The organist librarian

Heavy rain. Swam, mass by the time I came back roofers had fixed chimney and roof and cleared gutters. Art and started Lourdes painting. Lunch then to Keats House Hampstead Heath. An excellent tour. I have been to the Rome House and his grave. Sitting on bus at front buggy got on kid holding wet umbrella open which mother took off him. Guess who got wet? In depth discussion on Wagner with Stephen Fry and John Deathridge. It overran and had to rescue my bag from stage door. Super Philharmonia Prom. Webern went seemlessly into Mahler 10. Act 1 of Walkure great singing and playing. I dropped off and had to find place in miniature score! 

Liz decided to stay home. Bychkov conducted BBC SO in Thomas Larchner (outstayed his welcome) Wagner Wesendonck lieder well sung by Elisabeth Kulman I  was greatly amused by the comment at the preProm talk that Richard Strauss was so middle-class he would shop at Waitrose. Where would composers get their food? Britten Aldeburgh stores and Fortnum and Mason. Elgar Worcester and delivered. Vaughan Williams Dorking and delivered - good English beef. Wagner - no shopping for him - everything paid for by somebody else! German composers - German shops Chopin and Szymanowski - Polish delicatessan n.  Alpine symphony with a terrific storm featuring the organ! An hour to get home.  Watched Prom with Barenboim and Argerich playing a 10 minute encore! 

Swam.  Bravo  Benjy Bloor  for brilliant playing at St George Hanover Square and great to hear some Howells. A programme full of sunshine incl Hollins and Vierne!  The Found exhibition at the Foundling museum is worth a visit and Ironbaby by Anthony Gormley is very moving in its simplicity. A baby on the floor - a powerful comment.  Interesting works by Colin Matthews and enjoyed the Dresden bells. Das Lied von der Erde with Alice Coote followed by the 16 (actually 34) Bach and beautiful Part. Took an hour to get to Acton.  BFG with the boys. Excellent film and followed by Pizza Hut.  East West Divan with Daniel Barenboim Liszt and Wagner - great sound. The preProm talk on Wagner was a little dull.

Swam 24. Wrote 3 articles based on my notes from meetings. Liz went to Earlsfield for pedicure. Watched Wolf Hall, good programme on Simon Rattle and Come dine with me and listened to 2 evensongs St John's and Windsor both excellent. To Heythrop to pick up 4 books for the Jerusalem course which Larry issued for me. To Gate picturehouse and met a nice lady as I was early. I must remember not to sit in the back row as people go to the loo and a woman came in late and dumped next to me. The ROH live production was excellent and Bryn Terfel was splendid. Peter Rose, Adrianne Pieczonka and Ed Lyon all most impressive not forgetting Catherine Wyn-Rogers and Michael Kónig. Andris Nelsons quite rightly included the chorusmaster in the lineup for bows. It was quite riveting and no interval! To Acton and Liz picked me up. Wednesday Ciaran was again a bit off with me. Sean was on fine form and shouted out in the silence at music "Was that a fire engine Grandad?" Had lunch at Waterm...

Swam 20 with Liz. Liz got an alb from Anerley for Lourdes. To art and the charcoal is did of my school badge and lilies is to go in the exhibition tomorrow! Good selection of art to display. It was hot. Took fliers to Alan and had tea and a chat. To St John's for Jonathan's recital which was memorable. Wagner, Saint-Saens, Whitlock, Ireland, Mendelssohn 5 and Willan. Alan's photocopied scores have fingerings and some very difficult passages. Good audience including Martin How and Robert Cooper. Jonathan has small hands but very flexible thumbs! Ian Tompsett was there.

I added Dermot (died aged 92) and Mum and Dad to the cathedral prayer list last night. I played Dad's pieces and we sang Father hear the prayer which we had at our wedding and My God accept my heart to St Botolph which Dad set as a confirmation anthem. The programmes for the recitals are ready to print and Hayley took them and discussed the organ Mass for Sept 29th. Home for lunch and to talk on Parsifal. Stephen Fry seemed to defend Christian content but then said Christ was not mentioned in the libretto which is clearly incorrect. The Prom was excellent and Mark Elder conducted. The Halle youth choir and Trinity boys were in the gallery near me and did really well. I dropped the torch at one point - a sure sign of sleeping! 

