PGC

Thanks - it's always nice to get recommendations for recordings, so guess what I'll be looking out for! Phil

Many years ago I played the piano regularly and learnt quite a few difficult works such as the final movement of the Moonlight Sonata. Pictures at an Exhibition is not an easy piece to play (I know, I tried!) and I'm full of admiration for anyone who can play it. The recording by Barry Douglas is the one I also have and he does play it very well (as do Tomita and ELP, of which I also have recordings). Been singing Messiah tonight - has anyone mentioned it previously? There's some stunning music in it, but I mustn't say too much, otherwise people might think I'm starting to enjoy early music! Phil

This is where fact get's muddled up. Yes, the original RFH was built in 1951, but bear in mind that it's had a massive refurbishment since that means the hall now has as good an acoustic as any other venue, and it also has one of the best organs in a concert hall. I really don't understand why people say the Barbican is below par - Richard Hickox heard the pundits telling him that the hall was no good, and he was determined to prove them wrong. He introduced choral music, starting with Belshazzar's Feast, large scale orchestral work and small scale choral work (I was one of a chorus of 24 that staged a performance of the Rossini Petite Messe Solenelle) and all was very well received. Since I last sang at the Barbican, they have also refurbished the hall, so I don't know what it's like now, but I reckon it could only be better, and I would have no trouble with that. Talking of the best, look at the newest concert hall in England - Saffron Hall. I wonder if Simon Rattle knows of it, it's as good as Symphony Hall and is a lot nearer to London. It's also getting the best performers - Nicola Benedetti, The Sixteen, Britten Sinfonia and, well, take a look. Personally, I believe we certainly have halls in England that are among the best in the world, and I wish that people would stop putting them down and let's be proud of them. Phil

I had to collect SWMBO from work yesterday. While waiting I listened to Neilsen 4 on Radio 3. Not heard it before - I'll be buying a CD.

Looking forward to seeing videos of trains running, Gordon, can't be far off now. Talking size of layouts etc., my ideal is a layout some 24ft x 12ft with just a single branch line running through scenery with no station or just a very small station with possibly a crossing loop. Sound's boring? Well, I like watching trains in their natural environment, there were a lot more miles of single track in the late 50's than double track and the older I get, the more I appreciate trains running at realistic speeds. So may be boring for others, but paradise for me! Phil

I suspect this has been posted before - if so, apologies, but in the light of upcoming political events, it just seems so apt to repost! While walking down the street one day a Member of Parliament is tragically hit by a truck and dies. : His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance. 'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter. 'Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.' 'No problem, just let me in,' says the man. 'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.' 'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,' says the MP. 'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.' And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne. Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly & nice guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.... The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him. 'Now it's time to visit heaven.' So, 24 hours pass with the MP joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns. 'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.' The MP reflects for a minute, then he answers: 'Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.' So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above. The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. ' I don't understand,' stammers the MP. 'Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look haunted and miserable. What happened? ' The devil looks at him, smiles and says, 'Yesterday we were campaigning'. "Today you voted".

Just bought a 4mm brick lineside hut - looking forward to getting it, building it, painting it and placing it on the layout. I see from the thread that you're planning to produce accessories, will you be producing items like the corrugated sheet you've used on the roof of the 4mm plate layers hut? I've only just bought a Wills corrugate iron chapel but think etched representation of the corrugated iron would make the model so much better. Actually, are you thinking of producing a corrugated iron chapel? :-) Thanks Phil

They are changing, though; in 1997 they started allowing women players in their ranks. Whether they will change their playing style, however, remains to be seen, but I doubt it. My friend, who has played in the Large Hall of the Musikverein, tells me it's supposed to be a virtually perfect orchestral acoustic, apparently it's something to do with the hall being shoe box shaped. I don't know about this personally - I would like to find out! Sadly, I suspect it's not going to happen, but you never know. Phil

Tony One definition that I've found of elitism is "consciousness of or pride in belonging to a select or favoured group". To me, you are a member of a select group, but only because you very good at making locos and coaches, and you are someone that the majority of modellers can look up to for inspiration. So, please don't worry about being called elitist, but revel in it as you've earned the right to do so through being bl00dy good at what you do. Phil

