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Monthly Archives: January 2012
W.A. Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte – Royal Opera House, 30th January 2012
Cosi Fan Tutte W.A. Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte Last night I was very lucky to see once again Jonathan Miller’s considered, affecting and touching production of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte at the Royal Opera House. Time has been kind … Continue reading
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Some reflections on the politics of poverty and the poverty of politics.
Poverty, Charity and Obeisance I heard the word Rickets used on the Today programme this morning. Fifty years ago when I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s Rickets were, like unemployment, something that belonged to the past…admittedly it … Continue reading
Posted in Politics and related subjects
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Robert Parsons c.1530 to January 1572
Robert Parsons c.1530 to January 1572 Thomas Tallis and William Byrd are the Tudor composers that most come to mind and music of the court and chapel are thought of generally in terms of the reigns of Henry VIII and … Continue reading
Shirley Verrett RIP and Don Carlos
I discovered this in an idle moment …. Shirley Verrett was one of the greatest mezzo sopranos of the twentieth century who sadly died last year. Here she’s singing Princess Eboli’s great aria from Act IV Verdi’s Don Carlos….O don … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, TV and Radio and other media
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Letters to America
These will now appear in their own section….I think I’ll wait out South Carolina Primary before I put up the next one…though the debates have turned against Romney the polls continue to favour him….
Sleeping With Straight Men…..The Stag, Victoria
Sleeping with Straight Men – a dark comedy inspired by true events. Tonight’s play had odd flashes and moments but it put me in mind of Gwendolyn Fairfax’s words over tea in ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ On an occasion … Continue reading
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F. J. HAYDN The Seasons…. The Barbican Saturday 14th January 2012
F.J. Haydn: The Seasons…..Gabrieli consort & Players, Christiane Karg;Allan Clayton and Christopher Purves….conducted Paul McCreesh The Seasons is Haydn’s last oratorio and he struggled to complete it. There would be one final glorious mass – the wonderful Harmonienmesse with its syncopated Benedictus. Otherwise … Continue reading
Professor Kevin Sharpe 1949 -2011 RIP
I was extremely sorry to learn of the death of Kevin Sharpe. He had a recurrence of the lymphoma for which he had earlier treatment. That makes his death particularly poignant to me as that was something we shared. He had a … Continue reading
Posted in History and related subjects
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Letter to America….. III after New Hampshire
Letter to America New Hampshire has spoken…. And, as the American Indians in the Westerns of my childhood used to say, this predominantly white, middle class and unrepresentative state spoke with forked tongue. Mitt Romney did as well as the … Continue reading
Wigmore Hall 12th January – Early Opera Company
Early opera Company: Charpantier Acteon and Purcell Dido and Aeneas Genius will out. Last night the genius of Baroque Opera came out and for those who heard there will be no going back. Music of the High Baroque had long … Continue reading
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