Woke at 3 so rose and caught up on emails. Went back to bed and up at 8 a.m. I was practising before service (Walton Orb and sceptre) and Sue (?) came up to the loft and asked if I could keep the sound down as people were wanting quiet to pray. Interesting that Fr Paul and Sean were not there at that stage. Later I noted some loud chatter downstairs. Fr Aidan thanked me afterwards. I played Pilgrims chorus from Tannhauser and Water music. I said nothing but put it on Face Book and informed Paul. I think the solution is to arrive earlier and stop at 10 a.m.and insist Bill does psalm alone from the front. Both ladies missed practice of it before service. The loop still not working. To Claire's to see Grainne and Dino - kids 7 and 3 Sophia looks older. Had a good chat. Home for lunch and ironed while listening to Chichester Southern cathedrals festival evensong. Searched for my new passport but cannot find it. It cost £80! Sorted out scores and nice chicken dinner with wine and bake...

Played Stanley and Karg-Elert to mark wedding anniversary and practised for recital. Sean remarked on Dambusters march and Bizet (menaning Verdi!). Also worked on Couperin Mass. Surprisingly for August 23 in church! Home for lunch. I was up early as did not sleep well and uploaded Paul's photos to Face Book. To Mary King's workshop in the Britten theatre. I was delighted that I was singing so well and enjoyed the session very much. Fell asleep in the preProm talk. I was first in the queue but there was not a large turnout. Very good singing and playing conducted by Runnicles. Liz got on my train at Streatham - she had been to the Iftar at the mosque marking the end of Ramadan and enjoyed it. 

Saturday helped Liz with Power Point notes. To Southwark cathedral to see display of photos from interfaith walks and Fr David was on duty! To M & S to buy picnic and Royal Academy to see the pathetic Mexico exhibition - mostly photos - once again Brian Sewell was right! Arrived at the hall at 1 p.m. and 4th in queue -did some reading of Maurice Walshe and Tablet (Brian has a short piece about World Youth Day). The talk was a bit dull. The concert performance was excellent and the BBCSO were transformed by Bychkov. All the singers did well. Nice couple next to me and chat to Matt when I was trying to cool off on the stairs. Bus and train straight away! 

Wednesday Louise arrived with the boys and I looked after Seán while they went to get a grown up car seat for Ciarán. At first he was a bit unhappy but had his milk and rice cake and settled down to playing quite happily. He will be walking before he is one at this rate! Ciarán enjoyed being in the garden and announced the little house is No.24 and Grandad lives in a shop! We went to the prom. The talk featured Timothy West about playing Falstaff so I asked a question about Verdi's version and how Falstaff treated his followers. It was most interesting. At the prom we had Elgar and Walton's Falstaff plus lovely works by Bantock for cello and orchestra and Tchaik 4 well played by BBC National of Wales under Jan van Steen. Thursday more games including monster bingo then they went to Angela's. We will not see them for 2 weeks as they are going to Ireland and not coming to Provincial President's Sunday after all as they go to Stansted early on the Monday. Worked on Liz...

To Pret a manger to meet Steve a Buddhist on his way back form Amaravati to Chichester. He was very helpful and really insightful. Then met Raheed about his post-Woolwich idea for September, To the hall on a blazing hot day and excellent pre-Prom discussion. The performance was FABULOUS but it got very hot - I treated myself to an ice cream! Bryn Terfel, Anya Kampe, Simon O'Neill all outstanding. Brilliant playing from the Dresden Staatskapelle directed by Barenboim. Home just after 11.

Woke too early and took Liz to station for daytrip to Leicester to visit parish with good parish plan. To mosaic - did 2 small ones and cut my forefinger. Tai chi and to Balham library. Met Mike Cornford in the street - he looks well (he had serious asthma from building works at Northcote library) and swms at Cheam where he met Liz one day.  Went downstairs and the store is a mess - found a lot of scores for Proms and weighed down with Wagner. Ordered books for dissertation. To Bromley circle of Catenians - Bill there. Dull meeting in too large a room where things cannot be heard! What was unusual was that Bill bought me a drink and I bought him one. Normally drinks are paid for by the host circle. Add to that £2 for raffle and £1 to park! Watched Father Brown episode before I went out. Fell asleep reading and woke in the night - found my glasses and the missing pyjama shorts under the bed! Dream about interfaith contacts!

