The actor, best known for his roles in A Room with a View and Four Weddings and a Funeral, shares five classical works that touched him deeply <\/p>
Simon Callow CBE is one of Britain\u2019s most popular and recognisable actors, but he is also a writer, broadcaster and theatre director.<\/strong><\/p>\n His work in films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral<\/em> and Shakespeare in Love<\/em> made him a household name; his lifelong passion for classical music has seen him directing opera productions and appearing alongside various orchestras around the world as well as fronting documentaries and writing about composers and their work. He is one of the narrators in a modern passion by Francis Greer, Sword in the Soul<\/em>, with words by Rowan Williams, out now on Orchid Classics.<\/p>\n Here is Simon on the classical music that has touched him the most deeply.<\/p>\n \u2018My grandmother, who had a wonderful contralto voice, owned an enormous collection of rather battered 78s which I grew up listening to. I discovered Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra\u2019s recording of Sibelius<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s The Swan of Tuonela<\/em>, a work of such mystery and enchantment that it cast a spell on me and I listened to it over and over again. The music transported me to another realm of experience and imagination, and once I discovered classical music I became what you might call a nerd, or trainspotter!<\/p>\n