London report - Friday
So once again I am an international radio star. The concert I just attended was broadcasted live on BBC3, just as a concert I attended about two years ago. Once again millions of listeners got the chance to hear my enthusiastic applauding, this time from seat PP26. I am sure any commentator on the radio must have said something along the lines of "The gentleman sitting in seat PP26 seems especially taken by the music".
And what a lovely concert it was. A conductor who also played the harpsichord and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment in full flight. Three pieces by Haydn and two by his contemporaries. It was a stroke of genius to begin with one of Haydn's early symphonies, no 6, and ending with one of his later ones, no 93, the first of those written in London. His development was evident. No 6 was good, but no 93 was spectacular, and performed in a very powerful way. I sat spellbound for the whole time.
And they even did an encore. How often do you get an orchestra playing classical musik doing that?
The Victoria and Albert Museum is not big, it is enormous. Almost 15 kilometres of galleries and 2.5 million exhibits. I have popped in a couple of times, but never visited it properly. I mean, where do you start?
So I went on a guided tour with London Walks today. And our guide did the only sensible thing. She picked about half a dozen exhibits of various kinds and talked in depth about them. We saw an old English bishops robe, a Belgian tapestry, some snuff boxes that used to belong to a king of Preussia, a Japanese chest made for export and of course a series of magnificent painbtings by Rafael.
Next time in London I will probably spend a whole day in the V&A.
Sad news. The HMV record shop opposite Bond Street underground station is gone. I thought: It cannot be, it has always been there. Well, it has move across the street once, but ever since I first visited London in 42 years ago it has been one of the places you always visited. OK the one further east on Oxford Street is bigger, but the old one once was the biggest record shop in Europe. Hopefully it will be opened again, since there was rebuilding going on where it used to be.
And what a lovely concert it was. A conductor who also played the harpsichord and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment in full flight. Three pieces by Haydn and two by his contemporaries. It was a stroke of genius to begin with one of Haydn's early symphonies, no 6, and ending with one of his later ones, no 93, the first of those written in London. His development was evident. No 6 was good, but no 93 was spectacular, and performed in a very powerful way. I sat spellbound for the whole time.
And they even did an encore. How often do you get an orchestra playing classical musik doing that?
The Victoria and Albert Museum is not big, it is enormous. Almost 15 kilometres of galleries and 2.5 million exhibits. I have popped in a couple of times, but never visited it properly. I mean, where do you start?
So I went on a guided tour with London Walks today. And our guide did the only sensible thing. She picked about half a dozen exhibits of various kinds and talked in depth about them. We saw an old English bishops robe, a Belgian tapestry, some snuff boxes that used to belong to a king of Preussia, a Japanese chest made for export and of course a series of magnificent painbtings by Rafael.
Next time in London I will probably spend a whole day in the V&A.
Sad news. The HMV record shop opposite Bond Street underground station is gone. I thought: It cannot be, it has always been there. Well, it has move across the street once, but ever since I first visited London in 42 years ago it has been one of the places you always visited. OK the one further east on Oxford Street is bigger, but the old one once was the biggest record shop in Europe. Hopefully it will be opened again, since there was rebuilding going on where it used to be.
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