Music & Arts – Discovering new inspirations and remembering old ones.

I have always been obsessed by the arts and see them as part of my everyday life. So here are some thoughts which settle somewhere between the “real world” and my own personal experience of living it through the arts.

30/07/2010 My visit to Florence to meet Donatello’s David I am going to see the restored Donatello David in Florence.

23/07/2010 Stanley Spencer at Chatham Docks A Stanley Spencer exhibition opens at the Chatham Docks.

20/07/2010 Reading poetry on this website I have experimented with the idea of reading some of my poetry on this site.

16/07/2010 Don Carlos is it my favourite opera I wonder if Verdi’s Don Carlos is my favourite.

15/07/2010 Beryl and Charles – Me mixing with the great I remember Beryl Bainbridge and Charles Mackeras.

09/07/2010 My life as a double agent in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy How I got involved in the TV series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

07/07/2010 American TV series Dexter gets me writing again The TV series Dexter is inspiring.

06/07/2010 My technology problems and Verdi’s Don Carlos I have been having problems trying to listen to Verdi’s Don Carlos.

01/07/2010 How I caught Placido Domingo’s Cold I caught a cold from Placido Domingo.

30/06/2010 Elgar and the shame of the Bank Of England Elgar is removed from the £20 note.

04/05/2010 Mastersingers of Nuremberg
Those master singers from Nuremberg are worth listening to.

21/04/2010 How sunbathing made me think of Graham Greene
Graham Greene taught me how to use that sunbathing time.

02/04/2010 Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories
The perfect music for Good Friday: Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories.

30/03/2010 Wolfgang salutes Wolfgang
What is the point in trying to be creative when there is Mozart, Shakespeare and Joyce?

12/03/2010 Reinventing Beethoven’s Fifth
Beethoven, Liszt and Glenn Gould blow my socks off.

03/03/2010 Writing poetry is a job for grown ups
I get another poem published but still have negative thoughts.

25/02/2010 I had my first proper gig reading my poetry
I do a poetry reading down the pub with a load of slam poets.

19/02/2010 White Rabbit read my short story
I enjoy taking a back seat when White Rabbit perform one of my stories.

08/01/2009 Goodbye to Rossini and Berlioz
I say goodbye for now to two of my favourite composers.

21/10/2009 I am officially in print as a poet
I get copies of my first published poems and it feels great.

15/10/2009 A Great Piano
There is nothing like the sound of a great piano.

11/10/2009 Three operas about sex
Three operas all written in the same year and all about sex.

18/09/2009 A poetry reading and a monster is born
I give my first poetry reading.

30/09/2009Wagner’s erotic masterpiece
Love’s transfiguration in Wagner’s erotic imagination.

16/09/2009 Singing, cherry blossom and Caruso
Enrico Caruso and cherry blossom remind me of when I used to sing.

14/09/2009 Last night of the Proms – thank God it’s over
I love The Proms but hate that Last Night.

09/09/2009 When I met George Harrison and Paul McCartney
Let’s enjoy The Beatles and cut the crap.

07/09/2009 When some composers get bogged down Verdi and Offenbach always hit the button
Verdi and Offenbach always seem to get it right.

13/08/2009 Beuys will be Beuys even in Bexhill
The Beuys exhibition comes to the spectacular art deco De La Warr Pavilion.

10/07/2009 Frazier after a gap of eight months
I can watch television and film again after a gap of eight months and I am thrilled to see Frazier again.

24/06/2009 Rustling grass and Grey’s Elegy
Listening to the wind rustling the grass and thinking of Grey’s elegy makes me celebrate the internet.

11/06/2009 My new stammer makes me think about words and music
I am stammering at my poetry readings but inspired by the Bach Cantatas and the masses of Palestrina.

03/06/2009 Dvorak and Nelahozeves on a rainy November day
I went to Dvorak’s birthplace in the old Czechoslovakia.

28/05/2009 With a song in my heart – Ella Fitzgerald, Lorenz Hart and, oh yes, Richard Rodgers
Just in case you forget how great these artists were.

22/04/2009 Julius Reubke really was a musical genius
There is always a lot of hype about musical geniuses who die young but Reubke really was one.

08/03/2009 Let’s listen to music, Joni Mitchell, Bruckner and Above & Beyond and not just to music players
I am a fan of music in all its guises but I don’t want to become an equipment bore.

03/03/2009 Call me obsessive but I have been listening to music in chronological order
Is it obsessive to do what I have been doing?

18/09/2009 I re-discover the glories of Joni Mitchell
I was feeling down but Joni Mitchell found the right button.

15/02/2009 Finishing a book on Brahms begun before my illness brings back memories
I finish the Brahms biography and remember his part in my life up until now.

08/02/2009 Remembering childhood my passion for Madame Butterfly and an ancient knife
I found that old knife and discovered Puccini’s opera when I was at a very impressionable age.

30/01/2009 Mahler’s Third Symphony helps cure my World weariness
The World seemed a bad place to be until I started listening to Mahler’s Third again.

12/01/2009 I try to remember the name of that composer
I know his name so well but I just can’t remember it.

26/01/2009 Beethoven’s Fifth and my neurologist
I try to listen to Beethoven again when my neurologist calls.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.