Monthly Archives: September 2008
After the Proms, it’s been a relaxing weekend not doing much, though regrettably that means I’ve not taken the opportunity to visit anywhere interesting on the Open House weekend. kharin has been my proxy instead, and I’ve been in the … Continue reading
Book Review: The Visible World, by Mark Slouka A sticker saying “Richard and Judy’s Book Club” doesn’t make me want to buy a book: in fact, it would make me reconsider. Unfortunately this title had won a prize from said … Continue reading
As a concerned shareholder …
The soundtrack to the ongoing meltdown in the financial sector is surely a Tom Lehrer song. The problem is deciding whether it’s Who’s Next? or We Will All Go Together When We Go.
Only £5, and no Harrison Birtwistle
The queue, especially among the “hopefuls”, was curiously busy for a programme that tinkered with some of the main elements of the Last Night. A dispute over the size of my flagpole with the bag-checking staff led to me losing … Continue reading
The Gulag Glissando
Book Review: Theremin – Ether Music and Espionage, by Albert Glinsky This is a rather mixed book: most of the content is interesting, but there is a sense that one section in particular has been padded, with details of what … Continue reading
I’m Sorry, I’ll Write That Again
There were, to my mind, two themes joining the pieces in Prom 72: they both shared the key of C Minor, and both works had significant descendants. In the first, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24, K491, there was a lot … Continue reading
A Mercifully Brief Encounter
“You don’t have to have Asperger’s to work here, but it helps”, I thought, as the Proms queue tried to rearrange itself into the correct raffle-ticket order under the canopy of the Royal Albert Hall amidst the dismal weather on … Continue reading
Petits Pois Purée
rosamicula‘s Birthday Dinner took place at Shampers last night. Food and wine flowed freely; I opted for Orkney Gravadlax, followed by Roast Grouse with sauté potatoes and petits pois purée – an option perilously close to mushy peas, but in … Continue reading
All Teeth and Curls
No, not a Tom Baker Prom as kharin speculated, but Sir Simon Rattle. I left work very promptly at lunchtime on Wednesday, and was lucky to get a parking space a little closer to the station than usual. A fast … Continue reading
First and Second Law (of Thermodynamics) 