As Bruckner died in 1896, I am at a loss to know why his music is related to events in the 30's. Is it possible someone could explain? I don't want to stir ill feeling, rather find out how some of the most sublime music has been mistreated or misrepresented. As I understand matters, von Karajan was basically told "you will conduct what we tell you, or you won't conduct at all", so he conducted, but unwillingly, until the war had finished, after which he was not hindered by politices and despotism. I believe I also heard it said that von Karajan once said something long the lines of the power of his interpretation coming from having witnessed during the war the degrading depths to which humans could sink, and that he was determined to try and counter that through the beauty of music. If that's the case, I reckon he succeeded, and also proved that sometimes beauty emanates from evil. Phil

Could it be seen as pompous to suggest that this shows a level of intellect and tolerance among those who appreciate classical music that you don't get from those who put it down as elitist etc? I suspect it will be seen as pompous, but I still like to think it's true and reflects why we have such a fascinating thread. Phil

As a singer myself, I have sung some of the music written by Karl Jenkins, and I'm sorry to say that I think he's another product of the marketing types. It wasn't easy to sing, compared to the works of good choral composers. Mind you, even the best choral composers get things wrong. For example, in Beati Quorum via by C V Stanford (you can hear it on this link), the second Basses are required to sing forte (that means loud, if you don't understand musical terminology) on a bottom F while the first trebles are also singing forte but on a top G flat. Put simply, you make more volume the higher you sing so the Basses are singing low and therefore on a hiding to nothing! This question of the modern marketing of classical music is an area that I feel uncomfortable about - Katherine Jenkins is a singer who has a stunningly beautiful mezzo-soprano tone, but she's not an opera singer, which is how she's described. Put her on an opera stage and she'd fail miserably (I know this - many years ago I conducted her in a performance of the Rossini Petite Messe Solenelle (you can listen to the complete work on this link - if you don't know the work, it's great fun!) and she couldn't be heard above the (small!) chorus in the Agnus Dei), but give her a microphone and get her singing musical theatre songs and she'd be brilliant. Let's hope that the more discerning listener sees through the hype of the marketing men and the real quality is still allowed to shine through. Phil

'Tis a funny thing, this music lark! Those of you who've seen my earlier posts will realise that classical music, especially choral and church genres, is what I primarily listen to, but not exclusively. One of the recent purchases has been Jeff Beck's album Emotion and Commotion, in which he plays various tracks (Nessun Dorma is one) on his guitar. I was sceptical until I heard it. This link takes you to the complete album on YouTube. Reading through the posts, there's some interesting music listed, a lot of which I know, but there are quite a few bits that I don't. If you want to discover some rare English 20th century music, may I recommend this CD I was recently given a copy (the soloist on it gave it to me - he's my best friend, so I suppose I should declare a sort of vested interest in promoting it). Another little known composer is Josef Rheinberger. Born in Lichtenstein in 1839, he had a very florid style of writing and his Cantus Missae for 8 part unaccompanied choir is a wonderful piece of music. You can listen to it here So far I've not seen (or perhaps I've just missed it) mention of two great British composers - Purcell and William Byrd. The Funeral sentences for Queen Mary by Purcell are some of the most sublime early music and if I need to calm down, I put the CD on and it's highly therapeutic. As a church musician, it is impossible to escape the music of Byrd - there's something rather special about it, although I can't put my finger on precisely what. Phil

Before I moved outside of the M25, the family GP was also a family friend, and a lover of Chopin. He had all the works on CD in his surgery, and my appointments would always be double length while we discussed music, especially what I was singing at the time as I was with London Symphony Chorus. The GP also had a wicked sense of humour and on one occasion, on a visit to discuss the results of some blood tests, when I walked in to the surgery he immediately announced "I know the answer to your problems". Thinking I was just about to learn I'd only got 6 months to live or similar, he suddenly said "The blood's gaining ground on the alcohol" For a few seconds I didn't realise what he was saying and when it dawned on me, he had a big smile on his face. A good friend and Doctor missed a lot. Phil

You just never know - they seem to be learning that there is a lot of good music outside of the 100 top tunes. On occasions I've tuned to them of an evening to find they're playing music that really isn't what I would expect to find I their repertoire, on one occasion they played a Stanford Symphony in it's entirety! Another great composer, and really only known for his church music, which is so sad as he wrote some brilliant orchestral music. Phil

