Tony Fitzpatrick, UK. blog@tonyfitz.uk

I hadn't heard Beethoven's 2nd Symphony for years, and I had forgotten how wonderful it is, with that massive climax at the end of the first movement which sort of makes you think the music is all over. This is a splendid recording of that 1802 piece, a gateway to much of Beethoven's later symphonic writing. Preceded on this live recording from March 2020 (just before lockdown) by Brett Dean’s Testament, "a contemporary orchestral piece which engages with Beethoven’s music, his thoughts and his emotional state." Dean (b. 1961) was inspired by Beethoven's "Heiligenstadt Testament", his last will and testament, written comparatively early in life, on learning of the irreversibility of his worsening hearing ailments. He suggests in his music "...the quietly feverish sound of Ludwig’s imagined quill writing manically on leaves of parchment paper". Bayerisches Staatsorchester, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. CD released July 2022.

In commemoration of the death of Saint-Saëns in 1921, a recording of some of his lesser known (and also one very well known) glorious symphonic poems. As well as the oft performed Danse macabre, Op. 40, we had the La jeunesse d'Hercule, Op. 50, Le Rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31, Phaéton, Op. 39, and the wonderful Samson et Dalila, Op. 47: Bacchanale. I was unfamiliar with all of these apart from the "Dance of Death", and they were a lovely discovery. Sinfonieorchester Basel, conducted by Ivor Bolton. CD released June 2023.

Radio presentation of a 1961 short story by Arthur C Clarke detailing a scientific mission to Venus which discovers a strange form of plant like life. Jerry Garfield, engineer-navigator, Graham Hutchins, a biologist, and George Coleman, a scientist, have travelled to Venus on the spaceship Morning Star, and are exploring, in a scout car, the surface of the planet. Garfield and Hutchins leave the car and explore in space suits a rock formation where they come across a colony of plant like creatures, which move across the surface feeding on minerals located in the rock. They are hugely excited at this discovery of epic importance to mankind, take lots of pictures and return to their spaceship. Unfortunately in leaving behind them a bag of rubbish they pollute the planet. The moving plants discover the soiled bag, feed on its contents, and in doing so are infected with earth bacteria which over time will wipe them out completely. The humans, unaware of the crime they have committed, make plans for a return. A beautifully constructed story, with a far reaching message for it's time. Read by Tim Piggot-Smith and originally broadcast in 2008.

Lovely book. A treatise by a very proud Grandmother into the joys and pitfalls of grandparenting, that most wonderful stage in life that since last October I have happily found myself sharing. Bluntly her message is that you (and your spouse) must acknowledge that the parents come first, your opinions are only welcome if requested, your help is gratefully received only on condition that you play by their rules, and that as time is short you must take every opportunity you can to be part of your grandchildren's life. I especially liked Quindlen's acknowledgement of what a joy it is to discover that your child is actually a really rather excellent parent. Given by my daughter and 8 month old granddaughter as a Father's Day present.

Published April 2019. Read in paperback.

Ralph Vaughan Williams adored poetry, especially Shakespeare, and was a wonderful exponent of setting it to music. This RVW Society online lecture consisted of a series of readings of poems, and then the broadcast of the relevant musical setting. We had Songs of Travel, the Sea Symphony, the opera Riders to the Storm, Pilgrims Progress, and the Serenade to Music, amongst others. Poetry was by Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Housman, John Bunyan, RL Stevenson, William Barnes, John Skelton, JY Synge, Rossetti, and RVW's second wife, Ursula. It was well done, and although the audio quality was a little sub par, this didn't detract too much from the enjoyment of the lecture. Quite often the words in a setting such as an oratorio or opera can get lost for the listener, focusing as you inevitably are on the glories of the music. Song settings are easier, but nevertheless this event showed how powerful some of these texts can be. The presenter, Andrew Green, tried to suggest parallels between choices of texts and events in RVW's life - the pain of the First World War, or his blossoming romantic relationship with Ursula. I wasn't so sure, but it was interesting all the same.

Lecture originally broadcast on Zoom on 22 June 2023. Watched on YouTube.

I had high hopes for this collection of essays by American poet Ross Gay. Gay, born 1974 is a poet, essayist, and professor who won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for his 2014 book Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, which was also a finalist for the US National Book Award for Poetry. This book describes 102 "delights", mostly observations of simple things that Gay experiences during about eight months of day to day living, "a record of the small joys we often overlook in our busy lives". They include things spotted in his garden, little small courtesies that others make towards him, silly things like the way of colleague licks drips on her coffee cup, and so on. Some are profound, such as the way in which Black people in the US greet each regardless of previous acquaintance (a "negreeting"), others are more trivial like the way he admired a delivery drivers "man bun". To be honest, they got a little samey, and he writes in a stream of consciousness style which is initially amusing but becomes annoying. As a way of emphasising the things that people commonly experience I liked the idea, not sure it justified 290 pages.

Published 2019. Read on Kindle.

