The organist librarian

An interesting day.Coffee concert at St John's with the Dunn family - Kodaly Duo Op. 7 and gorgeous Ravel with the harp. I did not sketch as the playing was riveting! To Bethlem for Dr Peter Tyler on Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross on melancholia - fascinating. Tea at the Toby. Fr Andrew at Mass and Victoria choir sang well- Archer and Langlais. There was a small accident before Mass and Fr Daniel recorded it. More work on jigsaw sky -slow going! 

Great chatting to Ann and the family in Balmain before the fireworks. To Mass. Henry came and played very happily. To East Dulwich picturehouse to see the Berlin Philharmonie New Year concert. Barenboim playing and conducting Mozart Coronation concerto, Ravel and Bizet. Bolero was beautiful and Pavane very special. Nice to see Sue. Christmas University challenge was fun. Watched tribute to Dame June Whitfield and Raymond Briggs. Just back from Midnight Mass at Anerley and watching fireworks mince pies and wine

Swam, Mass, new watchstrap at Aurum, Post Office, no art. Scores to Westminster music library and was relieved to find the Webern on the shelf. I knew I had returned it! Peter Jones to get memory card for my Amazon Fire so the 10 hours flights can be eased a bit, lemon meringue bar and tea. Yummy! Had booked for V and A Frida Kahlo. Too crowded and what are looking at? Photos, videos, dresses, some paintings, prosthetics? Did not like the post miscarriage lithograph. The attitude to religion is weird as Kahlo rejected her faith. Retablos are votive paintings which should be in churches. How did they get them? Why did they collect them? Primitivism? I conclude that the purpose of all this is so the shops to sell a lot of colourful stuff. It is not about art at all! Don't go. Have a look at the book in the shop. Henry came - Dennis has tummy bug. Packed. Listened to Verdi requiem from Prom. On Iplayer Ravel with Magdalena Kozena and Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO.

To St John East Dulwich for recital by Graham Powell which was excellent. Had a long chat to Graham Hempstead from East Grinstead. I was late because I was wrestling with IKEA shelving basket brackets but all now installed and back bedroom sorted out at last. I was so hot had another shower. Djokovic beat Nadal at Wimbledon but only just! Preprom talk on original story of Daphnis and Chloe and the first ballet versions. What a lovely prom Faure Pavane Mozart Piano concerto 27 and Daphnis and Chloe. Bravo RPO and the choirs! It was good that Liz got there in time from the cathedral.

Woke late. Sang Faure Pie Jesu at Peter Diggens' funeral. Sadly no incense. He was a true Christian gentleman and pillar of the church. Jill Caudle sang O rest in the Lord beautifully. I put my foot down politely with John Varney and said we had come to sing the Faure. He is competent but insensitive.  Henry came and played in the garden and upstairs. Royal Albert Hall organ spectacular with Wayne Marshall, Olivier Latry and David Briggs. I was late thanks to rail services and so arrived in the middle of the interesting tour inside the organ. It was a pity that the second half was not real organ music but the Ravel and Gershwin worked well. I think the Widor played by all 3 was fun!

Design museum has 2 excellent exhibitions Breathing Colour by Hella Jongerius and California with interesting history of computers, surfboards and skateboards among much else. Ben Uri gallery has a good display of Polish artists.  Cadogan prom by Christiane Karg and Malcolm Martineau - Duparc, Ravel and Poulenc. Interview with Gerald Barry about his new work Canada which turned out to be as awful as expected. Stravinsky and Beethoven from Birmingham orchestra. Chris Tew on train and ate with Adrian as Liz did not go home. 

Woke at 5 and 8/15 too late to swim. Ameena came to clean and the builders are at work next door! We went to Lullingstone Roman villa which has been brilliantly presented by Englsih Heritage. I drew the Rape of Europa mosaic and there was an excellent film. We went on to Knowle and met Vernon Warner volunteering for the third time. The paintings are very fine. We had tea at Sevenoaks Marks and had a bite at home before going to the Prom. I had intended to come late and miss the Boulez but it was good to get our seats and enjoyed the Ravel concerto fot the left hand (astonishing!) and the Firebird. Home to watch Simon Sebag Montefiore's series on Rome.

Swam 20. Fast lane closed for life saving exams which meant we had fast and slow in one lane and the awful woman with the handbats charging up and down the middle. One lady was wearing spectacles! Enjoyed Pappano's series on voices especially Janet Baker. To CML and got some full scores. I was lae at the cathedral for guiding but there were 6 on so left scores in locker and went to the National Gallery.  Soundscapes interesting but variable. Nico Muhly and the Wilton diptych worked well creating the right atmosphere as did the Lake Keitele picture. National portrait gallery BP awards I went for the egg tempera double portrait and the 2nd prize winner!   Lovely travel photos of the year at Royal Geographical Society!  20 pages cut in La Valse and programme order changed but still enjoyable! Mozart, Messiaen and Ravel piano concerto. We went to the bar between Proms and had ale. The Sinatra was good and we left after an hour. People were dancing in the gallery and mobile p...

