'Desert Island Discs has been one of my favorite things to listen to for years, and I’ve spent many hours listening on the radio and to old archive episodes; there’s over 2000 episodes online! As such I shall be sticking rigidly to the format! So here are my 8 discs, with books and luxuries added at the bottom.'
Louise Goodwin, Principal Timpani / Percussion

No 1: 'In My Life'
The Beatles
I could have easily filled up all 8 discs with Beatles songs… It’s such a cliché as I’m from Liverpool, but I think that they are the greatest band that ever lived and love all of their music. This is such a beautiful song and will always remind me of Liverpool with its nostalgic lyrics and beautiful melody.

No 2: Schubert, Symphony No 8 ‘Unfinished Symphony’
London Classical Players, Sir Roger Norrington
I’m taking this symphony mainly for its second movement ‘Andante con moto’, which is just such a beautiful, elegant and precious bit of music.

No 3: ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free’
Nina Simone
Just... what a voice she has. I would find this hugely uplifting on my desert island! That piano intro, the clicks come in, the drums and the brass.. I would be singing this at the top of my voice.

No 4: ‘Mr Tambourine Man’
Bob Dylan
My dad has a very extensive vinyl collection, and when I was a teenager we would spend ages listening to Dylan albums, and with some fancy piece of technology he would transfer the vinyl tracks to CD so that I could put them on my iPod (crackles included!)… I hope I’m not getting him into trouble here… Mr Tambourine man was and still is my favourite Dylan track.

No 5: Beethoven Symphony No 3 ‘Eroica’
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
I feel like you get quite a lot of minutes for your pick when you choose whole symphonies as one of your discs, but it’s allowed in the rules, I checked! Beethoven 3; each movement is great and there would be plenty of material to listen to and think about on the island. Particular shout out to the second movement.

No 6: Mahler, Symphony No 2
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle
Need I say more? There is SO much to listen to in this symphony, I would never get bored of it. Maybe I’ve spent too much time hanging out with brass players, but a particular highlight is not anything in the timps or percussion, but rather the beautiful brass chorales, particularly in the 4^th movement.

No 7: Wagner, Meistersingers Act III ‘Walter’s Prize Song’
Bavarian State Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Or to give it it’s full title, ‘Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen’, I believe. I think it would probably be cheating to take the full opera as it certainly doesn’t fit on one disc! I actually don’t have much experience with opera, but saw a full dress rehearsal of the Royal Opera House production of Meistersingers in 2017 and it was a really transformative experience.

No 8: ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’
The Beach Boys
I just love that intro. We had the CD of ‘Pet Sounds’ in my mum’s car and would listen to it all the time as a child. I love every track on this album but for some reason this is just the most feel-good. The Beach Boys make me think of summer and sun, and maybe I could be inspired to craft my own surf board and take up surfing as a new hobby?

Of course I would now be offered the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible, and to choose a book of my own. I think I would have to take a cook book so that I could sit and imagine nice meals and maybe get some inspiration with how to cook some plants from the island. I recently was bought ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ by Julia Childs, and already I’m finding parts of it really funny (am I meant to?), so I would probably take that to finish.

The luxury I would pick is a bit boring, just a pen and paper which I think would come in handy.

And obviously the disc I would save would have to be the Beatles!