Max Rules

I’m happy, but not surprised, that Peter Maxwell Davies is speaking out again on the state of arts and art funding in Britain in the Telegraph. He has long since reached that place in his professional life many of us are looking for- the place where you are famous...

The last word on Elgar

Given some of the writing on Elgar lately, I thought I would try to improve the calibre of discourse.  From the man who wrote the book on The Symphony, my dear friend Michael Steinberg, who offers two quotes of his own discovery. First from David Cairns- “a...

Zappa- Peefeeyatko

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to explore YouTube. Today, however, I made a discovery that I’m awfully happy about. Some kind soul has posted a documentary on Frank Zappa called Peefeeyatko. http://youtu.be/H8-N08xDz6E I’ve only ever really wanted three...

Easter in Brecon

Several months ago I wrote here about the shocking news that David Gedge, longtime organist at Brecon Cathedral and conductor of the Gwent Chamber Orchestra had suffered a stroke while conducting the final pages of Haydn’s Creation. It was early days for me on this...

Discovering Music

As we approach next week’s broadcast of the new Discovering Music show on the Nielsen Flute Concerto, we thought it would be nice to make available some older episodes as podcasts. The current episode is on the general topic of Impressionism. There’s a lovely...

OES Fire- Two weeks on

Please, please give what you can to the OES Fire Renewal Fund.  (Flames break through the office roof) Well, it’s been two weeks since the fire hit. I don’t think anyone in the organization can believe it, as none of us has been able to catch a breath during that...

We love YouTube

We’d like to invite any regular readers to visit YouTube and search for Mahler.  We found out today that for some bizarre reason, the number 1 search result on YouTube for Mahler is the first mvt. of Kindertotenlieder with me conducting baritone Jesus Suaste and the...

Correct terminology

One of the recent news items on the OES fire said that “the orchestra takes pride in describing itself as “the most remotely situated full symphony orchestra on the planet.”” Actually, that nickname is just the legacy of a long-forgotten...

Fire blog links

    We’ve tried to gather all the blog posts we could find so far on the symphony fire. The list is sure to be incomplete, and we’ll edit and update as we learn of other postings. Getting the word out about the situation is job no. 1 right now- if we can...