A Lark Ascending

Many good recommendations above; I'm immersed deeply into the Kubelik set that Bev mentioned at the moment. Also, on Monday I found this: a very good insight into what made the man tick. De La Grange wrote a huge multi-volume bio of Mahler. I bought the first and read it c.1980 - it took years for the translation of the second volumeto come out and I seem to recall they reformatted it with overlaps. Maybe I should track down a complete set and save it for retirement. Mahler seems to bring out the elephantine in writers - Donald Mitchell has written a series of exhaustive analytical books on Mahler. I've always been scared off by the 'flyshit'!

I don't know what the situation is now but back in the 80s/90s the First was the one Kubelik Mahler that used to get frequently cited as a top recommendation. The Sixth is quick - again, the desire to get whole movements onto a single LP side, I suspect (my LP had it spread ovr 3 sides with the Adagio from the 10th on the fourth side). The strange thing is that having heard that version first, it's how it's lodged in my head - the opening march in particular. I have the Karajan version and it always seems to plod for me - I stress this is no comment on that or other versions, which are probably correct. Just how my brain has been influenced by my initial hearing.

A bit different from glitzy Manhattan: Just over 30 years ago I moved to this area. 16 year old lads were going down the pit as they left school. Today this is the only headstocks surviving - and a housing company has a request in to demolish it to 'develop' the site. The mines were wiped out in the 80s and 90s - an almost Stalinist expunging of history followed, with virtually all visible remains removed. Just the odd half a pit wheel. Very sad - the whole shape of this community was created by 100 years of coal mining.

I have that one and it works for me. I wouldn't get too worked up by the 'who recorded the best version' school of classical music comparison. It always seems to me that there's as much projection as revelation going on there. Fine, if you want to go into that sort of detail, but not a prerequisite of enjoying the music. I've always focussed on the composer, rarely buying alternative versions; I'd rather spend the time/money on exploring someone/thing else. Where I do have several versions I tend to find I enjoy the ones I started with most...not always. I 've returned to this set over the years: [The title is misleading - it only has the first movement of the 10th; don't be put off by the fact that the existing full 10ths are posthumous reconstructions. The music therein is stunning!]. I don't make any claims for it in relation to other versions - it's where I started on LP and where I've ended up back at. Somehow the different speeds of the versions I bought on CD bothered me. I'm not saying Kubelik is right - I believe he adopted some quite swift approaches in order to fit things on disc. It's just how it's lodged in my head now.

Or next! (actually, I was in today doing a revision school, in Brum tomorrow on an A Level course and will spend most days doing work stuff (though at a more leisurely pace!). I suspect MG is more likely to have got lost in Tonypandy. Though, as an Englishman, he might be being held by Welsh fundamentalists.

Sad indeed--I'm pretty sure the HALF NOTE cd is now oop as well. Not sure that any of Konitz's Verve catalogue is domestically available...some of it as downloads, perhaps. (Single disc of MOTION still in print? That Verve Elite edition is a killer!) I got the TRANQUILITY and VERY COOL cds through Mr. Tanno; the Giuffre and Half Note purchases date back to my record-store clerk days in the 1990s. I was able to reconstruct that original album (along with 'You and Lee') by downloading from e-music the collection Lonehill put out under Bill Evans name (I know - lunacy! I assume they assemble them this way to get round the copyright issues). I'd have preferred the 2CD Verve reissue with the 'third stream' compositions, but there only seem to be a scattering of these at high prices. 'Palo Alto' is an amazing theme! Really enjoyed the Peggy Lee programme last night.

Well, try his later in the week. Cabbage and scallions: Colcannon: http://www.vegsoc.org/stpatricks/stpats1.html I've eaten it in Oirland but never made it.

Then add these:

No scallions?

Miltown Malbay, home of Willie Clancy, the Charlie Parker of the uilleann pipes: http://www.setdancingnews.net/wcss/wcsst.htm I was there a couple of years back.

I thought he was Welsh. Anyway, St George was Greek or Turkish! St Andrew was born in the Bronx.

I had similar problems on the PC I gave up on in September - I've had no trouble with the new one. I suspect drives have greatly improved in a short space of time. I use Winamp which can be downloaded in basic form for free; upgrading to get a choice of burning speeds is inexpensive. Its big advantage is that it doesn't leave gaps between tracks. You still get a space between discrete tracks - but where music flows continuously from track to track the join is inaudible. I'm sure there are many other alternative programmes.

When I was young my grandfather always sent me a sprig of shamrock to remind me of my roots. Make sure you play something by Louis Stewart, Planxty or Van Morrison today. Or, maybe, Chico O'Farrill!!!!

"Night Lights" archived programme on Lee Konitz. Especially taken by what I heard from: Sadly, MIA.

Anita O'Day is the subject of the Good Friday edition of BBC Radio 3's Jazz Library - can be heard for a week afterwards: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary/pip/9g85b/ I'm not sure that Gwyneth Herbert* will have much of note to say but Alyn Shipton always does his homework. * A young UK singer being pushed in the Jamie Cullum/Claire Teal market.

No system. Something will randomly hit my brain or I'll read something in a book (Alyn Shipton's jazz history is steering me at present), magazine or on a forum like this and off I go. Something familiar in a TV programme can set me off. The weather/seasons have a major influence. Folk music/English classical will get a big push in the next couple of months as the world returns to life. I also have thematic binges ('Britain's binge-listening culture denounced by archbishop!') - either individual artists (Ellington most recently) or particular eras.

The latest wheeze: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7287984.stm Can't imagine where they got that idea from. I look forward to preparing students for the great day!!!!!

Well, it is 10 in the moning in the UK - not much different in the rest of Europe. Guests could be watching from anywhere between St. Malo and Auckland!

Bobbing bobcat. A bit sad, given that herding sheep and stopping them making a break from the fold is my day job. Must be all that Vaughan Williams.

The one problem I've had with Vista is that my year old HP printer-scanner won't work with it. Managed this morning to download the necessary from the HP site and it's now going perfectly. Took a bit of patience trying to find the vital things to click amidst oceans of geek-speak but got there.

Makes sense to me, Bill. Although it would seem to benefit mainly established performers who already have a fan base to get that 1000 investors. I recall something like this in the early 80s - I went to a performance of Mike Westbrook's 'The Cortege' where they were taking subscribers, prior to going into the studio. I stumped up and several months later a 3CD set appeared in the post. The reissue still has my name on it as an...ahem..."patron of the Mike Westbrook Orchestra!" Makes me sound like the Archbishop of Salzburg!

They were at the peak of their popularity when I first started listening to music attentively c.1970. 'Bad Moon Rising' was a hit. I had a friend who was obsessed by them and I reacted the other way - too American for my ears at the time. But I came round to enjoying them much later (though never beyond the best ofs) - I like that rough, chunky, barroom sound now. Some great individual songs.

Although I have no nostalgia whatsoever for the LP soundwise, I do miss the sleeves. I spent much time as a 15 year old staring at this one: Doesn't work at all at CD size...or even on a computer screen!

It sounds like a good plot for a romantic movie with Meg Ryan. "Discless in Denver" The Mosaic is wonderful - just completed my second trip through.

I'd never noticed that! Obvious, once you're told!