A Lark Ascending

I'm always intrigued by the guitarist on that one - Jeff Green. What else did he do?

Have you read this: Combines the era of the Carry On films with the re-emergence of naked capitalistic greed.

Ronnie Scott - Serious Gold (lies outside the years that excite most interest so tends to get missed). I have a crackly LP from 1978 - I'd love a properly remastered version. Also this: I have a CD-r from LP provided by a kind board member. Again, would love a proper remastering. Also: There's a Tracey/Osborne Ogun too though that will hopefully resurface in the fullness of time as part of their reissue programme.

Yes, Clayton was a wonderful broadcaster. As well as jazz programmes in the 80s he used to do a Saturday morning Radio 2 programme that went all over the popular music map. Interesting to hear Charles Fox's voice - I'd forgotten how posh he sounded. As did Humph on those early 60s clips.

1964-2014 and still going! Varying between 45 mins and an hour a week (sometimes shrinking, very occasionally expanding and all too frequently vanishing altogether when the combination of long operas and US/UK time differences collide) I'm sure this has been an entry point to jazz for many. Generally focusing on tonal jazz from the start to the present, every programme has always been a marvellous pot pourri of styles, regularly shaking your prejudices (and regularly confirming others!). I started to listen to it in the early months of 1978 and still build my Saturday around having an hour for it. Nice celebratory programme at present mixing up contemporary requests with some archive recordings of past programme. Just played an SME track from 1968! Thank you JRR.

Sad one. Knew him best via The Faces, one of the great fun bands. Wrote a wonderfully spirited autobio as well. RIP

Those below seem to be compilations: Richard Itter, the founder, died in March this year. Lyrita came back to life in the late 00s and digitalised all its collection. It then seemed to vanish - the last activity on e-music was 2011. I wonder if this was connected with illness. Maybe the label has now been reactivated by family or associates. Details of some of these here: http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/newreleases.php?label=Lyrita&age=6

Strange how these have snuck out - I've seen nothing in Gramophone/BBC MM. On British cello concertos Britten's gritty Cello Symphony is superb and the Walton is a spectral beauty. The Finzi and Moeran are lovely pieces but more pastoral.

I don't know any of those pieces (yet!) - Simpson is very uncowpat in his symphonies. Rather lean. A big Nielsen fan. Wright is a contemporary tonal composer but not a gushy one. I have a Joubert record somewhere but it's not returned to the player more than a couple of time (which says more about my butterfly listening than it does about the music). If you want a breathtaking British cello piece go for Frank Bridge's 'Oration' - a heartfelt response to the Great War which affected him deeply. Several recordings around.

Well, I'll be. Lyrita seems to have sputtered back into life again: Stumbled on this by chance on Amazon. Haven't seen mention of it anywhere else. [Just checked e-music and there are 6 other 2014 releases - 2 seem to be anthologies of piano concertos and string concertos on the label.]

Available to order at my local Chinese takeaway.

I thinks it's just a corrective. You don't read many articles about vinyl being dead. Every few months in the British press, however, you get a 'Vinyl (like the Big Bands) is Back' flurry. Most of us with a substantial interest in music know that the upswing is just in a niche market of enthusiasts. Might help put things in perspective for the general reader (if they are interested!). Not that it matters much. The 'Vinyl is Back' storyline is always going to make a better headline than 'Vinyl is doing a bit better after a long and traumatic illness'.

Big fuss being made in the UK about how vinyl sales topped 1 million this year. However: Small Data: Is lots of vinyl being sold? Interesting to note the years of the drastic drop in vinyl sales were when I bought my last LPs (apart from a couple of those daft vinyl only things). The point when almost everything was coming out on CD?

Play it yourself: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/in-c-performer-for-ipad/id887669263?mt=8

Quite. 'After 1899' is a huge area; look at the 'what classical music are you listening to' thread and you'll find lots of pointers based on what board members are currently enjoying or exploring rather than just reading great lists of approved composers. Alex Ross' 'The Rest is Noise' gives a very good survey of the 20thC and is an easy read. Though be careful - it is disapproved of by those who know. It was one of the things that helped me break past mid-century some years ago.

Apologies for resurrecting this thread again but those who are partial to these musicians might be as intrigued as I am by this forthcoming Intakt: Some details here: http://www.intaktrec.ch/236_237-a.htm

Mr Jones is writing some great stuff in the Guardian nowadays; e.g. yesterday on the duping of the working class by UKIP: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2014/nov/21/rochester-byelection-beliefs-of-ukip-voters Thanks, Bill. That is very much in tune with the book. He's very good on the way the neo-liberal right has appropriated the language of protest - opponents of mass deregulation condemned as 'reactionary', enemies of 'progress' and 'reform'; above all, enemies of 'freedom'. Freedom seems to now mean the freedom for the wealthy to get even more wealthy, having thrown off the shackles of such restrictive practices as paying their taxes. Had to smile (a rictus one!) - only a couple of weeks ago Eton Boy was declaring reducing taxation to be a moral imperative. Even morality has been turned topsy-turvy.

Nothing you didn't already know or suspect in the first 100 pages. But utterly depressing when every page is littered with examples of how everything is fixed.

I think I'd find Jamie Oliver's 'Desert Island Cookbook' more useful than The Bible. Wouldn't mind the Shakespeare - with no distractions (apart from basic survival) I'd finally get round to reading all the plays I've missed. There might be some useful hints in 'The Tempest'.

Just back from the concert - marvellous evening. About 20 minutes of Henry Cow and then various permutations of Lindsay Cooper's songs, most of which I either didn't know or only knew in passing. Singing from Dagmar Krause, Sally Potter and Phil Minton (the latter especially thrilling) plus one by John Greaves. Line-up was: Alfred Harth, Anne-Marie Roelofs, Chris Cutler, Dagmar Krause, Fred Frith, John Greaves, Michel Berckmans, Phil Minton, Sally Potter, Tim Hodgkinson, Veryan Weston, Zeena Parkins Reminded me again of just how influential this band were on my listening - the voicings of three reeds and trombone I'm sure set me up for later classical listening (wind music especially). Really odd to see them all so much older - especially Chris Cutler. I was watching a DVD of a 70s concert a few weeks back and was reminded of the strange, balletic way he played the drums; and here was this middle-aged chap doing exactly the same. Good to see Veryan Weston too who I've only ever heard on record. Cornwall's contribution to free music!

In addition the castaway gets a book and a luxury item. Whether they want them or not they get the complete works of Shakespeare and The Bible. Says a great deal about BBC values.

Apparently the overture to 'Der Rosenkavalier'....from another recording she sang on. It may not be as diva-ish as I'm making out. According to Wiki:

My favourite was Sue Lawley interviewing John Lee Hooker and talking about 'Boogie Chillun' in her best finishing school voice. Most infamous was Elisabeth Schwarzkopf who chose 7 of her own recordings.

Would love to see a corrected 'Native Dancer' out as a common or garden download. Music is lovely but the pitch variations on the version I have make it unlistenable. Wish they wouldn't lock these things away in multi-boxes and premium formats.

Don't you mean plutonic?