Communion

I have just found this blog article. I couldn't agree more, especially with the comments people have left

Stephen Hough is a fantastic pianist and I have heard him talk on the radio; seems like an intesting guy.

A bit of fun

Follow this link and have a play. I wish I'd found it a few days ago when it was Morse's birthday.

I stayed quite a while.

Words

I don't think it breaks my own rules to post this.

We had music exams at school today and several boys took Grade 4 singing. Now, with all other 'instruments' you play from the music. Singers have to perform from memory; I've done it, so it cannot be difficult. I have to say that I use various techniques when I need to commit words to memory. One song I sang in German (which I don't speak) was particularly difficult so I needed to solve a problem at one point.

Treib andern Schmerz
Aus dieser Brust!

I thought of a tribe of ants with huge breasts! My daughter will despair of me when she reads this.

Today one boy completely dried up and I had to give him a prompt from the piano. Another did a collage of verses 1 and 2 in "A Clare Benediction" and I was able to adapt the phrase Eric Morecambe uttered in the Grieg Piano Concerto Sketch, by telling him afterwards,"You sang all the right words, but not necessarily in the right order". He knew!

Quote

From "The Apprentice" 22nd April.

Nick Hewer said, "they took logic and tortured it until it screamed".

Priceless!

Competition

This is a competition without a prize! (I got the idea from another Blog I visit but cannot recall which one).

The Great British Menu is well under way at present [more details here].

Your task - dear reader - is to suggest a better title for this programme which I note I wrote about almost exactly a year ago.

I will start you off with possible titles.

• How raw can I serve this meat and still get away with it? [One chef still had his beef in a water bath far too late in the trial programme and repeated the error on the Friday judging day]
• I'm only here to show off, I can't really cook.
• I can't decide how to cook the food so I'll do it 3 ways.
• 101 things to do with Marrow bone.
• The world's most disgusting food.
• It's raw but the judges will say it's overcooked.
• You'd think I'd know how to cook a pudding.

I am after more pithy titles, however, such as:

Dare I actually serve this?

Come on, entertain me!

Training

We all had to go in today to be trained to use some new assessment software. Basically, we now have to do on a computer what used to take a mere 10 minutes with pen and paper.

There was only one aspect of the software we needed to see. However, 'Training Boy' took us through all the menus, even the ones we didn't need. When at last we did start to enter some dummy data we all found bugs in the software. For example, it was possible to work for 20 minutes, log out and have none of the data saved. No warning such as, "You have not saved your work. Are you sure you want to log out?" was given. Duh!

If only he hadn't wasted time explaining what a spell checker was and how to use it. I mean, come on. Why were we all so polite; were we all to scared to say we knew how to use one? Apparently so.

Tom Lehrer

Over on Commonplaces there is a link to one of Tom's songs. I like this one myself.

He makes it look so easy

Try this

This blog is the music list for a Quebec church and it provides links to soundfiles or Youtube videos of the items they have selected.

Pressure Selling - a warning

We need a new boiler but, before I get to that let me bang on about double glazing. Several years ago (9 or 10) we asked a well-known double glazing company to give us a quote for replacing all the windows in our house. You may recognise the firm from the description. I'll bullet point the steps.

• Salesman arrives and measured up as we expected. We chat about window styles, colour (white or wood effect).
• While he calculates the price he gives us a video to watch of windows being made in the factory, etc.
• Then he announces the price; £16,000!!! We say no.
• He then "makes a phone call" and his 'boss' allows him to reduce the price to £12,000. We say no.
  
• He is not dismayed - after all, he understands - so he makes another call [on our phone mind you - well it was quite a while ago] and announces that, if we allow them to stick an advertising board outside he can drop to £10,000. We say no.
• Finally, he phones a branch 30 miles away where he 'knows' they are a bit slack and 'Hey Presto' the price drops to £6,000 which with hindsight was the correct price.
• Now, the salesman thinks we will jump at this - after all he has saved us £10,000. My answer to him is that there is no way on earth I will allow anybody to fit windows in my house originally priced at £16,000 for a mere £6,000; I say that it is clear they would cut some corners so they were not out of pocket.
• Salesman says that he is glad I refused because it wasn't worth his while filling out the paper work for £6,000 and thus saves his face; he departs.
• [We had our double-glazing installed 4 years ago having obtained 3 quotes, all at realistic levels.]
  

