Tuesday 10 October 2000

A whole day spent working at home with no interruptions - what luxury. In the end I did no ConCal stuff at all (apart from ringing Marie to see how she was getting on), but I sat in front of the fire with a DAT machine and a pile of tapes, plotting the edit for the Mr McFall's Chamber tango CD. There's some seriously sexy singing from Valentina - I confidently predict that when the CD comes out, lonely young men across the globe will listen to it late at night with headphones on dreaming of Ms Martinez.

Went to hear the OAE with Andreas Scholl on Saturday.  It was nice to hang out for a few hours in the orchestra's hotel bar afterwards, as there's a very specific atmosphere that only prevails in a touring orchestra's residents bar after a gig.  After all, it's not going to close until they all leave.  

I just wish the concert had been as enjoyable. I only go to concerts as a punter 2 or 3 times a year, and when they don't connect with me I find it a bit depressing. The hall was far too big for the band to make any impact, and although Scholl has a wonderful voice, he might as well have been singing his shopping list for most of the time.  It's not enough just to be presented with something beautiful; it has to say something to you as well, and it sounded like he didn't know what the songs were about.  He's an intelligent guy, so maybe he just hasn't figured out yet how to communicate it.  Still, shouldn't moan, as he let Jo Parker take his flowers so that I could bring them home for Helen.  So now you know where soloists' bouquets end up after posh concerts ...