A Lark Ascending

Just started reading the book. It's hard going! Not all that well written - the author seems desperate to be scholarly and so constantly references other texts making whole paragraphs seem stitched together. He's utterly bewitched by his cultural studies reading so there's lots of name dropping of Adorno, Barthes etc. And he adopts the annoying (for me at least) 'royal We' approach to judgment making. There's a great tale to be told here but the first chapter reads like an undergraduate special project from a student who has yet to internalise or fully understand his influences. Some of the sentences opening paragraphs made me wince: "As the clock turned from 1959 to 1960, the winds for jazz in Britain seemed set fair." And that's paragraph 2. I'm sure there's lots of fascinating information to follow, but I suspect that this is going to take some time to read. I just put it down after a paragraph rehashing received opinion beginning with the sentence "Can a musical form be both popular and remain an art form?' Sixth Form debating club stuff, I'm afraid.

I'm happy to wait another 30 years so I can grumble about crappy GDXs and bark about how you'll never catch me giving up on a real music medium like downloads.

When I were a lad I was told I was being superficial coveting a fine stereo system; real music enthusiasts, I was told, could listen to a crackly old 78 and hear the music irrespective of the medium. Now I'm told unless I listen on a high quality system with lots of bits I'm not really hearing the music.

If music has texts then it really should be accessible. In this day and age that doesn't need to be in the box - online links do the job if it's too expensive to do otherwise. For me it's most important in opera because you are essentially following a storyline there. I can't listen to opera as abstract music. (I realise copyright can often be the reason)

Apologies, David. My comment was intended as a bit of light-hearted silliness. Wasn't intended any other way.

Make sure you get those texts. I always like to sing along with Schoenberg.

Don't think it's quite that bad age-wise where I go - Nottingham and Sheffield. Still a mainly grey-haired audience, but a fair sprinkling of younger listeners (both cities have several higher education centres). But that might reflect what I attend which tends to be at the contemporary-modern end of the spectrum. Imagine both institutions struggle, though. The Christine Tobin concert I attended in Nottingham back in the Autumn had about 40 people in the audience - unusually small for a 'name' performer, but apparently Soweto Kinch was playing elsewhere in the city so the audience was split.

Remember that one in the shops. Wonder if it came after Atom Heart Mother!

Makes me say 'Help!' This lady is clearly suffering for her art.

Guilty! I have to travel 45 mins (each way) to the nearest jazz. I'm too knackered in in the week and really have to push myself on a Friday. Much easier to sit at home and listen to a CD.

Britten's music always sounds to me like someone splashing cold water in your face - there's something translucent in it; the instrumentation is never 'thick'. There's always lots of space between the sounds. Lots of chiming, bell-like sonorities too. But precious, very precious. If you can box that up and put it in the basement there's a wonderful world there.

Great programme this evening - really liked the Desmond/Mulligan and Davern/Wellstood tracks; also that semi-Flamenco version of Song for My Father!

I really wouldn't worry - I had a shipping notice on the Mingus Mosaic for 13th Jan and haven't seen sight nor sound yet. I've had things arrive from there at times between 5 days and 6 weeks! I've only ever had a couple of things go missing in trans-Atlantic purchases and in both cases I was sent replacements.

Green onions would have been more appropriate with a music order.

I'm much happier in a musical world where people like and dislike (or remain indifferent to) music based on their own reactions than one where people line up to express their devotion to the greatest performances by the greatest performers (in the best possible sound [probably in a glossy box]). I can see why Britten might completely pass some attentive listeners by (Berlioz, Liszt, Chopin, Verdi completely pass me by but I've no doubt of their qualities). There's an advert for one of this weekend's Britten programmes, a documentary by Ian Bostridge, where he comments on how Britten has never been 'standard'. I think that's right; well known, and much loved by those who 'get it' but never in the front line of popularity. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pz2pl (Not sure about that - most operas seem to be about troubled characters.) I love Billy Budd - tremendous music and all carried through without a single female voice (not a preference! just a hard thing to pull off!). It's the 'Building a Library' feature on BBC 3's 'CD Review' today and is broadcast in full tonight (without eating into JRR!). Won't be listening to the full opera as I've recently acquired a DVD I have lined up for some time over the next few weeks.

Thanks for that. Ordered there and got 28 points on my Nectar Card too! Nice to know I can order Miles Davis CDs alongside the shallots and bleach.

Amazon UK are usually very quick domestically if you are ordering through their warehouse. If it's from marketplace then you have to be much more patient as these are often coming from further afield. Quite a few of the cheaper things I've had recently have come from Switzerland and taken 2-3 weeks.

Tacky cover. Tacky pressing. Brilliant record.

We've been promised heavy snow tonight; but a rapid thaw on Saturday night/Sunday that will require ark building.

Finally finished the Kennan bio. But it made me realise how much US history I've forgotten. I did two major courses from colonial times up to the 60s back in the 1970s at uni; since then I've run into key moments in my teaching, especially foreign policy after 1945 and civil rights, but have huge gaps elsewhere. So I've started this:

Avebury is a day in itself (at least). There's loads of other prehistoric sites close by. You can do a great 2 hour-ish walk out from Avebury and up onto the Ridgeway, turn westward until you come to the main road and then along by West Kennet Longbarrow and Silbury Hill back to the car park. Helps if it not snowing (or raining) Agree with Sidewinder about Uffington - another great place for a walk. Here's a nice Ridgeway at Avebury picture: http://www.annadillo.../ridgeway1.html See what I mean by the feminine contours!

I'm never very clear how well Britten travels outside Britain. He doesn't really fit into the modernism of his times but equally can't be conveniently slotted into the early 20thC English tradition (though there are plenty of links). I know I didn't take to him at first - there's something a bit precious about the music - a bit too self-consciously arty. Yet once I was bitten, I became a total convert, learning to suspend my disbelief with regard the the mannerisms. Verdi is also a challenge. Wonder if he'll battle it out with Lutoslawski for third place!

Wiltshire is gorgeous - I find the gentle contours of the chalk hills more endearing than some of our craggier places. Suspect it might be the subliminal connection with the female body!!!!

Heathen! (though, using 2012 as evidence, you might have a point!)

I 'got the call' at 6.40 this morning just as I turned the engine to start to try to get to work. Coming down at present but looks like it will move north this afternoon. Looks like the Bristol/South Wales area is in for a fair bit more tomorrow. In the first 20 years I lived here I hardly saw any snow - but the last 3 have seen 'real' winter weather (well, by English standards).