A Lark Ascending

Kevin Coyne Recommendations? Well, in his lifetime, not to sit in the first few rows. I did c. 1974/5 and was nearly hit by a chair he hurled across the stage which flew off and into the audience. Clearly a punk a couple of years ahead of his time.

The move from shopping in stores to online shopping is just one aspect of the present day drift from a communal society to a society of more-or-less isolated individuals. I don't think that's really so. More a piece of Sunday supplement paranoia. In my experience most people seem able to enjoy the benefits of the net...and still go out and mix with others in real life,

I remember it as a late teenager/student. At that age everyone buys records. But after that I've always found it a pretty solitary affair; and shop staff too busy (or disinterested) to spend long chatting. I hear you but even at that age, I bought stuff almost completely on my own. I'd occasionally talk about the pop stuff with others and even trade cassettes, but never shopped in a pack. Maybe it would have been different if I had grown up in New York or Chicago. It was never in a pack - just one or two close friends who were also music obsessives. Since university I suppose I've never had close friends who share my musical interests. They tend look on them as rather excessive.

Might be a national thing...we Brits tend to ignore one another if we haven't been formally introduced by a chaperone!

I remember it as a late teenager/student. At that age everyone buys records. But after that I've always found it a pretty solitary affair; and shop staff too busy (or disinterested) to spend long chatting.

The Good Old Days: not all they're cracked up to be.

I've got used to the change...and am now relishing the time released on a Saturday that I used to spend travelling to/from and then browsing in record shops. I don't know what it was like before the mid-70s in the UK but outside of London and one or two big centres the choice of jazz was never that wonderful here in the 70s, 80s, 90s. Seemed to come and go pretty randomly (I recall travelling to London in the late 70s to buy import copies of what would now be considered 'core' recordings like 'Miles Smiles'; or waiting a month for copies of 'A Love Supreme' and 'Africa Brass' to be located from an order). For me the possibilities opened up in the late 90s with the ability to buy online from anywhere in the world (apart from anything else it revealed there was more to jazz than just the USA and Britain!). I still have access to a greater range of music today than in my early listening days...though not in physical shops which have all but disappeared here. So I'm content with the new model. I've actually grown completely impatient with physical shopping of any sort!

East of Cape Cod, west of Hawaii...what's that all about?

Michael Tippett - The Rose Lake, The Vision of St Augustine (Spotify)

Missed February, I'm afraid. Am doing David O'Higgins/Eric Alexander for March. Will make up in May with two festivals!

Thanks, sidewinder. I never noticed that!

Nice, Chris. I almost like this point now more than the full flood of spring. Everything seems in such a state of becoming (sorry if that sounds pretentious!!!). It always amazes me how quickly it all happens.

I got this version last year off e-music. Works for me: Replaced an earlier Davis version on LP.

Gosh, Serioza. Not seen anything as well advanced as that here yet! The first leaves are just breaking forth in the bushes and trees.

Wonderful piece. I first heard it in a concert in Nottingham with Andre Previn in the mid to late 80s. The then apartheid government of South Africa had just imposed reporting restrictions that day to try and muffle the sound of unrest in the country; 'A Child of Our Time' seemed as relevant as when it was first performed.

As all artists in Britain had either been purged by the first Labour government or defected along with Philby, Burgess, McLean (but not Blunt), we imported an Australian to teach us: Amazingly I noticed a new Rolf Harris learn to draw partwork in a newsagent today!

You must believe in spring! First the real Boston, not the impostor: John Cotton was a minister here before he took ship for Massachusetts. Great church ('Boston Stump') that can be seen for miles around in this pancake flat landscape. Then some shots from the coast - hard to see any sea; mainly mudflats and reclaimed land: Lincolnshire can do 'big skies' too! This is an amazing time of year: The area is now a nature reserve. Absolutely teeming with birdlife today. I can't tell a chaffinch from a vulture but found the sheer volume of airborne things quite wondrous:

Well, I'll miss you greatly, MG. Love your enthusiasm, generosity in sharing your knowledge and down-to earth approach.

I enjoy Leon's books as much for the sense of being in Venice as for the plot lines.

A third site added to the title on request.

Haven't tried Deezer yet but have changed the thread title to encompass it.

One man's 'pompous/pretentious' is another man's 'aspiration/unique vision'. I like some of the suites better than others; but I'd go for the latter characterisation for all the ones I've heard.

Amazing shots.

Been to Kenilworth Castle? I've been taking school trips there since about 1989! I know every stone! Warwick (just up the road) is more complete and imposing but heavily commercialised and very expensive. If you stick 'Kenilworth March' into Spotify you'll get an extract from Sir Arthur Bliss' 'Kenilworth Suite' for brass band. Says it's by Harry Mortimer but that's the conductor.

That's him in the blue shirt, briskly and nonchalantly strolling away from the pier.