Today’s Desert Island Disc conversation is with my friend Stephanie. We've known Stephanie for more than 20 years and she luckily is NOT yet another in the long line of Bronx High School of Science grads that we know (that makes her so much more interesting.) Stephanie is one of the few people I know that understands the maxim that cooking is alchemy but baking is a science. She takes her baking very seriously (and gets very good results.)
As I mentioned previously, Stephanie and her very lovely husband, Michael were very sympathetic ears for us during a very difficult time in our lives and we will always be very grateful to them.
Stephanie is currently enjoying her children (I can make no statement at this time about her enjoyment of her husband) and re-evaluating her profession career, (that's her story and she's sticking with it.)
Music: (in no particular order)
1.) Mozart Requiem Mass in D Minor (or, if I can't have the whole thing the Introitus and Kyrie)
I am humbled and made small by this music. It is the embodiment of a direct conversation between man and god. I'm not a religious person, other than thinking that something must have created the universe and then I stop thinking because my brain begins to hurt, but this piece makes me fall to my knees intellectually and emotionally. Since I am a Jew, this music won't be played at my funeral but I wish it could be. Keep that in mind when my desiccated remains are removed from the island.
2.) Schubert Quintet in A Major (Trout Quintet)
Maybe it's something about the instrumentation (piano plus strings) since I don't love string pieces but I love this music. Along with the pure enjoyment, I like this work because it makes me think my way through the piece. Small ensembles let you follow the individual voices. Somehow this became an important piece of music for me while we were going through infertility treatment. I listened to it in the bath the night before one of those little exploratory surgeries. On the island, this would keep me in touch with my classical side.
3.) These Are Days 10,000 Maniacs
A happy song that seems to express the hopes and dreams of your youth and the sheer joy the memories bring. I love to sing along. In harmony.
4.) Express Yourself Madonna
I love my girl Madonna. Total girl power in this song. I'll be dancing under the island palm trees and remembering a great video.
5. ) I Don't Want To Be Gavin DeGraw
I wish every teenager could swallow and live this one. It's just a great anthem to be yourself. Singing this one out loud.
6.) Beautiful Christina Aguilera
One of the most beautiful songs ever recorded, IMHO. If I had one of those genie wishes it would be to be able to sing like Christina on this recording. Again, another anthem to loving yourself. I will need the support while I am alone on the island.
7.) Accidentally in Love Counting Crows
Favorite line, "baby I surrender to the strawberry ice cream never ever end of all this love." I mean so silly but it captures all the over the top happy feelings love brings. Singing this one out loud too.
8.) Into the Mystic Van Morrison
When I am sick or tired and need a little lullaby this tune will be there to comfort me. It had a special place in my life in college. It was hard to choose which Van Morrison to pick but he had to be represented.
What was one piece of music did you not get to pick?:
Sad that I had to leave out Warren Zevon but choosing one was completely impossible and the one that kept coming to mind was Knocking on Heaven's Door from his last album. It is too emotionally raw but that's how I think of Zevon now. Too much mortality for my island life.
Have your musical tastes changed over the years?:
Music has never been like candy for me but more like a gourmet treat. Funny, though, because I think my family is more of the candy type. They will wear out songs. I think in many ways this is why REM didn't make my list -- Michael played the songs to death. (Editor's note: No REM song made Michael's list.)
Growing up, my dad would pretty much blast Classical music whenever he played it. He was a salesman for electronics equipment so the way you can tell what you've got is good is cranking it up, right? Saturdays were blast the Met Opera days. I found little to like and still struggle to like any complicated opera. I'm all about the hit arias and all the overtures when no one is singing. Being a classical musician for all of my formative years, I just naturally sought out listening to music and then studying it when I had the chance. I had to play a ton of French Romantic and Modern music on the flute as I got more advanced in my studies and grew to absolutely hate it. I love being part of an orchestra so I like orchestral music and those few moments when you get a bright glimpse of a flute passage.
I find that I am much less likely to listen to Classical music than I used to be even though I am now playing the flute again in an ensemble. The blame will rest completely on my former dentist in the City. He played WQXR nonstop and I have had a lot of tooth problems so, in a quite Pavlovian way, I have come to associate Classical music with discomfort, especially Baroque music. Other than that, I don't think much has changed. From my late teens on I have always preferred alternative but was always appreciate of pop, blues, jazz, even some country. Wait! I forgot! I am a bigger fan than I used to be of Broadway show tunes. Drives the family crazy! I drive the minivan sometimes just because it's got Sirius XM and the Broadway channel. (I used to think people apologized about their classical music choices. Nope, it's their secret love of show tunes.)
What Book would you take with you?:
I struggled much more with my book selection. My favorite novel, House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, would make me cry too often and that would be a bit dangerous on a lonely desert island. I've re-read House of Mirth and like so many other things in life, it has became a more nuanced for me. Rather than my original view of Lily Bart's fate was all a result of the lack of freedom and rights for women, I saw how trapped everyone really was by social convention.
So, I am selecting a bit of garbage! No, not Fifty Shades of Grey. I choose Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It is the first book of a seven part series, a blend of historical fiction, romance, and time travel. So, a little something to chew on while I am alone. Other than House of Mirth, it's probably the only novel I have ever read twice.
What one luxury item would you bring with you?:
I originally wrote champagne but then I got to thinking. Despite the fact it is my favorite beverage and goes so well with EVERYTHING, including all the fresh seafood I will be consuming on the island, when push comes to shove nothing beats a wonderfully soft bed furnished with luxury bedding (Frette linens) including down pillows. But a Westin Heavenly Bed is fine with me.
I need a good night's sleep more than anything else in the entire world. Ask Michael.
No comments:
Post a Comment