@dentarthurdent    The best thing about our winter deep freeze is the lack of bitey and stingy creatures.No sharks here but huge snapping turtles and leaches are enough to keep me out the water. Any huge mysterious splashes would send me running to my house.

@thane16   I loved water skiing when I was younger but it was just for fun and I fell a l…[Read more]

@winston Fortunately, the bottom (in the harbour) is only muddy, not weedy – that would add an extra level of creepiness. Also, whether in ‘the bush’ or the sea, we have very little in the way of bitey stingy things. We do have a few sharks offshore (though nothing like Oz gets) and they usually only – rarely – attack surfers who are out in the…[Read more]

@thane16    Congrats to the Australian team and all the other countries participating and of course “Go Canada” . I love the winter games and I admire  the athletes who give their all in their sport. Although I live here in the snowy north I have never down hill skied but I have and do cross country ski. I loved skating but we haven’t had a ri…[Read more]

@thane16 Sadly, I’m not familiar with any South African music. After university, I drifted away from classical music, for the most part. My only connection with it now is through band, and also through film orchestral scores. But, living where I do, I would have to travel for concerts beyond the local singer/songwriter realm … and I just don’t…[Read more]

@thane16 Aaron Copland owes much to Charles Ives. It’s the whole “standing on the shoulders of giants” foundation and progression that is art. Copland’s music (the more programmatic pieces, anyway … not so much the avant garde ones from later in his career) do give a sweeping sense of Americana. Maybe it’s that sense of nostalgia that appeals to…[Read more]

@janetteb @thane16 @ps1l0v3y0u @nerys @whisht

Yes, the bushfires were fairly close – about 50km / a half hour drive away. We saw nothing until last Saturday when the sky filled with a light smoke, turning the sky orange-brown and the sun a vivid red. Something that would have signaled the end of days to those unscientific folk in times gone past.…[Read more]

@mudlark    I am so sorry about your friend. It sounds like you had some good shared experiences that you will always remember.

I love the term “crumblitude” and intend to use it! Its a great word that totally works.

@thane16  Thank you for asking about my leg. It is  good most of the time although a little stiff in the morning but that only mat…[Read more]

@thane16 Love Fanfare for the Common Man! I think part of the reason I love Copland’s music is because of his use of open fifths. Such resonant chords. In high school my wind ensemble played El Salon Mexico. Quite a challenge for a small-town Indiana band, but we loved it.

And I love it that as a young’un, you thought ELP composed that music.…[Read more]

@thane16 @nerys @mudlark @whohar @whisht

Much (though far from all) my knowledge of Classical comes via the prism of Prog. Mind you first time I heard Tapiola by Sibelius it was a ‘building a library’ program… basically a Head of David like 1/2 hour wall of sound interspersed with two terribly educated gents asking each other… ‘which one do yo…[Read more]

@whohar @thane16

Howard Goodall (of multiple tv theme contributions) presented an interesting program a decade or more ago called ‘The Story of Music’, about the Western Classical Tradition. Not sure if it’s still in circulation.

However, I found I parted company with his narrative after Beethoven. Not because I don’t like Romantic Classic…[Read more]

@mudlark. Good to hear from you but sorry to hear about your friend, (and the health issues. I hope they are all in hand.) Your story about the kettle made me smile. Back in 1983 my friend and I, newly arrived in London, bought a kettle. We had no idea of how to attach the plug. In Australia appliances always came with plugs attached. We were…[Read more]

@thane16

Thanks, puro, and a happy new year to you also. And congratulations on the conducting gig.

My Christmas/New Year was quiet and pleasantly self indulgent – and for once the weather was good; cold but crisp and sunny. Sadly, shortly afterwards I received news of the death on Christmas Eve of one of my oldest friends , which put a…[Read more]

@thane16

As a relative neophyte to classical music (outside of the better known pieces), do you have a link / source to a Brahms primer? ie a where to start with Brahms type thing.

@thane16. <waves>

Keep me posted on the dates please (either here or DM), and I’ll see if can attend – bushfires notwithstanding.

@thane16 Wow, what an experience! Did you continue playing oboe after that?

I had something similar happen last April, when my five-piece local band was still rehearsing together. We were about a third of the way into our first piece when I fainted. I was only out for a few seconds. Fortunately we were seated in chairs on a thick rug in the home…[Read more]

@thane16

Land/Sea will be on Disney+ next month. Or you could use a VPN to access BBC iPlayer and see if it is there. Otherwise, it’s looking for one of the less legitimate streaming services.

I’m going to wait for D+.

And, if you are happy to say, where and when will you be doing your Brahms gig?

@thane16

Floyd… ah, that’s Rog that is. The music became his idee fixee because the rest gave up. Money was a huge issue, everywhere. There is such a sharp distinction between the post rock collective approach of Radiohead (and others but not everywhere) and the nastiness that preceded.

Even bands like Cream, a band formed specifically to wri…[Read more]

@thane16 Oboe is a gorgeous instrument! Also very difficult to play. IMO, oboe is the most challenging woodwind instrument, and french horn is the most challenging brass instrument. Both make a gorgeous sound … when played well. Mastering the technique to create that beautiful sound is what’s so difficult. I admire the players who do it!

@thane16 Congratulations on your upcoming conducting job! Brahms is challenging, but mastering those pieces gives us such a thrill of achievement.

My father taught music in public schools until he switched gears to teach counseling and teacher education at the university level. He was primarily a high school band director, but early in his career…[Read more]

@thane16  @winston   Dark Side of the Moon is still my favourite album of all, musically.   And also, the cover is perfect – a simple strikingly individual design undiluted by any text  (which I thought showed supreme confidence).