Forward in time some 3 years from where we began, and the Gas Board come , at my invitation, to quote us for a new boiler. It takes an hour; the man has his laptop and enters all the data. He asks many questions, pokes his nose in all sorts of places, asks if we have a 3-phase-anti-back-flip-attenuated-whatnot; says we'll need one and eventually gives us a quote for over a couple of thousand quid. It is too much, we don't go any further and make the boiler last.

Wind on to the present day. We need a new boiler soon. We may be able to afford one.

• We invite the Gas Board again and two other local firms, who happen to visit us first. Gas Board man arrives (same man as before though he has forgotten) with laptop and cheery smile. He does his stuff but doesn't ask about the 'whatnot'. After much printing of pretty pictures and asking about my family he arrives at his quote.
  
• Quote includes discounts for - [a] the fact that we have a Gas Board service policy [b] It is Spring, so we get a rebate [c] he is allowed to give us £100 discount anyway [d] he can 'throw in' the radiator valves [e] he's in a good mood.
• He leaves and I await the other quotes which both come in at £1000+ less than his which was £3387.
• A few days later the Gas Board phone; they have some 'slack' in their schedule and can drop to £3000 if I agree to have the work done. I say I'm waiting for 2 more quotes. The nice man says he'll wait to hear from me.

Now I am annoyed. Much of the time was spent waiting for the Salesman to print off 2 pretty pictures of the boiler, 1 of the Magnaclean unit, the quote (in colour, as well as a black on white version), and picture of the powerflush system all of which he could have brought with him because they will not install a system without the Magnaclean unit.

Also the guy who phoned me has done the "I'm doing you a favour" routine. And do I want to pay £1000 more for what I get get from perfectly reputable installer, one of whom has done work for us before?

No.

Sorry British Gas. It's all a bit poor, if you ask me.

Manchester

I ventured up to Manchester (again) yesterday to hear Bach's St. Matthew Passion in the Bridgewater Hall sung by

• The Choir of Clare College
• Manchester Camerata
• The Choristers of Manchester Cathedral
• Nicholas Kraemer, conductor
• Soloists: Elizabeth Weisberg, Clare Wilkinson, Mark Le Broq, James Gilchrist, Stephan Loges and Matthew Hargreaves

It was a long drive there but I found the car park without any trouble. As I was early, I walked to the cathedral before returning for a quick meal to TableTable which is 1 minute away from the hall.

In the first half I couldn't see my daughter as her half of the choir was on my side; I moved after the interval and it was interesting to hear the music from two places.

I had gone purely to enjoy the concert and not with a critical ear although there was hardly anything to criticise. The orchestra was superb especially the woodwind; the oboes were divine, particularly one oboe obbligato which Rachael Clegg stood to play. Richard Boothby's Viol da Gamba playing was simply amazing. Throughout, the phrasing, shaping, articulation and idiomatic playing [which betrayed a deep understanding of the music from all players and the conductor] was nothing less than joyous. It was spot-on, beautiful intensely lyrical when it needed to be. I felt the balance between and choir orchestra was slightly in favour of the orchestra but the overall effect was not one which left one feeling disappointed.

The narrator, James Gilchrist, did a brilliant job. He told the story with emotion as though he was actually there and he took us on a journey with him. He has a voice to die for, making his part sound not only terribly easy (which it isn't) but beautiful and effortless. Many singers can make it sound easy (as Rogers Covy-Crump does on the CDs I have) but James brought an intensity to the role which was completely genuine, unaffected and utterly convincing.

