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Daniel Libeskind

Sue Lawley's castaway is architect Daniel Libeskind.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the architect Daniel Libeskind. Daniel Libeskind's parents were Polish Jews. Daniel himself was a prodigiously talented musician, but the family couldn't afford the attention a piano would draw to them and so he learned the accordion. In Israel he won a prestigious music scholarship - Daniel Barenboim and Itzhak Perlmen were other recipients - and the family moved to New York. In his teens Libeskind dropped music suddenly and completely and turned to architecture:

In 1989 he won the commission to build a Jewish Museum in Berlin and it opened in 2001 amid much controversy. Closer to home he has designed and built the Imperial War Museum North at Trafford, Manchester - its design based on a shattered globe to reflect the themes of conflict. One of his most controversial designs in this country is the proposed V&A extension known as The Spiral. It has been variously described as 'a public lavatory', 'a pile of boxes' and 'quartz crystals'. His most recent commission and his biggest project to date is the complex to be built at the site of the destroyed twin towers in New York.

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

Favourite track: Aria from Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: The Prisons (Le Carceri): The Complete First and Second States by Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Luxury: Pencil and paper

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 4 Jul 2003 09:00
±«Óătv Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Requiem in D minor - Introitus

    Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Ancient Music & Choir

    • Mozart Requiem.
    • Decca.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130

    Orchestra: Emmerson String Quartet

    • Beethoven - String Quartets.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Atrium Musicæ de Madrid

    Fragments of Ancient Greek Music

    • Musique de la Grece Antique.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • Giacinto Scelsi

    Pfhat

    Orchestra: Orchestra of Radio & Television of Krakow

    • Aio-Pfhat-Konx-Om-Pax.
    • Accord.

  • Alan Marks

    Vexations

    • Collected Items From a Silent Dream.
    • Decca.

  • Kurt Schwitters

    Vierter Teil

    • Ursonate.
    • Wergo.

  • Ornette Coleman

    Free Jazz

    Orchestra: Ornette Coleman Double Quartet

    • Free Jazz.
    • Atlantic.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Goldberg Variations - Aria

      Soloist: Glenn Gould

      • Goldberg Variations.
      • Sony Classical.

  • Book Choice

    • The Prisons (Le Carceri): The Complete First and Second States - Giovanni Battista Piranesi

  • Luxury Choice

    • Pencil and paper

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Daniel Libeskind

Broadcasts

  • Sun 29 Jun 2003 11:15
    ±«Óătv Radio 4
  • Fri 4 Jul 2003 09:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 4

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