Derset Island Discs

This is a Radio 4 programme which I have as a pod-cast. Not only do they have some very good people on you also get to hear some eclectic music choices.

I will have on my desert island, full works of Shakespeare and the Bible to that I would add the complete works of Jane Austen, I can then re-re-read my favourites and finally put the character of Emma to bed (several attempts have yet to see closure).

My one luxury is a tough one based on what is on the island already and what I can get away with. But I think a trunk, like those you would take on a cruise and it would be full of clothes, jewellery, make-up. A little bit of glamour does not go amiss.

My selection of songs is as eclectic as those I have heard over recent programmes.

1. Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams - because it helps me meditate and also I can picture the Gloucestershire countryside through every bar of the music.
2. Enigma Variations by Sir Edward Elgar - I could have chosen any number of Elgar pieces but this has everything. Also my pops did a programme on it and they dramatised the different pieces of music so I can visualise that when listening to it.
3. It Had To Be You by Harry Connick Jr - this was played at my wedding and I had loved it before and love it still. I am a fan of Harry Connick as a musician and an actor. I have seen him several times in concert and would love to see him again.
4. Suite for Cello by J S Bach - another piece of classical music that just lets me float. I could have chosen a number of other Bach pieces but this one also produces very vivid pictures for me.
5. Empty Chairs At Empty Tables by Michael Ball from Les Miserables - one of my favourite musicals and this just gets to the heart of the story for me.
6. Tainted Love (12" mix) by Soft Cell - takes me back to every disco and nightclub I went to in the 80's, the soundtrack to my youth. I could again choose many other tracks but this is an iconic song.
7. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by The Andrew Sisters - I also like the Bette Midler version but I want the feeling of the war, just remember what so many did for freedom.
8. Well, Did You Ever by Crosby and Sinatra from High Society - the transfer from old school to the Rat Pack. Again it just has some lovely word pictures.

Now I have to have one piece that would save over the others and that would be the Lark Ascending.