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Concert review: The Manfreds (Cadogan Hall 3rd November 2023)

I may be treading upon unsure ground here but one of the features of music generally – in its various forms ranging across the spectrum from the primitive to High Art and back again – is its appeal to most sentient members of the human race as they make their journey through life. One [...]

November 5, 2023 // 0 Comments

Music Review: Hackney Diamonds (the Rolling Stones)

The Rolling Stones have now been together for sixty years – of the “originals” (Brian Jones) died aged 27 in 1969 and another (Charlie Watts) died in 2021 aged 80. On 26th July Mick Jagger turned 80, a milestone that Keith Richard will also pass in December if he makes it that far; the other [...]

September 7, 2023 // 0 Comments

Robbie Robertson – R.I.P.

Time passes, we all get older – and then we die. Today I want to pay a small tribute to Robbie Robertson, the humble Canadian who played a fundamental role in the development of rock music through his association with Bob Dylan and others from the 1960s onwards and who passed on 9th August at the [...]

August 15, 2023 // 0 Comments

Isata Kanneh-Mason & the Proms

The Proms are a welcome and regular feature of the British summer. They are experimental and a platform for new and younger talent but not too woke-ish. Last Sunday I watched on the TV a prom featuring Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky. The virtuoso pianist for the Prokofiev piece [...]

August 9, 2023 // 0 Comments

Don Giovanni/Glyndebourne

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s  Don Giovanni purports to be opera buffa (light comic opera) but there is a dark side: the killing of the Commendatore, father of Don Giovanni’s (Amdrey Zhilikovsky) latest quest Donna Anna (Venera Gimlieva), and the predatory nature of Don Giovanni himself. The [...]

June 25, 2023 // 0 Comments

Mike + The Mechanics at the Guildhall, Portsmouth (28th May)

Last Sunday evening the Mem Sahib and Yours Truly travelled to the Portsmouth Guildhall (capacity 2,500) in order to attend the last concert of the current UK tour of the musical combo known as Mike + The Mechanics. Rusters of a certain age (mine is 71) are unlikely to need it, but for those [...]

May 30, 2023 // 0 Comments

Thoughts on the Royal Coronation

Now that the hubbub has died down and we have an unnecessary and grey bank holiday, here are my random thoughts on the Royal Coronation. I’m no fan of King Charles III, considering him a poor thinker and privileged. Worst he thinks he has the right to impose and inflict his views on us. Thus I [...]

May 8, 2023 // 0 Comments

A Night at the Opera/ Falstaff

Last night I went to see Guisepe Verdi’s final opera Falstaff at the Nice Opera House. He composed it aged 80 with the librettist Arrigo Borti. It’s based upon The Merry Wives of Windsor and the story can be simplified to the efforts of the debauched soldier Sir John Falstaff to seduce two [...]

April 7, 2023 // 0 Comments

Jeff Beck – RIP

Time stops for nobody but sometimes a passing touches upon fond memories and thoughts. The overnight news that guitarist Jeff Beck, 78, had died suddenly after contracting bacterial meningitis has come as a considerable shock. In all forms of popular instrumental music – classical, jazz, [...]

January 12, 2023 // 0 Comments

Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul/Prom Concert

A tribute was paid at a Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall to Aretha Franklin by vocalist Shelea backed by the Jules Backley Orchestra. It was broadcast live on Radio 3 and BBC 4 last night. The obvious difficulty to overcome is that  however good the singer paying the tribute – she is [...]

August 27, 2022 // 0 Comments

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