Friday 7 November 2008

Returning to academic pursuits after a break of a couple of decades turns up some nice discoveries, not least being able to access the British Library catalogue on the net. Quite a resource. Maybe it's just as well I haven't explored it before, or I could have wasted countless hours, weeks, and months digging out all sorts of things.  

Of course, as with mp3 files of all kinds of music now being available for free, when you have access to absolutely everything it can stop being interesting. At breakfast in Brighton a couple of weeks ago I suggested that in addition to Radio 3's programme Discovering Music, there should be another called Abandoning Music, where a piece that's been played quite enough over the years gets a final performance and recording from a BBC orchestra before the score and parts are destroyed. I was quite serious, but no-one seemed to think the idea had legs. Does the world really need another state-subsidised performance of (insert your choice of lacklustre orchestral work here)?