The Times - UK (2022-04-30)

6 saturday review Saturday April 30 2022 | the times

My favourite author or book

I jump around books a lot. I’m looking
forward to Douglas Stuart’s latest, Young
Mungo; I ate up Shuggie Bain. The author
I have probably read most of is Julian
Barnes — I love his expressive clarity.
Levels of Life had me sobbing on a train.

The book I’m reading

William Boyd’s Any Human Heart. It’s
completely enveloping, but I left it
somewhere six months ago so now I
have the painful process of rereading the
first half.

The book I
wish I had
written

We’re in the
business of
communication,
and bringing to
life the works
and world of
great artists
from the past is
fundamental. Bill
Bryson’s book on
Shakespeare, The
World as a Stage,
gives the flavour
of the time, the
excitement and
characters, without
ever demeaning
Shakespeare’s
genius. It should be
in every school.

The book I couldn’t finish

I know this is hypocritical for a
Wagner-lover, but it has to be The Lord
of the Rings. I found its density and
fake-profundity infuriating.

The book I’m ashamed I
haven’t read

Pretty much any Dickens; maybe seeing
this in print will motivate me to tackle
A Tale of Two Cities.

My favourite film

The Talented Mr Ripley. It’s a marvellous
evocation of place and beauty, with
brilliant storytelling. Wonderful, unusual
choices of music too. I showed it to my
wife recently who hadn’t seen it — it

perfect example of the emotional

resonance that opera can achieve.

The last piece of music that made

me cry

I listened again recently to Thomas

Beecham’s beautiful recording of

Puccini’s opera La bohème. Any great

performance of this piece is moving.

The pacing of comedy to deepest tragedy

is achingly beautiful.

The lyric I wish I’d written

“She keeps her Moët et Chandon in her

pretty cabinet./ ‘Let them eat cake,’ she

says, just like Marie Antoinette.” Freddie

Mercury unlocks his inner Noël Coward

on Queen’s Killer Queen.

The poem that saved me

The poems that resonate most with

me are often those I’ve discovered

through music. I discovered Emily

Dickinson’s Wild Nights — Wild Nights!

through John Adams’s Harmonium. It’s

the most beautiful, exuberant text,

ecstatically set.

The instrument I played

Piano, organ and clarinet. Although my

music-making was happiest as a child

singing in choirs.

The instrument I wish I’d

learnt

Cello or horn — they’re the

warm heart of the

orchestra.

The music that

cheers me up

Away from classical music, it’s probably

Queen or anything my son’s listening

to. It’s currently Foo Fighters and

Royal Blood.

hasn’t lost any

of its power

for me.

My favourite

play

I’d probably

say Oedipus

Rex. It’s

definitely the play I’ve seen most in

theatrical and operatic productions. I

was lucky enough to work with Frank

McGuinness when he translated the

text for Julian Anderson’s Thebans

trilogy at English National Opera.

Having grown up with the biblical-style

Victorian translations, I found Frank’s

version earthy, raw and human —

utterly thrilling.

The box set that I’m hooked on

I loved Succession, but had to give

up on series three as I found it just

too nihilistic. I’m rewatching a little of

House; it takes me back to my twenties.

It reminds me I must find out what lupus

and mono are.

My favourite TV series

At the moment, the American version

of The Office. My

son and I watch an

endless number of

episodes. The cast is

comedy gold — we

can’t stop laughing.

My favourite piece

of music

Tchaikovsky’s opera

Eugene Onegin.

Its depth of feeling,

romance and

melancholy get

lodged in me when

I’m around the

piece. It’s the

my culture fix

The conductor lets us into his cultural life

Edward

Gardner

evocative Jude Law in

The Talented Mr Ripley.

Left: Roland Wood as

Oedipus at the London

Coliseum in 2014

ALAMY; ALASTAIR MUIR/SHUTTERSTOCK; JULIO ETCHART/GETTY IMAGES

If I could own one painting it

would be...

JMW Turner’s A Wreck, with Fishing

Boats. I’m saturated easily in art

galleries, but hypnotised by Turner’s

unique brilliance. I’m in awe that any

of his seascapes could ever have been

created. They’re paintings that give me

the same feeling as music.

The place I feel happiest

My house in Norway that I share with

my wife. We were so fortunate to spend

most of the pandemic there, staring out

at the fjord.

My guiltiest cultural pleasure

Does wine count?

I’m having a fantasy dinner party,

I’ll invite these artists and

authors...

I’m completely content to have dinner

with my family and close friends for the

rest of my life, but if pushed, Berlioz,

Caravaggio and Sarah Bernhardt. And if

things get a little feisty, Jürgen Klopp for

the voice of impassioned reason. When

I’m annoyed I tell myself to be a little

more Klopp, a little less José Mourinho.

And I’ll put on this music...

I don’t listen to music as background,

but my wife sometimes puts on Paris

café music. It makes me happy.

The show that I’m looking

forward to

The Wreckers at Glyndebourne. I’m

intrigued by this unrecognised

masterpiece, and know that it will be

given its best opportunity to shine there.

I wasted an evening watching...

So many terrible crime series with cheap

cliffhangers to get you hooked. They’re

the penny dreadfuls of the 21st century.

Overrated

I have huge respect for anyone who can

create on a blank piece of paper, so any

reservations I have I put down to myself.

Underrated

We live in a time, I hope, where

technology allows

us to explore

fully our own

tastes, and

not be told

what we

should like.

It’s extraordinary

to me now that

when I was growing

up Tchaikovsky

and Puccini were

considered superficial

because of their

emotional core.

Edward Gardner

conducts the London

Philharmonic on April 30 (a

celebration of Oliver Knussen)

and May 6 (Mahler’s Das Lied

von der Erde). The LPO’s 22/23

season can be booked now

(lpo.org.uk). He also conducts

the Bergen Philharmonic at

the Edinburgh International

Festival, Aug 14-15 (eif.co.uk)

h o f M p I s R

defiitl th l

usic, it’s probably

y son’s listening

ighters and

ate most with

e discovered

vered Emily

s — Wild Nights!

Harmonium. It’s

uberant text,

layed

net. Although my

ppiest as a child

ish I’d

re the

We live in a time, I

tech

us

s

It’s

to me

when I

up Tcha

and Puc

consider

because o

emotional

Edward Gar

conducts the L

Philharmonic o

celebration of Oli

and May 6 (Mahle

von der Erde). The

season can be bo

(lpo.org.uk). He

the Bergen Phil

the Edinburgh I

Festival, Aug 14-

killer queen

Freddie Mercury

in 1986. Left:

A Wreck, with

Fishing Boats

by Turner, 1840