Category: Music

Christopher’s Diary

I thought you might like to catch up on what I’ve been up to. If not, you’d better come back tomorrow.

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SRO

This is an LP I bought in the 1960s. SRO signifies Standing Room Only, a reference to Herb Alpert’s popularity. My taste in music has evolved since then. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-fifties that I began to enjoy Wagner.

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The Go-Between

What’s up, after reading this remarkable post i am too cheerful to share my experience here with mates This is the sort of spam that arrives. It is atypical only in that usually it’s a desire to share my stuff with their mates, if they have any, and the World Wide Web. A reader has… Continue reading The Go-Between

Piano Concerto

The opening chords of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 are instantly recognisable; you can listen to the whole piece at the end of this post. The reaction it evoked when it was first played may come as a surprise to you.

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The Guards Chapel

On a Sunday morning in June 1944 the Guards Chapel was hit by a flying bomb during Matins. The whole building was destroyed, except the apse, and 121 people died.

Sounds of the ’60s

Everyone can remember the first record they ever bought. I was reminded of this by a reader telling me that her’s was Lily the Pink, see London House Prices, mine was A Hard Day’s Night.

Thoroughly Modern Manon

Puccini’s Manon Lescaut was screened live from the Met in HD, as they frequently remind us, in cinemas on Saturday.

Wiggers

On Sunday I went to a concert at the Wigmore Hall. Wiggers works its socks off: they put on about 400 performances annually and don’t just sit back and enjoy the million pounds they get in funding from the Arts Council; they both raise money and sell tickets – hoorah!

Fulham Opera

As English National Opera struggles to fill their £5 million annual deficit a new opera house is born. This is St. John’s church in Fulham, West London.

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