A Lark Ascending

Can't wait for the 11 egg pack next time England win The Ashes. A Silly Mid On Dozen, perhaps?

I'm still bemused by the "15 Free Range Welsh eggs." I assume that is a reference to the players. Then followed by "Proud supporters of Welsh rugby". Surely not a reference to the players? The Welsh Egg Marketing Board - Dfflydd Pleggnorff Egggryff? Maybe they just got enthusiastic.

Wow - I can really relate to this. I still have dreams about teaching, which tells me that I wasn't ready for my involuntary retirement. But as the US (and the UK, too, apparently) moves further and further away from what education should be, I'm more and more grateful that I'm out of the game. It took me a full year to adjust to retirement. But I love it now. I hope you enjoy it as well. Now back to our regularly scheduled wish lists.... Thanks, Jeff. As you say, back to the regular programme. I'm probably going to go for the forthcoming big Boulez box. I have 5 of the discs as downloads that I've been exploring over the last year or so. I can't say I 'love' him or that he's changed my life or that I'm even close to understanding what he's about but I've found his sound world fascinating and know there are lots of rewards going to come from repeated listening (still thinks he's talked a fair amount of ******** over the years; as with most musicians it's best to focus on what they are for rather than what they are against). One of my mp3 discs suffers from that 'gap' problem that leaves tiny spaces between tracks. No amount of editing has produced clean joins. This seems to be something that has largely vanished with newer releases but there are still a lot of early mp3s out there with the problem. I'm not a megalopobox fan in general but this one suits me. Should be a good retirement project.

I like that quote. It holds true about listening too - not that there's any imperative to listen outside your comfort zone but enormous rewards can come from doing it. Again there you still have the choice to incorporate or discard music you haven't been involved with.

I won't get that bad. Still enjoy the job, especially the teaching part. But, like everywhere else, data, targets and accountability - blind faith that only the measurable is significant - has made things harder. Gove's 'vision' basically rips up everything my career has been about. Until a few years back I feared the thought of retirement - I like the imposed structure of a working day. Now I'm looking forward to at. A rest and then perhaps some voluntary work a couple of days a week. Probably end up escorting school visits round English Heritage sites!!!

How long have you to wait? MG 2 years and one term. Long enough to see Gove's 'Forward to the '50s' agenda start to cause havoc. But I'll not be around to have to help put it all back together again. The call of the North Cornish coast gets louder by the day.

15? When did eggs start to come in groups of 15? Whatever happened to respect for tradition?

Retirement.

Apparently the flea story is not an April Fool: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21993582

This looks like one being attempted today: German flea circus hit by freeze

May the eggs and bonnets be with you. And the bunnies. Forgot the bunnies.

Why am I not surprised?

Due in the next few weeks: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tudo-Joyce-Moreno/dp/B00BH8373G/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1364644788&sr=1-1

Up to Mozart in this overview: A nicely detached account that suits me perfectly. Traces the evolution of the genre, constantly aware of its absurdities and the see-sawing between gushing emotion in one generation and severe classicism in the next. Mercifully no diva/maestro idolatry (so far!). Very, very good on the need to unpick the myths that have encrusted on the music/performance traditions to try and see how it actually worked at its time of creation. ************************** Really enjoying the opera on DVD trip I've been on recently. Trying to keep to Blu-Ray where possible. Because only so much has made it that far it's a bit like early CD days - anticipating the new releases to see if as yet unrecorded pieces appear.

I took a while to warm to Frisell. Found him a bit glacial and I still can't get much from the Lovano/Frisell/Motion group; even seeing them in London ten years or so back left me with a sense of tonalities that were too similar to get my interest. But I really liked his increasing Americana-ish releases. I actually love this one (not Americana-ish!): ...which I've often seen written off as a disappointment. Saw him at Cheltenham a few years back with Ron Miles and that concert was absolutely thrilling. Exciting isn't the first adjective you reach for with Frisell but that concert was genuinely exciting.

Which one's MG in the Spillers picture? I used to use Jumbo in Leeds though it's a few years since I last visited. Very good shop. They used to keep a fair few 'Chronological Classics'.

....or NOT! Not holding my breath either. Another mud-bath at Swanage this year? How else are you going to relive Woodstock?

Crazy at present. Heavy snow at the weekend. This graph is bonkers: Last year the weather was really hot the week before the Easter holidays - then it snowed, Easter was rubbish and the rest of the year was a wash out. So, just maybe, a ludicrously cold late-March is the prelude to the much anticipated barbecue summer....

Peter Warlock - Capriol Suite, Serenade for Strings Two lovely pieces. The Suite are based on Elizabethan dance music; the short Serenade is very Delian. Music for a late summer eve (or for anticipating a late summer eve).

Do your larger pieces stand a chance of getting to record, Alex? I really enjoyed the piece on the BBC last year. Or are the costs prohibitive? (I was amazed at how much NMC records needed to raise just to get out three contemporary operas already recorded for BBC broadcast).

Looks good, Alex. Will listen via iPlayer next weekend - nice way to start Easter.

Just back from the Bay of Pigs?

Looks like Keith Richards to me.