Main content

Bernice Rubens

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer Bernice Rubens.

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Bernice Rubens. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood with musically-gifted brothers and sister, and how, despite having written 17 novels - one of them won the Booker prize, another was also shortlisted - she still sees herself as merely a successful novelist who failed to become a musician.

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

Favourite track: String Quintet C Major Second Movement by Franz Schubert
Book: Poems For Joy & Sermons For Solace by John Donne
Luxury: Daughter's painting

Available now

40 minutes

Last on

Fri 13 Sep 1991 09:05

Music Played

  • AntonΓ­n DvoΕ™Γ΅k

    Cello Concerto in B minor - 2nd movement

    Soloist: Mstislav Rostropovich Orchestra: The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

    • Dvorak: Cello Rostropovich.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • Franz Liszt

    Piano Sonata in B minor

    Soloist: Harold Rubens

  • Ignacy Jan Paderewski

    Minuet No 1 in G Major

    Soloist: Paderewski

    • Ignace Jan Paderewski Performs In 1906.
    • Welte Legacy.
  • Sahron Nassauer

    One Big Tree

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Partita for Solo Violin No. 3 in E major - 3rd movement

    Soloist: Jascha Heifetz

    • Bach - Sonatas And Partitas - Heifetz.
    • RCA Classics.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Mi tradi quell'alma (from Don Giovanni)

    Soloist: Lucia Popp

    • Mozart Operatic Arias/Lucia Popp.
    • EMI.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Violin Concerto in D minor - 3rd movement

    Soloist: Jascha Heifetz Orchestra: The Chaicago Symphony

    • RCA Classics.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Franz Schubert

      String Quintet in C major - 2nd movement

      Soloist: Kurt Reher Orchestra: The Hollywood String Quartet

      • Schubert: String Quintet/Hollywood String Quartet.
      • HMV.
  • Book Choice

    • Poems For Joy & Sermons For Solace - John Donne

  • Luxury Choice

    • Daughter's painting

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Bernice Rubens

Broadcasts

  • Sun 8 Sep 1991 12:15
  • Fri 13 Sep 1991 09:05

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast