork.
28:44Anyway...
28:45Sorry, Patrick.
28:47Anyway, it's time to say goodnight
28:49from Judith Jackson,
28:52Robin Ray,
28:53Patrick Moore,
28:54the much maligned and much loved,
28:56Louis Ketner
28:57and me,
28:58Joe Cooper.
29:00APPLAUSE
29:01From recent encounters
29:14to more memorable moments
29:15from the archives,
29:16famous faces in conversation
29:18choosing their Desert Island discs.
29:20Listen now on BBC Sounds.
29:22APPLAUSE
29:23And we'll see you next time.
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