Sunday 30 August 2009

Ears This Weekend (2009-08-29 & 30)

Apologies for anyone on the edge of their seat waiting for the Ears yesterday. They did not appear for two reasons: firstly, due to a long stint at the venue, followed by a trip to the pub thereafter, I listened to very little; secondly, by the time I was back, it was too late. Today, I've done very little, as I seem to have collapsed as a result of having been doing two jobs for the last few weeks, not to mention all the writing for this site.

Yesterday began with a little more of that Radio 4 gem, Cabin Pressure. Then another listen to Mariss Jansons and the Bavarians playing Britten's A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra:

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With the exception of another listen to Runnicles, Wosner and the BBC Scottish playing Mozart's K466 concerto at the Proms last week while I counted the money up for the last time, that was it for Friday. Well, except that David (the venue technician) and I managed to get ourselves looked into the building and so when we came downstairs and set the alarm off, the Ears had rather a shock.


Today was a fairly minimal day for the Ears as well, as much of it was spent vegetating in front of the TV. However, one earworthy piece of viewing was the film version of Ronald Harwood's play Taking Sides, which I saw recently. The film version, in an attempt to be more film like, ended up being massively inferior and less compelling and dramatic.

I should have headed out to hear the Festspiel Orchester Gottingen do Acis and Galatea, but I didn't quite feel up to it so my ticket went to waste. Instead it was a second visit to the CD player for Jansons' Bavarian Tchaikovsky sixth.

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Finally, I gave the first disc of my new Furtwangler box set a spin. It is from his first concert with the Berlin Philharmonic following his clearance by the denazification committee and features Beethoven's sixth and fifth symphonies:

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Between works I have a bath, for which another gem of Radio 4's comedy department accompanied me, the second series of Dickensian spoof Bleak Expectations:

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Then it was back to the Furtwangler for Beethoven five, then off to bed.

Tomorrow Runnicles is in town for his first conducting engagement here in three years. Wild horses won't keep me from that.

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