Took the boys to Crystal palace to see the dinosaurs. Once we reached the sandpit I left to get the train from the station  - quite  a walk to get there. I collected Liz's camera from Peter Jones - 10 minute wait! Popped into Holy Trinity and saw Tak Man Chow and Peter practising with Margaret Phillips for recital today. The Prom at Cadogan hall was Ben Grosvenor playing Chopin, Mompou, Ravel, Judith Weir and Liszt. He is excellent. The man next to me told me about drawing sessions at the National Gallery at 1 p.m. on Fridays - his name is Roger. Saw John East and Colin Hartley and his wife. Listened to Walton symphony No. 1 from the Proms and Peter Maxwell Davies Prom. To Catenians and one visiting gentleman Anthony Sorrell was there. Nice to see Gerry Haines again and Derrick spoke about family history. Picked up Liz who had driven the boys home and went to the RPO's Prom.

Woke at 6 so caught up on Proms talks on Dylan Thomas, Janet Suzman on Taming of the shrew nd Ravel's home. Put up the new CD rack in the study after assembly and ordered picture frames. Used the Gerard Hulme picture frame for the bottles and it looks good. Watched the Butterworth and RVW Prom - Roderick Williams has amazing expression and diction. To vespers (3 new priests) and Mass with Fr John third Saturday in a row because he and Alexander on the only priests who can sing the Mass at the moment. He takes longer over the offertory and sermon. Amazingly we just got to the Prom in time and seats as well. BBCSO conducted by Oramo with his wife Anu Komsi hitting the very high notes in Szymanowski and Tiensuu. Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov. Parked at West Norwood becasue of the football and home at 11.15.

Swam 20. Liz went to Westfield about new glasses from Boots and got new Ecco shoes for me. I went to Bromley library and got everything except the Vaughan Williams - I suspect it was filed under Williams! I was asked to email my list in advance which did not work at Wandsworth! To Lakeland for peelers. To excellent discussion on Melbourne which made it sound a lot nicer than Sydney! Carmen Callil was rude about Australia's future because of the boat people situation and Paul Abbott's comments on Scotland. Melbourne like Glasgow to the beautiful Edinburgh and Sydney. Sydney is modern but it does have the harbour walks and ferries. The Melbourne SO is the oldest in Australia and Sir Andrew Davis conducted Strauss Don Juan, Elgar cello concerto with Truls Mórk (encore Britten) and Symphonie fantastique (encore Grainger). Liz did not make it. New sofas and comfortable sofa bed at Lou's and new fireplace has arrived and bathroom tiles. Wednesday decided to have a quiet day as S...

To the prom talk with David Titterington and Richard Langham Smith. Ravel was not religious at all although RC originally - an atheist. I think there is some spirituality of the earth nature mode in Daphnis certainly pagan. Durufle sounds to have been a charming perfectionist who had little time for Faure and his salon music. BBC Welsh forces conducted by Thierry Fischer Ravel Simon Holt and the requiem with orchestra which was a revelation! To Acton and woke early. There are no blinds up and I can't wait for the new sofa bed to arrive. Tom looks really well and tanned. Had a quiet day in the house. Ciarán was at Jonah's and Seán slept 3 hours. Listened to CPE Bach prom - had wrong score for the keyboard sonata! Monday evening Jonathan Dove (stunning and want to hear it again) Mozart piano concerto beautifully played and Daphnis - BBC chorus on great form and Josef Pons conducted BBC well. Liz was at home all day as old bed went to Emmaus and new bed eventually arrived from Pe...

Monday to mosaic and tai chi - Hendrika was good. Home to eat. In the evening to confirmation. Fr Paolo was great on the good news but left us doing nothing! It would have been good to go into groups and discuss the resurrection! Mark was there  -great to see him again. Tuesday completed booklet for prayers on Friday and draft notice for conversations for the soul. The minutes from Saturday were very well received. To Clapham Picture house for 12.30 to 4.30 for Rusalka from the Met. Renée Fleming was gorgeous with a very strong cast and so much better than that awful Covent Garden production. Lovely playing too. I went to Acton and while Liz and Louise went to IKEA Tom cooked sausage roll and watched Bright young teachers. Wednesday to music as usual and joined up at Watermans. The river was very high and flooding is now a major problem everywhere. The boys behaved well and Liz went to see the private specialist. On radio Philharmonia Chorus in Poulenc and Ravel conducted by Du To...

