On Tuesday 24 June 2025 we had another session with two members playing their preferred music choices under the title of Desert Island Discs. There was a record attendance at this event with over 50 members present. The session had no desert island, and there were twelve pieces of music rather than eight for each of the two castaways.
We started with Howard who spoke briefly about his academic career in Leeds where he was at school with Alan Bennett, and his experiences with volunteering after leaving school. His choices covered both popular music and the classical repertoire, but the selection also provided a chance for Howard’s sense of humour. We started with his first purchased record – The Young Ones performed by Cliff Richard. An advertisement on television for butter sparked an interest in the background music which was Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. It was then back to popular music for Fever performed by Peggy Lee, which was followed by Dvořák Symphony No. 9 – From the New World. We heard the Beatles, Dave Brubeck and M People. It was then Bridge Over Troubled Waters, In the Ghetto, followed by Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. We finished Howard’s choices with Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor – with all the right notes played in the right order!
It was then Kevin’s turn which started with his early life in Derry. He started with the lullaby that his father sang to him – The Castle of Dromore. Kevin recalled several pieces from the Celtic Revival in his selection. However his first experience of a Juke Box was the piece ‘Zambesi’ performed by Lou Busch. He turned to Elvis for ‘It’s Now or Never’ for a ballad, and following a prize for a maths test at Junior School, he saw Carmen Jones in the cinema. That led to an interest in Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, and we heard “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée”. We then moved on to folk music with Lemon Tree performed by Peter, Paul and Mary. The tone changed again with ‘Only a Pawn in Their Game’ performed by Bob Dylan, ‘The Cliffs of Dooneen performed by Christy Moore, and ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ with Peter, Paul and Mary, The locale then moved to the USA for ‘Twisting the Night Away’, ‘Can I Get a Witness’, ‘Walk on by’ and finishing with ‘Madam George’ performed by Van Morrison.
Our next session is on 26 August when Herbie Goldberg and Mike Zinkin will talk about their musical choices.