Sir John Pritchard

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 July 1983

⏱️ 44 minutes

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Summary

Sir John Pritchard, now Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, has worked with many orchestras in many countries, but he remembers above all the many happy summers he spent with Glyndebourne Opera, where he started as a repetiteur and eventually became the Musical Director. In conversation with Roy Plomley, he talks about his long career and chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Don Giovanni Act 2 Scene 5 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Lucia novels by E F Benson Luxury: Italian wine

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.
0:05.0	For Wright's reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.0	The program was originally broadcast in 1983 and the presenter was Roy Plumley. This week are cast away as a distinguished conductor, currently chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Pritchard.
0:38.0	Sir John, do you play music a term?
0:41.0	After hearing it all day long long do you play discs when you
0:43.6	Oh yes I do and usually since I don't have time to go to chamber music or song
0:50.6	recitals or things like that.
0:52.6	I love to catch up on that repertory,
0:55.1	which I was really brought up with.
0:57.3	My father was a professional violinist,
0:59.5	taught me to play in string quartets, string trios, much against my will. I wanted to play in string quartet string trios much against my will I wanted to play the piano
1:05.7	But no there was no place in chamber music in his opinion for a piano
1:09.5	So I had to play the viola and I remember all those works so well that I very much like to play them.
1:16.3	Have you a big collection?
1:18.3	It's in various parts of the world.
1:20.1	The trouble is the record that I want to hear is always somewhere else.
1:23.0	Well, you've got a miserable ration of just eight on your island.
1:28.0	What's the first one you've chosen?
1:30.0	Well, the first one is from Verde's opera in Malo and Mascala, and this has a special place in my
1:38.0	affections because it marked my debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden more years ago than either you
1:45.0	and I will be kind enough to recollect now, but it was the opening of the season and it was a very great
1:51.7	thing for a young conductor to be entrusted with this work. I can't put so e,
	...

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