Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn shares his musical passions with Michael Berkeley and talks about his career, which spans novels, philosophy, Russian translation, and his celebrated farces.
The playwright and novelist Michael Frayn shares his musical passions with Michael Berkeley.
Michael Frayn is an acute observer of the absurdities and pain of the human condition, and his writing career has spanned journalism, novels, philosophy, Russian translation, and plays both philosophical and farcical. Noises Off, his 1982 farce about a farce, has become one of the twentieth century's best loved and most successful plays and is frequently described as the funniest farce ever written. Equally praised have been his philosophical plays such as Copenhagen and Democracy.
He tells Michael about his childhood in Surrey, which partly inspired his award-winning novel Spies, his time in the army learning Russian, and the pain and pleasure of farce - the most technically demanding of all literary forms.
And he shares his lifelong love of classical music, choosing pieces by Beethoven, Prokofiev, Mozart, Mahler, and Brahms - and a piece by his late mother-in-law Muriel Herbert.
Producer: Jane Greenwood
A Loftus production for 91热爆 Radio 3.
Last on
Clip
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Michael Frayn on a hair-raising premiere
Duration: 00:43
Music Played
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Sonata in F major, Op.24 (Spring) - 1st mvt: Allegro
Performer: Itzhak Perlman. Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy. -
Sergey Prokofiev
Violin Concerto no.1 in D major, Op.19 - 1st mvt: Andantino
Performer: David Oistrakh. Orchestra: State Academic Symphony Orchestra of The Russian Federation. Conductor: Kyrill Kondrashin. -
Gustav Mahler
Ich atmet' einen linden Duft; Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder (Ruckert-Lieder)
Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Karl Bohm. Singer: Dietrich Fischer鈥怐ieskau. -
Muriel Herbert
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Singer: James Gilchrist. Performer: David Owen Norris. -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Lo Sposo Deluso - overture
Orchestra: Antwerp Transparent Chamber Opera. Conductor: Hans Rotman. -
Johannes Brahms
String Sextet in G major, Op.36 - 2nd mvt: Scherzo
Ensemble: Raphael Ensemble. -
Bob Brookmeyer
Open Country
Ensemble: Gerry Mulligan Quartet.
Broadcasts
- Sun 10 Dec 2017 12:0091热爆 Radio 3
- Sun 1 Jul 2018 12:0091热爆 Radio 3
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