A Fanfare for Europe

In January 1973 Denmark, Ireland and the UK joined the European Union, joining Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The UK electorate were as divided then as they are now, although a largely north European trading bloc doesn’t seem too scary considering what it has now become.

Labourers in the Vineyard

The parable of the labourers in the vineyard (Matthew 20 v 1-16) seems to have relevance today. Without wanting to sound a sanctimonious prig (while doing so), when I laboured in the City I tried to do what was morally right. Additionally I tried not to mind what my colleagues were paid. I was only… Continue reading Labourers in the Vineyard

Manchester and London

This post is about money, not music. Friends tell me they pay to have their money managed. Some realise they need to choose funds but don’t trust themselves to pick them – there are so many.

No Darkness but Ignorance

The Statues of London is a large, heavy and expensive coffee table book. It was recommended by a reader and in spite of its drawbacks I’m pleased to own the tome.

Another Opera

La Bohème was first performed at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice in May 1897. It got good notices but was not performed here until May 1970. Now it is rarely performed. This is true but I am trying to trick you. Let’s start again.

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An Abbey

Still in Dorset we went on a church crawl today kicking off with Milton Abbey. It is beside what is now Milton Abbey School. 

An Opera

Aptly it is piddling with rain in the Piddle valley, where I am staying. On Tuesday evening I was taken to Rossini’s Le comte Ory.

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Fidelio

Fidelio at the Proms last Friday was thoroughly satisfactory. I had last seen it at the Proms in 2009 with Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and a good cast.

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Cydalima perspectalis

Everything in the garden has been looking good. The new planter has been delivered and some English lavender planted. (Tasteful repro-Adams or cement kitsch?) In the back garden the agapanthus has put on a good show and I was metaphorically hunkered down on my horticultural haunches. Then disaster struck; cydalima perspectalis.

Films on Release

Jean-Pierre Léaud – does the name ring a bell? If you are a cineaste you will be shouting “yes, 400 chimes”. He was the boy in François Truffaut’s autobiographical 1959 film, Les Quatre Cents Coups. He went on to make four more films in the series depicting the same character, Antoine Doinel, growing up.