Category: Music

Two Masses

The hunting season has opened in the Tarn and on Sunday morning local sportsmen were out in pursuit of deer and boar (sangliers). Not a good day to be out walking in the woods with Reggie.

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Categorised as Music, Travel

Slovenian Rhapsody

Another day, another walk to Richmond. It was high water so no wildlife to see on the foreshore. It was Monday morning so some litter left by picknickers after a warm and sunny weekend. Home in time for a shower, a swift weak G&T and tube transfer to Sloane Square for a lunchtime chamber music… Continue reading Slovenian Rhapsody

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Categorised as Music

Prom Virgins

I was a little surprised that neither of my guests on Thursday evening had been to the Proms before, especially as one is a little older than me, but they do live in Ireland.

The Hills Are Alive …

The Malvern hills are alive with the sound of music. “ … There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require.” So said Edward Elgar.

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Categorised as Music, Travel

Divan

Last week Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra were back at the Proms. How on earth did the orchestra get such a silly name? The Penguin Cafe Orchestra is a silly name too.

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Categorised as Music, Poetry

Here to Havana

Where to Havana? The bandstand built in 1869 for Kensington Gardens was moved to Hyde Park in 1886  and still has concerts. On Sunday Here to Havana were doing their stuff.

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Categorised as Music

London Views

What does London mean to you? A place to live, a place to work, a place to visit? Noisy, polluted, overcrowded? Spacious parks, world-class museums, music, theatre, shopping and restaurants? On Tuesday evening I sought the opinion of two people who, like me, came to live in London.

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At the Proms

To the Albert Hall on Thursday evening for my second Prom: the Hallé, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, playing Wagner, Debussy and Stravinsky.

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Categorised as Music

Medieval Madness

I saw Ariadne auf Naxos again on Wednesday at Holland Park; a very different kettle of fish to Longborough. This time the players were allocated caravans to change in, not dissimilar to the ones given to Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren when they were making Arabesque in Wales.

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Categorised as Music

Devil in the Detail

I have just finished the last of the three books by Frank Gardner that I was given for my birthday: Crisis. The first two are autobiographical and this is a thriller with an unimaginative title.