Liz to Heythrop. I sorted out emails and prepared Catenian leaflets. The server keeps going off. I went to Heythrop for the conference chaired by Michael Barnes on texts. Bridget spoke on Mary Magdalene in film and gospel. After lunch Jim Bunce on liturgy in last gospel which he claimed was written as drama possibly to be sung. The talk on David Tracy was heavy going but I enjoyed Xavier on Bhagavad Gita and the Trinity. To vespers and Mass with Fr John. Joseph served even though he will be confirmed tomorrow.Disappointed that teh sequence was not sung yet again!  Watched Pappano on the Ring and modern artists. Vicious was funny.

Watched Come dine with me and that nice Frenchman won in Birmingham! To the cathedral for combined vespers between the Abbey and the Cathedral - Beaven and Byrd and Martin Ford played Couperin. Nice reception afterwards - good chat to Ian. TV programme on Wagner's Ring by Pappano.

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.

Played at the Ascension Lavender Hill - very High church, birettas but very friendly and all went well. A Johannus replaces old pipe organ. They use new Missal! 4 baptisms. Home for lunch of ham. First prom David Hill conducting Bob Chilcott's Angry planet - 600 a capella including schoolchildren. Lots of noises from children in audience and a very small Prom. Ben Parry's Flame was most effective. Bach choir, National youth choir, BBC singers. To Matthew Rowe's introduction to the second prom and Liz came. BBC Scottish and Scottish youth orchestra conducted by Runnicles. MacMillan, Wagner, Bruch (Nicola Benedetti) Strauss, Musgrave and Respighi.

The match between Federer and Juan Martin del Potro is engrossing and a real battle. Watched the people's history and History of art in 3 colours - blue also Michael Portillo so gradually catching up. To prom Siegried Idyll and Bruckner's 8th BBC Scottish with Donald Runnicles on great form. Came home to Carte d'Or ice cream and Montepulciano wine and watched some of the TV of the Bruckner.

Woke around 6 a.m. and went back to bed and had breakfast with Ciarán. Tom still asleep! No trains so various buses to arrive at the hall by 10 a.m. for roll call. Chatting with Peter and then to Marks Kensington High street for coffee and shopping - apparently this is their best day for wine! Sat in very nice garden behind St Mary Abbots in memory of Alec Clifton-Taylor. Got sticky tape for hat decorations. Back for 3 p.m. roll call and then stayed in queue. Amazing outfits especially Germans and lots to eat. Had cava. Went in at 6 p.m. and rehearsed Maxwell Davies new work with words written by Prommers. Stephen Jackson hopeless! Got a very good position on the rail at centre and young family near us. Several people who came on the day. It seems only 30 full seasons were issued for the gallery so we were very lucky! Many people had to buy 2 half seasons not including the Last Night. Maxwell Davies piece in tribute to prommers collecting for musical charities. Bartok Miraculous manda...

Tuesday swam 30. Clearing up and checking wills and Heythrop money form - £1050 a year. Both of us to pre-Prom talk - Petroc Trewlawney interviewing the chair (horn) and director of the orchestra. Their chair of board of directors gave $42.5 million, another couple gave $5 million so they could tour to promote the city .They are accompanied by a team encouraging businesses to move to Pittsburgh which is now an attractive place to live. The orchestra took a 9.5% pay cut and donated $1000 each. They work in hospitals and schools and every primary school child in the city hears the orchestra at least once a year so truly a community project. Our orchestras have much to learn! Fascinating and the prom was stunning. Lohengrin prelude Act 1 - those gentle strings showing the German origins of the orchestra, Wolfgang Rihn played by Anne-Sophie Mutter like the cheese on the vegetables to get the kids to eat the veg (not to my taste). A wonderful memorable Mahler 5 (with score). Again 2 encores...