The organist librarian

Fr Chase started homily at Fisher House "I don't know much about pottery." Maybe watch The great pottery throw down"? It was a good homily! 15 circuits of the garden today. Liz did 3 miles on the exercise bike! Old fashioned Rigoletto from the Met 1977 a young Domingo.  Zoomed out! Shtisel discussion from Oz with 1000s. South London interfaith group prayers and committee. My first as chair. Organists committee. Pax Christi no-violence. Prommers. Now Benediction for Westminster Lourdes Pilgrimage from Willesden. Evening prayer from Pinner. Prom is Mark Elder and the Hall. Berlioz, Sea pictures with Alice Coote, Helen Grime and the Eroica. 2014 we were there. Why are they not repeating the TV version? Alice Coote sang beautifully. Princess Anne at 70. Friday Fisher House Mass. Very hot. Liz has stripped wallpaper off downstairs loo ready for the work to start eventually. Stations of the Cross Lourdes virtual pilgrimage. Trovatore from Met with Dmitri Hvorostovsky, (wha...

Prayers no sound from Walsingham. Not a great start knocked over a cup of tea on the kitchen bench! International Mass for virtual Lourdes Pilgrimage from Westminster cathedral. Wonderful homily from the Cardinal. Zoom Faith action coffee house Faith, integration and belonging was interesting. St John Upper Norwood. Meditatio zoom. I hit 12 stone today so in honour of Sir Tom 10 times round the garden today increasing each day! Tosca from the Met - this is the new production which caused so much fuss. Karita Mattila as Tosca. George a very scary Scarpia. The start of the Laudato Si' training was most informative. Joana's story of the loss of most of her family in the Philippines was so moving and her fight for Climate Justice very inspiring! 9 at Prommers zoom. The response to the Musical chairs website has been great. It seems we did not go to the 2015 Prom Boston SO Nelsons Mahler 6. I have been pretty scathing about Brett Dean in the past! 

Fisher House Mass with Fr Chase - Liz laughs about my American priest but he's great! Love it when he fluffs and laughs about it. Gandhi annual memorial lecture on economics by Graeme Nuttall. It's pertinent but needs reading properly. Lucia from the Met - I am not keen but the mad scene is well done. Natalie Dessay and Joseph Calleja. Sleeping Beauty from Royal Ballet. Come dine with me. Lovely rosary from Pimlico with candles in front of photos of people and singing! Zoom with Prommers. Mozart Piano concerto 24 played by Murray Perahia in 2008 with Chicago SO conducted by Haitink. We were not at this concert! Shostakovich 4. Evening prayer with 2 young ladies in Pinner. Bake off the professionals final.

Westminster virtual Lourdes pilgrimage with welcome film, video from 2011, evening prayer led by 2 young ladies with singing in Pinner. Aquero lovely paintings and singing including David Knight. Fisher House Fr Mark is ill and off until Easter. Fanciulla from Met - this was cancelled at cinema. Jonas, Westbrook and Lucacs all excellent. 9 at Promemrs zoom. Flute prom Martinu, Prokofiev. End Of Mazeppa. Norrington in 1989 Beethoven 2 Schubert 9.As expected Norrington was too fast in the slow movement of Schubert 9 and the whole thing began to sound trite. It should be grand and GREAT as Sir Adrian Boult did it!

A Sunday off as we were going to Lourdes. Walsingham, Upper Norwood with hymns (soft singing into masks or humming!) virtual Lourdes Pilgrimage Mass from Pinner with Bishop John Sheringham outdoors. Zoom with Caterham - seems David Dibbs played Meistersinger loud at the end against my instructions! Sat in the garden a lovely day. BBC singers prom Holst, Birtwistle from 2013. Finished Wendy Mitchell's "Somebody I used to know". Highly recommended if you want to understand Alzheimer's and its onset. Rosenkavalier from the Met with the gorgeous Renee and Susan Graham. Thomas Allen in Act 2.  Looking up the Edo de Waart Rosenkavalier from the Met and I came across a review of Rattle's performance where the critic took a side swipe at Levine, Renee and the production I am watching. Critics! Zoom with gallery prommers 11 there. Enjoying John Wilson 2013 prom. What a finale! I noted in 2017 that Pygmalion's Monteverdi Vespers was a bit of an endurance test - I pre...

St James' Day Fisher house, Upper Norwood, zoom with Hurtado centre. Falstaff from the Met!! Mgr Mark has to take sick leave. Tribute to Canon Christopher came. Very well done.  Watching Falstaff with the score - a masterpiece and the humour! I sang Bardolpho in 1984 at the Miller centre Caterham with Croydon opera group and the wonderful Bob Bouffler at the piano. Happy memories! The cast was led by Colin Morris. I am still in touch with Keith Chaundy, Veronica Gilbert, David Smith but what happened to Rupert Barnes, Diana Compton, Mary Dunnell, Charles Adcock and Ann Rowley? Got in touch with Colin on Facebook.  Mirella Freni and Marilyn Horne superb comic timing and singing. The whole cast are great. Working my way through Mazeppa opera by Tchaikovsky. Kirov 2009 on you tube no subtitles. Gergiev not using a score! Zoom about wagner my mike will not work so used phone. Barenboim's Walkure from 2013 with Bryn Terfel and Nina Stemme - fabulous. 

I had a dream about the blind organist David Aprahamian Liddle and wondered how he got that name. His website is charming and I can recall Felix Aprahamian at recitals and his comments in Musical Times. David chose to make Aprahamian his second name. Fisher House Mass. Today's opera from the Met is Gounod Romeo et Juliette conducted by Domingo with Alagna and Netrebko and Robert Lloyd as the Friar! The Tablet last week has an excellent article on the drive in Turkey to convert to mosques. I was alarmed to read that the Kariye museum is now a mosque I visited in 2008 and the Byzantine mosaics are superb. Hagia Sophia is by no means the first - there has been much destruction of precious heritage. Good to see Adrian and Lynn Baker at zoom. My mic would not work. Leigh and Peter did not get invite. Good to see Adrian and Lynn Baker at zoom. My mic would not work. Leigh and Peter did not get invite. LMP Vivaldi 4 seasons with Jennifer Pike in Oxford. LSO have done a live...