Something like my seventieth visit to St Thomas in recent years (routine today). Time for another portrait of the fons et origo of most of the UKβs current evil.
10.03.2026 15:13
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Something like my seventieth visit to St Thomas in recent years (routine today). Time for another portrait of the fons et origo of most of the UKβs current evil.
Much of the criticism of BBC Radio 3 is couched in unacceptable terms, often thoroughly misogynistic. But I am really upset the station controller blasts out his views without acknowledging that some of us who have listened for decades may have something of value to say.
A guy on an app asks if I am having a βtourist dayβ when I mention Iβm planning a couple of gallery visits for tomorrow. Itβs easy to forget the chasms between different human experiences.
Finally eating a delayed-from-last-year Christmas dinner, so merry Christmas for 2025 everyone (if you celebrate it).
I visited for shortened Siegfried in the 1990s, pre-smart phone and without a sat navβ¦. Black tie, paper maps, racing down country lanes dodging cows and sheepβ¦.
This should be a fascinating listen. Howeverβ¦.I know Peter Warlock/Hesletine was into βoccult practicesβ but I think even he would be surprised to find he had written music in 13th century Paris. Apple Classical fails again.
Two evenings ahead on the far bank of the Thames: Mozart symphonies tonight at the flawed Festival Hall; Rattiganβs Man and Boy tomorrow at the National - one of my βtop tenβ arts buildings in what Iβve seen of the world so far.
With Solemnity, from Ben Johnstonβs String Quartet no. 7. More freaky tuning. classical.music.apple.com/gb/album/110...
So many films/tv series copy themes from this, but the original is gripping. youtu.be/glBLW_0sve0?...
Always sorry when passing Neal Street to remember Neal Street East, the store owned by the great Christina Smith: it avoided ethnocentrism, had an endless supply of wonders, and was taken away by greedy property developers to make way for a generic shoe shop.
Γliane Radigue 1932-2026 classical.music.apple.com/gb/album/732...
New weather in London: Iβm sure youβre all singing Lili Boulangerβs Hymne au Soleil to celebrate classical.music.apple.com/gb/album/173...
To bed, with Kenneth Kirschnerβs βJuly 19, 2024β. open.spotify.com/album/3Eljou...
A goal-less draw always seems best to me⦠Pierrot was danced very well indeed, quite different moods across the two casts. I would have preferred it sung in English, so the rest of the audience had some idea what they were listening to.
It is indeed, with the composer herself as soloist.
Chill time.
Am guessing the @southbankcentre.bsky.social chair and board will be all attending the BAFTAs, so they can mingle with their definition of glamour. Not heard anything from them about the Classical Mix tape with their many resident ensembles a few weeks ago.
I think her music works much better with a narrative or plot, rather than without based on the last work I heard, so will be keen to see this.
Thanks for this.
I saw the Cosi/Mahagonny pair also. But I donβt know one end of a sports pitch from another, especially confusing when they look the same.
Some things work staged in the round, some (sadly) do not. Especially when the audience seems full of chucklers.
Orange Tree theatre lovely small space, but crumbs it needs an open window to get some air in there.
Another gloomy evening, hot spells mixed with squalls. Medium-key existential dread. Perfect for heading to the wild, wild west* for some Strindberg.
*of London.
A pleasure, hope they are useful finds. Thereβs a recent 2025 work by Joan La Barbara βWindowsβ at 00:08:30 on this edition of the New Music Show available for two more days www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Chamass-Kyrou
Chin
Hildegard
La Barbara
Lim
Miller
Oram
Radigue
Saariaho
Saunders
Shaw
ΓorvaldsdΓ³ttir
Ustvolskaya
Westerkamp
In @vanmusicmag.bsky.social on 12 Feb: my ranking/round-up of 345 Darius #Milhaud pieces! Over four months, I listened to or read as many of his 443 opus numbers as I could find. Today and tomorrow Iβll post highlights: as this is Milhaud, itβs going to be a LONG thread 1/
RevΓ©, Ospiova, Junker after another phenomenal performance of Pierrot Lunaire. Quite different mood compared to the other cast. Very lucky to have seen both in the one week.
Gloomy evening, squalls, medium existential dread. Perfect for another visit to RBOβs Schoenberg/Giraud/Tetley Pierrot Lunaire, with the second cast.
KurtΓ‘gβs Officium breve: a miraculously condensed set of four memorials in a larger memorial, and equally a homage to Webern. classical.music.apple.com/gb/album/158...
