The organist librarian

Up early and to XRay at Mayday - first in at 8 a.m. The chaplaincy has moved to a new office opposite the chapel which is a lovely space. Swam  20. Spoke to Ann but the line was poor on Skype - she was n a cafe in Plettenberg Bay. Watched Bake off and All together now - series on amateur orchestras.  The feedback session about the Proms was as annoying as ever. Cotton is due to retire and a good thing too! Only two of my points were addressed - taking off footwear in the gallery including the staff and filming during the music. Both were fobbed off. The problems of queue jumping were not addressed either. David Pickard did impress! I spoke to Petroc and thanked him.  Verdi requiem and on TV. Soprano excellent. Unimpressed by the bass. I thought the young tenors were forcing and trying too hard. Excellent young sound from the yooung ladies and deep basses! So a bit of a curate's egg. Not as moved as one should be! Good to see John East and Adrian provided some lovely choc...

Played Parry and Willan on Melcombe, Greensleeves and Karg-Elert Nun danket it being our 41st anniversary tomorrow!  Fascinating discussion with Sarah Bullock on memorising a role.  A most satisfying prom with Mozart No 26, Anna Meredith's rather scary piece and the Pastoral also played beautifully from memory! Now enjoying the park. I commented that Brett Dean's Pastoral symphony was neither of those things and I can't imagine what his Urban Symphony would be like!  A splendid Verdi Requiem. The soprano started poorly but got better and better!

Last night we sang Verdi's Requiem in Westminster Cathedral. This was the 50th anniversary concert of the Philharmonia Chorus. Liz has been in the chorus 39 years and I have been in it 34 years. All those journeys to the Gandhi Hall! The cathedral was packed and security was tight as the Prince of Wales who is our Patron attended the concert. Riccardo Muti last conducted us in the 80s and he was much changed at rehearsal, making jokes and smiling. He was not so happy at the lunchtime rehearsal as the cathedral remained open and he found people wandering about and talking distracting. It would have been better to close the cathedral for the rehearsal! Liz is 7th in on the front row from the left and I am on third row down from the left - look for the bald head! The 4 soloists were superb - a scintillating soprano Tatiana Serjan reaching top Bs with ease, a rich mezzo Olga Borodina, fine tenor Giuseppe Sabbatini and a Verdian bass Peter Lindroos who is the son of the famous Finnish t...

My diary shows a busy week. Catenian circle council meeting on Monday. Tuesday to the closing of an exhibition at the Pump House gallery in Battersea Park. The idea here was for 5 artists to take over the gallery as a studio and interact with the public. It wasn't until I chatted to one of them that I began to see the point! His interest is birds and he linked the silent attack of the sparrowhawk with the silent attack of the V2 bomber in the area. Then I went to the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual month event at Putney library. I met and invited Louise Tondeur to our library reading group. They will love her dry humour. We saw an interesting but overlong presentation of cuttings about gays in the 1950s and 1960s - some shocking stuff! The press were very homophobic. Liz passed her audition for the Verdi requiem concert. The conductor has insisted that everyone be auditioned specially for this concert! As we could probably sing the Verdi requiem in our sleep, words fail me! Today I start...