Alan Bennett on Private Passions with Michael Berkeley 8th November 2017
Michael Berkeley's guest this week is Alan Bennett. We know him as the much-loved playwright and diarist who's been entertaining and moving us as a writer and performer since Beyond the Fringe in 1960. But there's one aspect of Alan Bennett that's less well-known: the central importance of music in his life, including the extraordinary fact that he once wrote a libretto for William Walton. (Sadly, Lady Walton was not impressed, and shoved it firmly to the bottom of her handbag.)
In a moving and funny programme, Alan Bennett remembers the music that filled his childhood: his father was a gifted violinist, and his aunts played the piano for silent movies. As a teenager, new worlds were opened up by concerts in Leeds Town Hall, where Bennett sat in the cheapest seats behind the musicians, 'like sitting behind the elephants at the circus'. And then came fame, and Hollywood: 'Elizabeth Taylor actually sat on my knee at one point. It was not a pleasant experience'. In a touching conclusion to the programme, Alan Bennett listens to Elgar's Dream of Gerontius and is stirred to think about the boy he used to be, and what that boy might say to him now.
Music choices include a 1939 recording of 'I can give you the starlight' by Ivor Novello; a waltz by Franz Lehar; Brahms's Second Piano Concerto; Bach's St Matthew Passion; Walton's First Symphony; Elgar's Dream of Gerontius; and Ella Fitzgerald singing 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered'. This last song inspired The History Boys when Alan Bennett heard it on Private Passions in 2001.
This special programme includes three bonus tracks available online: Alan Bennett chooses two further pieces of music, and talks about the music he hates and never wants to hear again.
Produced by the Loftus Media Private Passions team (Elizabeth Burke, Jane Greenwood, Oliver Soden and Jon Calver).
-
1:20:34
Glenn Greenwald
3 hours agoSYSTEM UPDATE FLASHBACK: The West Embraces Online Censorship
22.2K16 -
LIVE
The Jimmy Dore Show
2 hours agoKamala STILL Lying About Biden’s Dementia! Labour Party Interfering in US Elections! w/Scott Ritter
15,533 watching -
LIVE
The Charlie Kirk Show
5 hours agoTurning Point Action presents Georgia for Trump featuring Charlie Kirk, RFK Jr. & Donald Trump!
14,108 watching -
LIVE
The StoneZONE with Roger Stone
53 minutes agoThe RFK-Trump Fight to Make America Healthy Again! w/ John Richardson | The StoneZONE w/ Roger Stone
478 watching -
LIVE
2 MIKES LIVE
4 hours ago2 MIKES LIVE #133 News Breakdown Wednesday!
278 watching -
56:13
Sarah Westall
3 hours agoIs our Magnetosphere being Destroyed? Why it Matters for all Life on the Planet
8.64K3 -
1:13:05
The Amber May Show
5 hours agoMake America Healthy Again | The Hateful Rhetoric & The Destruction of The Family | Kelly Schwartz
5.8K -
1:34:04
Redacted News
5 hours agoUkraine admitting DEFEAT in last ditch move? Putin and BRICS slam US Dollar | Redacted Live
95.9K160 -
1:55:31
Melonie Mac
5 hours agoGo Boom Live Ep 26!
20.7K9 -
1:18:40
Awaken With JP
7 hours ago13 Days to Go - LIES Episode 62
105K109