A Lark Ascending

Never noticed that one slip out - a great line-up.

I like the look of this coming in Feb: Strong line-up that promises to do more than just play through some favourite tunes. If it comes close to Noble's reworking of Dave Brubeck it will be a winner.

No, not another John Adams opera. Given how negative everything we hear about North Korea seems to be, I found this story rather heart-warming: http://www.bbc.co.uk...gazine-20773542

Pleased to hear straight from the horse's mouth of the wise that I am quite normal after all in my vinyl listening. Because in fact I regularly do drive around in a classic car indeed. Hope it's got an input for your iPod.

Without doubt the 'gizmos' will change and things like iPods, iPhones etc will be rendered obsolete (like the dear old cassette recorder, 8 track, SACD etc etc). But hardly to return to a warm fuzzy world of vinyl for everyone. Preference for vinyl always strikes me as much the same as a preference for driving round in a classic car. All very enjoyable, I'm sure, but hardly a marker for where things are going. Of course, no-one needs to have the remotest interest in where things are going. We all reach a point where the medium we've got is all we need.

Well, it would be nice to think it would be still going for those who enjoy that format. And I'm sure if there's a market, someone will continue to supply it. With lots of people who grew up with LPs still around for a while yet I expect LPs will continue to be made. Whether it survives as the fetish article it is for the younger listener who never experienced it as the primary medium I somehow doubt. Given the desire to own physical product I imagine something like the CD will continue to play a major role. Unless a tipping point occurs when the number of people requiring their music to be in 'owned' form becomes so small that it not worth anyone's while to make them. I suspect our need to consume and have conspicuous evidence of that consumption will win the day. I might consume music in download form where possible but I still like to have a physical copy on a CD-R. Old habits die hard.

I'm not sure iPhones are a sensible option at present - not enough memory to store that much and the batteries run down quite fast. But iPods - that's a different matter. I listen to a lot that way - especially before 10 a.m. when I'm home - no danger of disturbing the neighbours. Take a look here as to how an enterprising company has adjusted to the changing world: http://www.gimell.co...z-pensées.aspx Downloads to suit even the most audio-obsessive. Or here: http://www.hyperion-...DA67941/2&vw=dc A range of three different types of download.

Yes, I like the Holberg too. Also Dag Wiren's Serenade. Have it on this, a very early CD acquisition: In fact I'll play that now. A bit earlier I played the Britten Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge . Quite light and airy - almost Italian - for most of its course but darkens towards the end, finishing with a most wonderful Mahlerian adagio (similar to music at the end of both his vocal 'Nocturne' and 'Death in Venice'). Surprised no-one has mentioned Mozart's 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik' yet.

Interesting article here on what these centenaries actually achieve: http://www.overgrownpath.com/2012/10/what-do-composer-anniversaries-achieve.html I'm not sure it goes much beyond 'When a big fuss is made about a composer for a while there is a surge in Google interest'. Interested in this section with reference to my links above:

I don't think it's just an oldies thing. Whenever I go to a concert there are usually CDs on sale. I imagine CD has a long life left there. In my case, where I used to be a chronic indulger, especially at festivals, I now tend to check the iPhone to see how much cheaper the download is! Buy it when I get home. I imagine the drop in physical sales is largely accounted for by more popular music. Go into any of the more specialised musical areas and you read again and again of a preference for the physical product. I don't think the major record companies themselves have fully committed themselves to downloading outside the popular field (some of the smaller ones are much better); it's as if they make their recordings available for download as an extra way of bringing in revenue as opposed to putting some real thought into how this might become their main means of disseminating recordings. Too many blips still - a consistent approach to providing artwork, a failure to address the issue of gaps between tracks that bedevil some recording etc. And yet...the audio pages of Gramophone magazine seem to suggest that various streaming machines are leaping off the shelves. That could be another problem. I can't get my head round the streaming machines. Would probably be the most sensible direction for me to move in but I end every review more befuddled than ever.

RE: The situation in the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20885506

This one is fun too: http://www.britten100.org/new-to-britten/the-music Snippets of Britten you can choose according to category - Mood, Genre, Instrument etc. You can even select on speed (tempo)!

Just finished. Best thing I've read on the Cuban Missile Crisis - tremendous sense of narrative drive. Seeing things from the eye of the U2 pilot who strayed into Siberia or one of the Soviet nuclear submarine captains gives you a very different perspective. Gives a tremendous sense of just how much was beyond the control of both administrations. Over half way through - not a riveting read, but someone I wanted to know more about. A Cambridge Spies "6th man" espionage thriller. Not enjoying it much. A bit cardboard cut-out character wise (it's starting to remind me of the bloody Da Vinci code, without all the symbols).

Just make sure you get a manual one. Your wife operates the nozzle while you pump the bellows. Far superior to all this digital crap.

For what it's worth this is what the 'Genre' field shows on my Classical Ipod (I keep the English classical stuff on a separate iPod): Classical 16th/17thC English Classical American Classical Asian Classical Baroque (English) Classical Baroque (French) Classical Baroque (German) Classical Baroque (Italian) Classical Baroque (Various) Classical Contemporary Various Classical Early Classical East European Classical France Classical Germanic (20thC) Classical Germanic (Classical) Classical Germanic (Late Romantic) Classical Germanic (Romantic) Classical Italian Classical Minimalist Classical Multi-composer Classical Nordic Classical Russian Classical South America Classical Spain Classical Swiss Classical Xmas

Nice website here: http://www.brittenpears.org/ What is particularly useful is the database of worldwide performances - you can search for anything close to you. Ironic that you can hear the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes in Darmstadt tonight. I wouldn't have thought Darmstadt approved of Britten. Lots of new recordings and repackagings.