Saturday to Cadogan Hall and Reuben Thomas was in the queue. Finished 4th Kubu novel -  this one more gruesome about muti. To Balham library to get scores and home to tidy and clean up. Unpacking all done and everything put away. It rained all day. Took clothes to the Passage in the car. Excellent prom at Cadogan - Britten, Purcell, Lutoslawski ECO with Paul Watkins. Ben Johnson sang beautifully - better than Pears and Richard Watkins horn. I went to Mass with Fr Alexander and the choir from Farnham singing Mozart and Bruckner. Liz to the Prom and I got there in time for the start - Wagner, Ravel and Shostakovich 5. Picked up car at Victoria and home in 35 minutes.

Up early and got kids stuff out, made beds, hoovered, etc. Fr Aidan celebrated - loop not working again so couldn't hear him. Suggested again to Bill that he sing the psalm from the ambo. He said he was worried about the stairs but after communion he nipped to the loo and got upstairs quite quickly! Debbie wrecked the carefully rehearsed psalm.  I played Orb and sceptre March of Walton at the end. What a tune! Tidied up garden and Hyacinth came to see it. After lunch to Streatham Mosque for Muhammad display. Saleem showed me round and Zia came. Met Charles and the imam - seemed keen on dialogue so that's good. Had tea. To Balham on bus and to preProm talk on the Firebird - I fell asleep in the front row and John East noticed. Matthias Pinscher conducted his own piece which was very noisy. Ravel and the Firebird very well played by BBC Scottish orchestra. 

Swam 20. Liz at Acton. To British library - trains late but had enough time to read the Ueda articles and then to Senate House. Staff helped to find larger miniature scores which were actually full scores! Bus to Mount St and 1.05 Mass at Farm Street for the Assumption. The priest hummed and hahed a bit and was dull - nothing sung. Sr Campion was at the Mass and had a lovely chat lasting 2 hours. Mount Street centre being refurbished. Had to get sandwiches at the hall and looked after queue while 2 of the ladies went to the pub! The preProm was Dame Monica Mason talking about Nureyev. Saw him with Fonteyn in 1973 in Romeo and Juliet. Loved the prom RPO conducted by Charles Du Toit. Stravinsky, Lutoslawski concerto grosso - 3 celli soloists. Quite noisy. Debussy and Ravel. Love Daphnis and Chole! Pity there was no chorus!

Picked up Bruce and took Liz and him to station so he took my tickets for athletics and the tower visit. Listened to Debussy string quartet and Ravel piano trio with scores - both HDD recordings cut off before the end. Fuse went as well yet again.

Unsurprisingly we woke later than expected and drove to Elmers End to get train to Lewisham. The signage there was nil so instead of getting the DLR to Greenwich we got a train to Blackheath and a bus then walked in the rain to the park where we went through security smoothly and got a buggy ride to the actual venue at 10 a.m. I have complained about Lewisham. The volunteers were again great and really enjoyed watching the dressage with the music. Storm came over so got wet again then it cleared up but windy. Decided not to visit Maritime Museum exhibition on the river and long walk to DLR Greenwich and to Lewisham and train back. Had lunch and then off to pre Prom talk with 3 members of the Berlin Phil all from Massachusetts! They were not very forthcoming but learnt a bit about the Ligeti. The Berlin Phil played superbly for Simon Rattle - Wagner, Sibelius 4, Debussy Jeux and Ravel. No encore! Packed. Chatted to June and Spanish lady. Liz fell asleep and missed the 20 minute deadline...

Listened to proms recordings Delius violin concerto with score played by Tasmin Little and Nielsen 5. To pre Prom talk with Dutch violinist, English flautist and French cellist both studying at the Royal Academy. The audition for the orchestra is daunting playing to a camera! They re audition every year. The Prom was conducted by Daniele Gatti who came up to the gallery to be interviewed for TV. Superb strings Wagner, Berg violin concerto with a lovely encore (Bach) Strauss and Ravel and Wagner encore.

Swam 30. While was at the doctor's had a call from Fr Christopher to say they had appointed somebody else although it was close. The organ was dire so that's a relief. To interfaith lunch and a good turnout. The walks attracted 30 to 50 people each! Shocked to learn from a Muslim about the new law which allows body scanning at airports. He sees this an invasion of privacy especially women and children and what control will there be over the saved images?To Balham library to get more scores - it seems the store is in a mess. To Tate Britain to see the Migrations exhibition which seemed an odd compilation. Then found buses were not running past Hyde Park corner because of the torch relay so to South Kensington and walked up carrying the bags of scores. Saw 3 acrobats hanging from Imperial College! To preProm family talk not well attended but people played their instruments and the evening's works were introduced with 3 members of the BBC orchestra of Wales. In the South was a...