I saw Jonathan Maitland's play "Dead Sheep" in Birmingham some years ago, and this amusing BBC Radio play is based on that drama, adapted by Maitland. Basically the relationship between the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the wife of the Foreign Secretary, Lady Elspeth Howe, was described by Cabinet Minster John Biffen as being like "wasps in a jam jar". They broadly hated each other, and Elspeth's work on behalf of the homeless and other charities rankled Mrs Thatcher terribly. She preferred her Ministers to have dutiful wives "in the home", not advocating publicly for policies critical of the Government. Thatcher bullied Elspeth's husband Geoffrey Howe terribly, and in 1990 eventually downgraded him from Foreign Secretary to Leader of the Commons, removing his right to use the grace and favour residence "Chevening House" allocated to Foreign Secretaries. Eventually Howe had too much, resigned, and in a speech from the back benches lambasted Thatcher and her style, which led one week later to her resignation, and then the election of John Major. In the play the pivotal role Lady Howe had in giving her husband "back bone" to stand up to the Prime Minister is described in flash back as she is interviewed in the Lords by a journalist, played by Jonathan Maitland himself. Under Major, Howe went to the Lords. Drama based on events you lived through is always fun, and this was very enjoyable. Elspeth Howe was played by Penelope Wilton, Margaret Thatcher by Harriet Walter, Geoffrey Howe by James Fleet, Alan Clark/Nigel Lawson by Jonty Stephens, Ian Gow/Brian Walden by Simon Greenall, the Journalist by Jonathan Maitland, and the Commons Speaker by Hamilton Berstock. The Director/Producer was Gary Brown. First broadcast June 2023.

Enjoyable evening of music galloping across nine centuries since the founding of my parish church in 1123. Actor Michael Maloney, who performed a similar role for the Armistice Day concert in 2018, narrated the proceedings and described how liturgical music has evolved over the years and the da capo choir sung examples. They started with Gregorian Plainchant, moving through early polyphony, the Renaissance, the Baroque, and then the Classical and Romantic eras. We had excerpts of music including the ever popular "Anon", Hildegard von Bingen, Tallis, Byrd, Purcell, Bach, and more recently Elgar, Holst and Howells. It was a very well put together concert, and I suspect everyone present learnt something about how music has evolved during the Churches long history.

Fascinating documentary on the life of Sir Michael Tippett who died 25 years ago aged 93. Excellent cast of interviewees including archive material from Sir Colin Davis. Tippett was a complex character with a rather messy private life and bizarre ad-hoc arrangements with his personal affairs. He also flirted with both Communism and Trotskyism, and came eventually to settle on pacifism during the war (which earned him a prison sentence in 1943 for refusing to do war duties). His music, although apparently fiendishly difficult to play, is often very beautiful and moving. The programme featured the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Bearsden Choir, and included lots of musical references including long extracts from "A Child of Our Time" (from 1941) with it's wonderful use of Negro spirituals (the use and origin well explained by a now somewhat elderly David Owen Norris). The piece was conceived after Kristallnacht – the 1938 Nazi-led pogrom against German Jews – and speaks of refugees and persecution. Some of the loveliest interviews were with Tippett's two former housekeepers, who brilliantly put his decline and death down to "not having marmalade when he moved to London". That might well have been at least partially right. I saw Tippett at Symphony Hall when he appeared on stage with Simon Rattle after a CBSO performance of his Oratorio; must have been about 1991 just after the Hall opened.

Directed by John Bridcut. Executive Producers Jan Younghusband and Mark Bell. Crux Productions for BBC Television. First broadcast 8 June 2023.

The only other time I have seen Trovatore, it was a fairly conventional "19th century" big scene staging - lots of gypsies, anvils, mountain rocks to hide behind, fight scenes etc. This was totally different, with a "staircase" permanently on set and a design that was reminiscent of a painting by Hieronymus Bosch or Bruegel. We had acrobats in every scene acting out devils or imps, costumes straight out of a 14th century "doom painting", and complex choreography to reflect the chaos and anarchy of the time. This was a world of emotion and superstition, in which infernal creatures wearing horns and monster heads move among people who believe in witches and the dark power of the underworld. The problem though was that the characters were two dimensional, and the army and fight scenes rather comically lacking in perspective. I suppose this was all of the era of the original Spanish play, so there was some plausible justification, but it just came across as rather silly. Great idea in theory, but I found the jiggling and jiving of the acrobats and the chorus rather distracting; the FT called it "Verdi meets Dungeons and Dragons"! It was all a little ridiculous but of course it was wonderfully sung and played, with Jamie Barton as Azucena my standout star of the evening. French baritone, Ludovic Tézier, was also in excellent voice but had little otherwise to do other than walk around in a gold cape. Pappano in the pit, lots of ovations and bravos.

Summer concert from my outstanding church choir, with men, boys, and girls, combining with the Beauchamp Sinfonietta, for a lovely performance of Duruflé's Requiem, using the setting for String Orchestra. The Requiem exists in three versions: one for organ alone (with obbligato solo for cello); one for organ with string orchestra and optional trumpets, harp, and timpani; and one for organ and full orchestra. It was composed in 1944, using themes largely derived from Gregorian Chant; Duruflé dedicated it to his father. The first half of the concert consisted of a nicely constructed collection of largely English choral pieces, including Finizi's "Lo the full final sacrifice", set to a text by St Thomas Aquinas, composed in 1946, which I had never heard before and was lovely.