Gershwin is one of the first cross-over composers, and to my mind, the best. Definitely classical music, and very good classical music at that. Phil

A stunning piece of music. The part I like most is the theme from the fifth movement - it also happens to be the theme tune for the comedy Waiting for God. An ambition of mine is to lead the music in a church service with a small chamber ensemble to accompany the Mass setting, and while the congregation are queuing for communion, to have the chamber ensemble play the piece and see if anyone spots the irony of having the theme from the comedy played while, literally, waiting for God! Phil

I have just agreed a severance deal at the school where I've worked for the last 10 years. I find it amazing that the woman who was Head of Music couldn't play the piano! As I read the posts on this thread, I keep recalling works I'd forgotten about - the Brahms German Requiem was mentioned, I'll add that to my list! Phil

My last post reminds me how I've discovered some of the music I didn't know existed, but love listening to once discovered. Many years ago, between permanent jobs, I worked as a motorbike despatch rider to earn money (I hate these people who have never worked in their lives and live on the dole, but that's another story!). While waiting to collect one job from an office in Soho, I started reading a newspaper, and one of the items concerned a CD starring Thomas Hamson singing the songs of Stephen Foster. Most people know Camptown Races, but the first track was "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" and the arrangement was just stunning. Another CD I "discovered" was when walking through HMV Oxford Street and saw an album starring Anne Sofie von Otter and Elvis Costello called "For the stars". This is not classical music, but I can't recommend the album highly enough. And tonight, thanks to eastwestdivide and talltim, I've discovered another album I didn't know about, so I've bought it and can't wait for it to drop through the letterbox. Thanks, guys. Phil

Thanks for posting - I'm going on to Amazon immediately to buy the CD. I have sung Winterreise with piano a couple of times, but the Hurdy-Gurdy just adds a depth of melancholy I've never experienced before. I'm looking forward to a new interpretation. Phil

For me, it's a memory of being a very young man, lying on my back on the side of a wooded mountain, in the sunshine listening to birds singing. Ros, the young lady cuddled up to me was also very happy and just as physically exhausted as I was (get what I mean, nudge, nudge, say no more!). The birds sang and we commented on the beauty of the bird song, so every time I hear RVW's Lark ascending, I wonder what became of Ros. Another memory that haunts me stems from the trip to Moscow in 1982 with London Symphony Chorus that I mentioned in an earlier post. We sang three concerts, two performances of Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius" on Thursday and Friday, then Bruckner's "Mass in E minor" on Saturday evening as the first half of the concert with Walton's "Belshazzar's Feast" as the second half. Bearing in mind what little opportunity the average Russian person would have had to hear a Latin Mass (Christianity wasn't banned in Russia, but it certainly wasn't encouraged!), an elderly lady very close to the front of the audience was in tears as she listened to the Bruckner; the words obviously held a great depth of meaning to her. The memory of the look of joy on her face has stayed with me for a very long time. As you say, funny what one remembers..... Phil

Rather, try YouTube. I wouldn't have expected to find much Bruckner on there, but the slow movement from 7th Symphony is there, and conducted by Celibedache, reckoned by many to be the greatest interpreter of Bruckner, although my recording by Simon Rattle is rather good. And then there's Spotify as well. Phil

Oh, I don't know. Get a suitable room and some canvas while painting and listening and you may become the next Jackson Pollock. Phil

As I add comments to this thread and read RMWeb I'm listening to the Durufle Requiem (prompted by my comment earlier). If you don't know the work, may I suggest you try a little bit of bravery - buy a recording somewhere, from Amazon or whichever your favourite music supplier is and try listening. I would be very surprised if you regret it and I would also guess you won't begrudge taking a punt and spending money on something you know nothing about. Phil

The festival still does exist and several of my singing friends have participated. RVW also wrote the Mass in G minor. Another of the pieces that I adore and haven't mentioned yet. Has anyone noticed a theme of my choices? They're all late 19th or 20th century music. I could add some Baroque pieces like the St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B minor of J S Bach to my list, but music before Mozart is very much in the descendancy as far as I'm concerned. As Trisonic says, music choices (especially classical) are very much a personal thing. Phil