Whipsnade and Dutilleux

Tuesday swam 20. Brilliant playing by Alexander Pott at Grosvenor chapel - Tomkins, Byrd and Bach. He makes the difficult sound easy. Spoke to his mother and a family from West Midlands. To Tate Britain to see conceptual art - preferred Mark Wallinger and Sophie Michael's films and the Duveen dancers! Fascinated by summer houses near Serpentine. Unimpressed by paintings at Serpentine gallery. Excellent preProm discussion of Elgar 1 and BBC Philharmonic did not disappoint! A triumphant end. Dutilleux score hard to follow! Cannot imagine Rostropovich playing it! Simpson and Davies not really impressed. Empty hall put off my unknown works? Lovely day at Whipsnade with the boys and Louise driving the new car! Saw baby giraffe, lemurs, sea lions, train ride, tiger, cheetahs, lions, zebras, elephants, rhino, moose, meerkats, etc. The discussion of Henri Dutilleux is very helpful and I asked a question as I find his music bewildering and got lost in the score last night. The answer he liked fan shapes and growth of motifs and Rostropovich liked playing high and soft! Still did not enjoy the piece at the Prom, HKGruber was fun and Beethoven 5 to end in triumph. Sakari conducting BBC.