Sunday 18 December 2005

A wet day today, the first in ages. Not that it stopped us going out for a father-and-son cycle ride for a couple of hours this morning. Billy Connolly's theory that there is no such thing as bad weather for Scots, just the wrong clothes, has a lot to commend it.

This afternoon I got to the end of my Schetky pile of photocopies, and it's been very promising. At least half of the sonatas are worth playing, and the best of the 'strathspeys made into rondos' are very good indeed. Not music of any great depth, but shameless fun.  I'm sure there will be those who will complain about its sullying of our national culture, but tough - I like it and I don't care. Or rather, I do care about our national culture, but I think the question 'Is it any good?' is far more important than 'Is it acceptable politically?'.  Alison is working through Schetky's cello music with a similar degree of success, and apparently there are at least 3 symphonies and 4 cello concertos in manuscript in German libraries. Hmm ... could this be the Kellie follow-up disc I wonder?

Meanwhile, I'm listening to Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach (I think I prefer the rougher first recording but can't find my copy - I lent it to someone years ago), after an off-the-cuff remark to a festival director the other day that a concert performance would be fantastic, if rather improbable. I might be making a brief appearance in the afternoon concert on Martyn Bennett day at the Celtic Connections festival in a few weeks, so I'm giving that some thought too. And earlier I was just becoming very irritated at the smug laziness of the first podcast by They Might Be Giants and was about to turn it off, when they completely disarmed me with a fantastic song about the human circulatory system.

Returning to the question 'Is it any good?', Pierre Marcolini's Limited Edition 100% Porcelana Carré² Chocolat is very good indeed.