Our Desert Island Solitude continued for two of our members on Tuesday 25 November 2025. This time its was Anna and Geoffrey, but not necessarily on the same Desert Island!
Anna spoke movingly about her arrival in the UK in 1968, and her early introduction to music when a baby grand piano was delivered into the family’s small apartment. Her mother had played ‘Fur Elise’ by Beethoven, and we heard the performance of this piece by Lang Lang, the famous Chinese Pianist (photo above). The piano was also represented by Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21. Anna loved to dance, and we were treated to the Dance of the Polovtsian Maidens from Stravinsky’s Prince Igor. We heard the Russian folk song ‘Katyusha’, and Anna still knew the words! The Beatles were represented with Penny Lane, and there was the Sabbath Prayer from Fiddler on the Roof with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. It was then back to the Classical Repertoire for music by Ravel (Bolero) and by Tchaikovsky (1812 Overture). Anna returned to more modern music with ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ by Elton John and Kiki Dee, Queen with ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives’, Barbara Streisand with ‘Avinu Malkeinu’ and she finished with Cher singing ‘Thank you for being a friend’.
It was then Geoffrey’s turn for a Desert Island, and his choice reflected his London background. Geoffrey played several pieces that were performed by the Bevis Marks choir in East London, reminding him of his own time singing in the choir, and even being paid for singing at wedding services. Geoffrey would want to be reminded of his family on the Desert Island, and his very musical granddaughter had composed music for the computer game ‘Tapestry of Fate’. Geoffrey’s own youth had featured the Beatles and they were represented with ‘Love Me Do!’ (see above). Geoffrey’s own passion for Gilbert and Sullivan was represented by ‘The Gondoliers’ with ‘Rising Early in the Morning’. That was followed by the humorous story told by Gerard Hoffnung at the Oxford Union in 1958 – The Bricks and the Bucket, which would cheer Geoffrey in his isolation. For pensive moments he chose Beethoven’s Funeral March from the Eroica Symphony and for uplifting music, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s 7th Symphony Second Movement – Allegretto. His last choice was music to die to as he thought he would never be able to escape the island; for that he chose Mozart’s ‘Laudate Dominum’.
The choices allowed the audience to learn about the lives of the two presenters and their philosophies, and the whole session was most enjoyable throughout. Our next Desert Island volunteers will be ‘exiled’ with their choices of music on Tuesday 27 January 2026 at 2:00pm.