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Professor George Steiner

Sue Lawley's castaway is academic and critic Professor George Steiner.

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Professor George Steiner. One of the most prominent intellectuals of our time, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how the English academic establishment has taken decades to accept him despite his early popularity as a Cambridge lecturer, and about the problem of reconciling the love of beauty with great acts of evil.
He'll also be describing how his family left Austria for France in the 1920s and how he was one of only two boys to survive in his class in the largely Jewish lycee he attended in Paris.

When asked to select just one record to take to the island, Professor George said that for him, it was all or nothing.

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

Book: 500 year ahead calendar and appointment book
Luxury: Computer

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40 minutes

Last on

Fri 19 Jul 199609:05
BBC Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Richard Wagner

    Lohengrin

  • George Frideric Handel

    But thanks be to God (sung in German) (from Messiah)

    • Lieder Recital.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Anton Bruckner

    Symphony No. 7 in E major

    • Bruckner: Symphonies 7 & 9.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Le spectre de la rose (from Les nuits d'été)

    • Regine Crespin; Works By Berlioz, Ravel.
    • Decca.

  • Erik Satie

    Trois Gymnopédies - No. 1

    Performer: Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse.
    • Works By Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin.
    • EMI.

  • Michael Tippett

    King Priam

    • King Priam.
    • Chandos.

  • Samuel Barber

    Agnus Dei

    • Voices Of Silence.
    • RCA Classics.

  • Édith Piaf

    Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien

    • Edith Piaf; 25th Anniversary Vol 3.
    • Columbia.

  • Book Choice

    • 500 year ahead calendar and appointment book

  • Luxury Choice

    • Computer

Credits

PresenterSue Lawley
Interviewed GuestGeorge Steiner

Broadcasts

  • Sun 18 Feb 199612:15
    BBC Radio 4
  • Fri 23 Feb 199609:05
    BBC Radio 4
  • Fri 19 Jul 199609:05
    BBC Radio 4

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