Apparently there are a few Richard Thompson fans here. But whether you are or not, I recommend this week’s Private Passsions on Radio 3, on which he is the guest. For those who don’t know it, it’s kind of like Desert Island Discs – guests choose music which is important to them – but with a greater focus on the music and mostly, though not exclusively, classical music. As you might well expect he has some fine choices and impeccable taste, and is always interesting about the music.
Richard Thompson’s Private Passions
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I’ll give it a go…
Didn’t you think the presenter was a little bizarre in the way he talked to him? He sounded like a BBC Third Programme throwback encountering the world of this newfangled popular music for the first time.
That’s Michael Berkeley for you…or Michael Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Knighton as he is known to his wife, who used to be my assistant at Bloomsbury Publishing.* He’s the son of Lennox Berkeley and Benjamin Britten was his godfather. He doesn’t often stray into rockular areas, though he’s had Neil Hannon and Ray Cooper on this year.
*She was actually Salman Rushdie’s girlfriend at the time, and having to go into hiding with him played merry hell with her turning up for work. Obviously I had no idea about this, so I assumed she was taking the piss – it was only when I had a little chat with her about it that she let on.
I thought he was married to Marianne Wiggins at the time. Looking up her Wiki I learn that she had told him she wanted a divorce just a few days before the fatwah but still went into hiding with him. Between her, your PA, and the guards Rushdie’s life must have been like a Whitehall farce with the added threat of imminent murder.
She (Elizabeth West) was actually his next wife and they had a son together before Padma Lakshmi turned up.
I was at his first wife’s 40th birthday party when the fatwa hit and a load of chaps with bulges under their armpits turned up and sent everybody home. Rushdie wasn’t there of course.
I really was expecting him to ask why it all had to be so terribly loud.
Private Passions is a BBC Radio 3 programme, you know. There are still quite a few presenters on that station to whom popular music is pretty exotic stuff.
Full marks for RT’s cheeky inclusion of Les Paul’s rendition of Duke Ellington’s “Caravan”, which as well as being an amazing feat of early technical experimentation is also a showcase of Les’s musical prowess.
In truth, much of what Radio 3 plays, particularly late at night, is far more interesting and often more challenging than anything to be encountered in the popular music field. One might argue the same is true when it comes to live music. The likes of Sean Shibe, the Echo Vocal Ensemble and the 12 Ensemble routinely play stuff from the modern repertoire that makes much popular music sound decidedly unexotic.
It’s their daytime and early evening presentation. Rather hidebound, but I suppose they know their audience for those hours.
The late night programmes are a world apart from that stuffy image. Past the fogey contingent’s bedtimes.
These groupings are NOT mutually exclusive, Mike – I am exhibit ‘a’…
To look at me you’d probably lump me into the Fogey Contingent but I’ve been a BBC Radio 3 fan since somewhere around 2002, when I discovered Late Junction, Mixing It, Jazz On 3, Jazz Line Up, Music Planet, Andy Kershaw etc.
Their weekend afternoon and late night programming fitted with my maturing eclectic tastes and nocturnal habits. I’m not a great believer in the benefits of sleep. Five hours usually suffices.
I was also a big fan of Charlie Gillett’s BBC Radio London shows. A sad loss.
I’d been a John Peel fan, but had gone off him quite a bit by then. Too much like hard work, as he embraced the wilfully obscure and plain rotten (IMO).
I used to record a lot of shows on cassettes and then later MiniDiscs. I have a collection I really ought to digitise one day (or many weeks, because that’s what it would take).
These days I record fave BBC radio shows via the amazing Get_iPlayer free software. Straight to digital, so minimal faffing about.
Highly recommended but a bit of a learning curve. Well worth the effort.
Currently enjoying, Radio 4’s “Add to Playlist”, Radio 2’s “The Jazz Show with Jamie Cullum” and Radio 3’s “Jazz Record Requests”, “Late Junction”, “Music Map”, “Music Planet”, “New Music Show”, “Night Tracks”, “‘Round Midnight”, “Sound of Cinema/Sound of Gaming”, and “Unclassified”. Occasionally I’ll record “Composer of the Week” if the subject interests me.
Then of course there are The Proms (coming soon!) which I’ll pick and choose from.
Once in a blue moon I’ll listen to (and record) Gilles Peterson’s Radio 6 Music show.
BBC Podcasts:
Folk On Foot, In The Studio, Music Life, Slow Radio.
Keeps me out of trouble and doesn’t cost much.
Some fascinating tips there, @Mike_H.
I must dip my toe into some of them.
And an excellent comment too from @ernietothecentreof the earth-
Radio 3 seems to be far more exciting that I’d realised.
I must give Sean Shibe, the Echo Vocal Ensemble and the 12 Ensemble (all new names to me) a listen.
Corey Mwamba’s “Freeness” late night show has been a casualty of the most recent R3 programme shuffle, along with Julian Joseph/Jumoké Fashola/Kevin Le Gendre’s “J to Z”.
I suppose they figure Soweto Kinch’s new “‘Round Midnight” show, on every night Monday to Friday, ought to cover that ground. We shall see.
I still miss Mixing It.
That would be an interesting contrast to a year or two ago when Rich was interviewed by famously verbose motormouth J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. At points it was almost like a play by Pinter or Beckett
Great tip @Blue Boy.
I was amused by your comment about the presenter, @dwightstrut. He was clearly a tad out of this depth. But what an interesting chap!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Berkeley
As always, @mikethep, you came up with a fascinating titbit of background info about the private lives of men and women of letters.
His wife was a talented woman too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Rogers
“Among the authors Rogers represented were A. S. Byatt, Ian McEwan and Peter Carey.[5] Earlier in her career, she had represented Angela Carter, and (before he joined Andrew Wylie’s agency) Salman Rushdie.[2] Shortly after the professional breach, Rogers offered Rushdie her second home as a refuge from the fatwā (death sentence) imposed by Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989.[6] The remote farm in Powys was used by Rushdie during his decade in hiding.[“
He was the guest on the frequently excellent Sodajerker podcast recently. On good form.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/sodajerker-on-songwriting/id479679002?i=1000659891813
I listened today and enjoyed it greatly. As well as RT’s obvious love and musical appraciation of the classical pieces he chose, he revealed 2 things that I found particularly interesting. Firstly he confirmed that he is still a Muslim some 52 years after first embracing it. And secondly he said that royalties used to make up 50% of his income and now contribute about 2%. He said that explains why so many old-timers are still touring.