Only really applies to me re: the iPod. I work by: Genre: I name these things like Classical English, Classical English Contemporary, Classical Germanic (20thC) etc. Artist and Album artist: I head up both with the composers name. If it's a composer I have a lot of music by I just bracket the area - Mozart (Chamber), Mozart (Orchestral). This eliminates all mention of performers but I'm not much interested in performers. Some multi composer discs I do like to save intact as an album so I'll either head up the Artist/Album with something like Britten/Tippett/Arnold or just call it Various English or even the album name. Not ideal for most people, I imagine, but I can always find what I want very quickly.

Well, since starting this thread three months back I've been on a bit of an opera binge. Although all my initial concerns still stand, I've been reminded why I bought all those sets back in the late-80s/early 90s and have really enjoyed revisiting them. I've also discovered the joys of DVD opera. Unlike David, this works perfectly for me. Going to a live opera is fun if you are with other people but for personal listening I much prefer watching it on TV. You can break down the longer ones over a couple of days (as with CD) and also have a cup of tea while you are watching. And there's no-one in the interval going on about how '...it is no match for Sutherland blah blah blah...'. I also prefer following the subtitles to reading a libretto - you don't lose your place and there's no tendency to read ahead and miss the music! Over the next year I hope to: Explore the Wagners I don't know - Parsifal, Dutchman, perhaps Rienzi. Explore the Richard Strauss lesser known operas - Strauss really does it for me. Explore some recent operas. I have a DVD of Birtwistle's 'The Minotaur' just arrived to challenge me! Fancy seeing the John Adams operas on screen too. Continue to mine back into those sets I've had for 25+ years and rediscover them. One bug - why do record companies put out operas with no librettos? Makes no sense (apart from cost cutting). At the very least they could put them on line - Decca seem to be doing this with their reissues though you need a code based on your purchase to get access.

Happy New Year, y'all.

He/she is awaiting the 4.33-bit remastering. Lower-fi but more authentic. Do you have the live version where Cage sits at an electric piano and a guy whispers 'Judas' at about 0'30"? Very good! One of those smiley things.

He/she is awaiting the 4.33-bit remastering. Lower-fi but more authentic.

There is actually a collection of the Hickox RVW symphonies on Chandos - but you can only get it as a USB stick! Will cost you £50. Another one of those batty record company ideas. I have a few of the 'other' pieces from the series like the Norfolk Rhapsody No. 2 that I downloaded separately. As well as doing the symphonies, Hickox ranged much further. It was very sad to lose both him and Vernon Handley around the same time - both champions of the British repertoire. I saw him do the Sea Symphony in Truro Cathedral not long before his death; not my favourite RVW by a long chalk, but a powerful performance. His set of Frank Bridge discs is marvellous - possibly the most comprehensive attempt at the orchestral music, building on what Lyrita did in the 70s. As far as sound quality goes, even a cloth-eared non-audiophile like me had problems with Chandos in the 80s (that recorded in an aircraft hanger feel). But I've not noticed any problems with more recent recordings. On RVW himself. What really strikes me about him is how different his music sounds to those around him. With Parry, Stanford, Elgar, early Bridge, early Holst you hear the Wagner and/or Brahms influence constantly. RVW just seemed to step into another world - the influence of folk song, Tudor music, Ravel? Who knows? Of course that distinctive approach was picked up on very quickly by others leading to that whole 'English' sound of the early to mid-20thC.

Yes, the Barber Adagio is very moving - despite being used somewhat manipulatively in all manner of contexts requiring 'sorrow', it still gets to me. This is a lovely CD of little known string music: Concerto for String Orchestra; Elegy, First Suite; Serenade Howells is hardcore English pastoralism so will have many running for the hills (or, more likely, modern urban city centres). Not as original as RVW (he was heavily influenced by him) but Howells produced some beautiful music.

Naxos have put out some marvellous English discs. You can walk into a wonderful world just following the Maggini Quartet on Naxos.

I have the Haitink No. 7 which is good. I experimented with quite a few in the 80s when I was wanting to replace my LPs but ended up going back to Boult. Not because I felt he was 'better', I just found the sound of those early CDs (Handley's as well) a bit cold and distant. Probably would not be noticed by anyone starting with them. Probably just my addled brain. I'm not familiar with the Piano Concerto - I have the Two Piano version. Just giving it another listen as it's never grabbed me before. Wass (on Naxos) is a real hero; championing a lot of English music. Must try that one. I notice it includes 'The Wasps' suite - the overture has one of those great, soaring RVW melodies. Don't miss RVW's chamber music - there are a couple of excellent sets on Hyperion. Music I always crack open at the first sign of spring. All the fingerprints are there - mainly from the first half of his career, though there are some bleaker later pieces (fitting in with the 9th Symph). Another one not to overlook is 'Flos Campi' - a piece for orchestra and viola with strange, wordless vocals. Haunting.