Tuesday 13 March 2007

on the train to Mallaig
I really enjoyed playing French music in Perth yesterday. It's hard to feel stressed when playing Rameau or Marais. In fact, if you feel under pressure then you're probably playing it wrong. Svend Brown , who directs the classical music programme at Perth, said afterwards how difficult it is to sell tickets for French music, even for Ravel. Perhaps we think that proper classical music was made by German speakers: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and all the rest.  

The train journey is as breathtaking as ever: on the final leg west from Fort William, it's sometimes hard to tell whether the landscape or the sheer engineering feat of the line is more awe-inspiring. Crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct (now to be for ever known as the Harry Potter viaduct I suppose) is exciting in itself, then there are the spectacular views in both directions, and the equally spectacular sight of a couple of rusty containers surrounded by junk in someone's garden, just in line of sight of the Glenfinnan monument. I suppose someone has to keep alive the tradition of the Highlands being full of rusting heaps. 

And there's still the Armadale ferry to look forward to.