Post 485. A FEW WORDS

 TO CONCLUDE THIS MONTH.

IT DESERVES NO MORE
To finish off a typical British summer, and the lengthiest of the school holidays, a computer cockup left thousands of holidaymakers stranded here and abroad. The weather has been crap, the cost of living constantly worsens, and the less said about the political shit heap the better. 
It only needs those few words, doesn't it?  Well, worrying won't help.
Better to waft off into that old person's other world...
TELEVISION.
We have watched the film Red starring Brian Cox, Noel Fisher, Tom Sizemore and Kim Dickens.
The old guy who turns out to be a toughie has been done before (not least by Michael Caine and Liam Neeson), but Brian Cox is wholly believable, and his fellow stars are perfectly cast. Good.
We also saw the Netflix series Who Is Erin Carter? Evin Ahmad plays Erin, a British schoolteacher in Spain, who turns out to be a toughie. Dougie Henshall  is in it too. Watchable.
AND THE PROMS.
Apparently Sir Simon Rattle has parted company with the London Symphony Orchestra. He will be replaced by Sir Antonio Pappano. Sir Simon, who lives in Germany, has become conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which was conducted by Mariss Jansons from 2003 until his death in 2019. Sir Simon's last London Symphony Orchestra performance (Mahler's Symphony No.9) is being shown on BBC2 tonight. Interesting.
Also saw Nicola Benedetti play the violin concerto composed for her by the American jazz composer and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Interesting.
And a final word on August 2023. Lousy.

But keep smiling.

Post 484. US AGAIN

MAINLY MO

WHO HAS BEEN HOSPITALIZED.

On a Monday just over a fortnight ago Maureen had a fall in the garden that left her in considerable pain and unable to stand on her left leg. After a couple of days holding out, as is her wont, she was finally transported mid-week to St Mary's Hospital by two kind and competent para medics.  She has since had an x-ray, CT scan (no breakages), physio attention, drug reappraisal, and a move from one ward to another at four o'clock in the morning. Now she is home. Praise be!
She was discharged from hospital last Monday, still unable to put weight on her left leg, but carrying a stronger drug to relieve the pain and a cough she didn't have before she went in. All the medical staff were lovely though. The experience was otherwise just an experience. Everybody did their best. Walking is still difficult, but she has already been back at her ironing board, sitting on her tall stool. Try to stop her. What?
STILL PROMS WATCHING.
Still beguiled by Beethoven and Brahms, and enchanted by Tchaikovsky, I am still Proms watching. Mo is still watching people programmes: people looking critically for a dream home in the city, country, town, as an alternative to their £1m one-bedroomed flat in London, people doing up wrecked, charmless properties to sell at a vast profit, people with guest houses vying with other people with guest houses to discover who can be the more cruelly carping about the other's establishment, and so on. We  have an amicable agreement. I avoid them. 
Back in Post 476 I cheerily outlined a personal proms season with the observation that nobody could book, let alone afford, it in one season. To my surprise, several of my choices have appeared at the Proms this year. On the 6th of August Isata Kanneh-Mason played Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no.3 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ryan Bancroft. The Kanneh-Mason family was on my list, so that was a positive. I liked Ms Kanneh-Mason. Disliked the concerto. That will diss me forever with any 'can read and understand and enjoy every note' modern classic music lover. But I doubt they'll be bothered to read this anyway. For any who do, did you see Yuja Wang play Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä? Another concert pianist from my wish list. Wonderful. 
Equally wonderful was the Proms debut of armless horn player Felix Klieser (using his toes to press the keys of the French horn). With the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra he gave a superb performance of Mozart's Concerto No.4. 

And so to one of my favourite Proms evenings so far. The Budapest Festival Orchestra, with their founder and conductor Iván Fischer, presented an overture by Weber, Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony, and Schumann's Piano Concerto played by Sir András Schiff.
Sir András's first encore had the entire orchestra on its feet singing Brahms' Lieber Schwalbe Kleine Schwalbe (with the maestro giving piano accompaniment).

For his second encore Sir András played Schumann's Der glückliche Bauer, a tune often played, simply, by young piano pupils. Sir András played it simply. It was wonderful. He is 69. Bravo!

And that's that for now.