Author Archives: John

I’ve just been reading a biography of Vaughan Williams – by Keith Alldritt – Vaughan Williams: Composer, Radical, Patriot – a Biography. I really enjoyed reading it – occasionally it’s a bit irritating with the historical recaps, and references, but it tells well the remarkable story of this man’s artistic journey from approx 1905 toContinue reading “Vaughan Williams 1”

The things I wasn’t able to go to in 2020 include: Halle  RVW Symphony No 9 Bournemouth Symphony Elektra with Catherine Foster Mahler 3, Halle/Elder Madama Butterfly – Halle/Elder Christ on the Mount of Olives – Halle/Elder Busoni Piano concerto with Igor Levit Beethoven Missa Solemnis BBC Philharmonic Messiaen Piano Recital, Kings Place Elektra –Continue reading “What I’ve missed”

There were two notable broadcast/streamed events at this time – the Opera North Fidelio and the ENO Mozart Requiem. The Opera North Fidelio was a knock-out – again, as with the Halle in February, Rachel Nicholls was a glorious Leonore, and Toby Spence surprised me with the power of his voice and general presence asContinue reading “Thoughts in lockdown 5 – November and December 2020”

Two holidays!!! I spent 5 days in Wales with my friend Chris. His place is very isolated, behind Barmouth, and towards the head of a valley, looking south – so that you can see, lit in the setting sun in the late afternoon, Cader Idris, one of the larger hills thereabouts. He lives without electricity,Continue reading “Thoughts during lockdown 4 – September/October 2020 Live Music and holidays”

In mid-August I spent 4 days in Launde Abbey on a personal rather than organised retreat. I like the monastic-type punctuation of the day with services (though it’s not a monastery, just the retreat centre for the dioceses of Peterborough and of Leicester –and going to a Compline at 9pm in the gathering darkness with flickeringContinue reading “Thoughts during lockdown 3 – August 2020”

In July – one of the ‘pleasures’ – relatively speaking –  of lockdown has been the time to look a lot at streamed performance, and programmes on Youtube etc For instance this is a lovely and recent film about Mahler’s First Symphony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5DfYcT5icY and here is a super performance by Lenny Bernstein of Das LiedContinue reading “Thoughts during lockdown 2 – July 2020”

And in June I began to realise the full consequences of Covid 19 and lockdown for musicians  – their well-being, livelihoods and income – and live music, and those who organise it, and love it, and began to feel despondent. Though there are various things I continue to do, with varying degrees of commitment, theContinue reading “Thoughts during lockdown 1”

March 2020 before lockdown – as doom approached, the main things I went to in March musically were the Opera North Marriage of Figaro and Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. I enjoyed the Weill piece a lot. It’s a kind of missing link between Porgy and Bess, and Bernstein/Sondheim – still with some of the WeimarContinue reading “March before lockdown, 2020”

February 2020 – still oblivious of the impending lockdown and of months without live music, I went to the Halle’s performance of Beethoven 9 with Mark Elder conducting. I thought the finale was super, but the slow movement was, I thought, too fast and the first two movements neither had the energy or the powerContinue reading “February 2020”

I had another packed weekend in London at the end of January 2020 / beginning of February with Mitsuko Uchida as pianist and director of the Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra performing Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17, K453, Widmann’s Choralquartett , and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482. This was just about as superlative asContinue reading “Late January/ early February”