Although I am used to hearing Emma Kirkby sing the soprano role this does mean that any other singer has to win my affection before I enjoy the performance. Before long Elizabeth Weisberg had done this as had Clare Wilkinson. It must be very hard for the male soloists to sit and wait for their numbers to come up and I felt a tad disappointed with Stephan Loges [the programme spelt his name as Stephen!] as "Mache dich, mein Herze" didn't cut the mustard for me. However, I was tired by this point and the piece comes right at the end. Also one is used to a CD having been corrected for balance. It isn't easy to project the lower notes of the vocal line over a 'strong' orchestra.

It may sound an odd thing to say, but I was struck by how in tune the soloists were. Not only was their intonation good but they all hit every note smack in the middle. If I haven't commented on somebody it doesn't mean they were in any way weak. Part of the art of a performer is to be so good that the music speaks through you and your technique isn't even noticed. Thus it is that I almost forgot to look up Matthew Hargreaves to see if I could find him on line. Central to the story, as Jesus, he remained in the same place throughout whereas the 4 other soloists came of from the side. It's just me I guess, but I take this an an expression of the humility of Jesus at his Passion.

The continuo was cleanly played and the lutenist, Lynda Sayce, was more than a match for the task.

The cathedral choristers only sang in the first half and reinforced the chorale melodies (canti firmi) here and there. Of the 16 present only 7 were boys. Can Manchester not field more than 7 boys who can sing treble? What a terrible indictment of 21st century Britain where it is so 'uncool' for boys to sing. Some cathedrals maintain both a boys and a girls choir; I admit I am uneasy about mixing the genders in a choir because it is apt to upset the traditional hierarchy in that a boy is unlikely to be a Head Chorister, in this situation, because girls' voices last longer [as they do not break]. However, this is tricky issue I shall not discuss here.

Key Fob or People 2

Talking about people, I'd like to say a special thank you to the company which sorted out my key fob. It became unreliable just under a year ago and I sent it off to be repaired. A couple of weeks ago it really let me down and it took me 10 minutes to get the car started. I can get into the car with the key but the fob operates the immobiliser and lets me start the engine. There was much slamming of doors [which usually seems to help, something to do with the courtesy light switch], replacing of batteries (I keep spares in the glove compartment) and uttering of profanity.

When I got home I changed to my wife's key fob which I used on my holiday. On my return I posted the fob off to Sutton Coldfield and phoned them the next day ready to pay my credit card. The man said he had just looked at my fob, recognised it as one they had repaired and said it worked perfectly. I explained it didn't and he said he would build a new circuit board (using the unique microchip from the old one) or check the timer. I confirmed that I'd be at home if he wanted any money. I heard nothing.

The next day (yesterday) the fob arrived (posted special delivery which is about a fiver) and all for free. Brilliant service or what? I can tell you the fob works brilliantly.

People

I suppose I am stating the obvious if I say I like some people and not others. I know I am in the 'dislike' list of several people but I really don't care. Why am I going on about this?

PERSON 1: Today I played in a friendly croquet tournament. There were 4 games each an hour long. I have played once since September so I am very rusty. Consequently the first guy beat me 14-1 in 35 minutes despite that fact I had 8 bisques and he had 3. One isn't supposed to practise on a tournament day but this guy said to me "If I were you I'd do some practice, I'll ask Owen if it is OK". What a ruddy cheek!! Well 'mister retired gentleman who can practise every day' I'm sorry I am not up to your standard but that is the point of the handicap system; poor players can take on better players. To say "I'd so some practice if I were you" is tantamount to saying "Your are crap" (which I knew already). Actually I feel rather intimidated by this guy as he has the tact of a Chieftain tank but doesn't realise it.

PERSON 2: Between games I went to the loo. I didn't need the only cubicle there, but when the guy who was using it came out he left without washing is hands. Note that our croquet club is in the grounds of a hospital (of a sort) so I felt this was extremely poor. Why didn't I say anything? Well who would? If he was that kind of person he'd have some smart response to criticism I guess.

PERSONS 3, 4 & 5: I played good games with these next 3 players and actually won the last one against a better player. So stuff you person 1!