As it’s nearly Christmas, you’ll forgive me if I jettison my normal dry academic precision for a little bit of end of term amusement. I am pleased to report that the LSC were staying in a different hotel from the orchestra in a another part of Paris which rendered my...
The Beast from the East has arrived from Russia and brought with it a chill wind blowing through LSO towers, although after the initial drop in temperature, it has now settled into a distinctly unseasonal, damp, grey blanket. The day before we were due to fly out to Luxembourg,...
The weeks of punishment that we have endured have been hard to take, and although the fifty shades of grey that we have been experiencing in London have no end in sight, I have to tell you that here in Aix-en-Provence the rain has been beaten into submission. As I write this,...
I remember walking down the Nanjing Road in Shanghai a couple of years ago and being offered goods aplenty. This week however it seems worse than ever. As I get further down the road, I can always see people suddenly step out from beside the shops and walk alongside me asking me...
Walking around Beijing, I find it hard to tell whether my lips are numb because of the cold, snow-laden wind blowing in my face, or the Szechuan peppers which were liberally sprinkled on my lunch. If you've never had them before, their effect on your mouth is an exciting...
Regular readers of the blog will not be surprised to know that I am writing this having just watched Wales destroy Namibia in the Rugby World Cup. My Welsh father and a childhood involving many trips to Cwmllynfell to see my granny, cast my musical soul in red many years ago....
The orchestra sat in near silence on the train this morning. The tension rising with the outside temperature as we sped through the mountains. I haven't felt this much pressure on a train since Sue Mallet was on a trip and was looking for volunteers for something or other. She...
I am at the moment sitting in a...
Mahler's Third Symphony is always an event, partly due to the size of forces needed and the space required. The famous opening with the horns in full flight is truly astonishing writing and the power unleashed by Gergiev's hands in the ample acoustic of the Lincoln Centre is...
After a relaxing break for a couple of weeks in the summer it would be nice to gradually ease myself back into work with something low pressure and easy. Of course in the music business this simply doesn't happen and so this week we were thrown straight back into the whirlwind...
