Every two years since 1978 the BBC has staged a Young Musician of the Year competition. I watched the final in 1982. One of the finalists was an 18 year old pianist. I liked her. Well, of course I liked her, she was a young woman with poise and confidence, and she was about to play my…Read more Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2
Month: April 2015
Crazy Man Michael
One sunny Spring morning Mrs Crotchety and I decided to drive over to Melton Mowbray and explore our nearest market town. There's a very pretty area by the church but it's not a particularly attractive place on the whole. It's mainly known for pork pies (Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe is famous) and Stilton cheese. There was also a well-documented episode in 1837 in…Read more Crazy Man Michael
Satanic Majesties
For some of you what I'm about to say will be heresy, so sit down and take a deep breath before reading on. The Rolling Stones only made one album worth listening to: Their Satanic Majesties Request. Well, that and their very first compilation album, Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass), which only a few…Read more Satanic Majesties
The Queen of Elfland
Somewhere in the backwoods of Alaska there's a singer/songwriter/guitarist who makes beautiful music and gives it away. Why? Because we already have enough 'stuff'; what we lack is 'human connection'. So, rather than burn CDs and ship them thousands of kilometres across the globe, he makes his songs available (for free) on his website. His name is Kray…Read more The Queen of Elfland
End To End
Some bands I like, some bands I love. If I love them I'll buy several of their albums; if I only like them I try to find a Best Of... CD and maybe one or two download tracks. Blondie I like. At least, I like most of what they were doing in the eighties. I…Read more End To End
Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant was a big band. When I say 'big band' I don't mean they sound like the popular 50's dance bands led by the likes of Ted Heath, Billy Cotton or Glen Miller. Gentle Giant's music is very different. It sits under the umbrella of progressive rock, but it incorporates elements from a wide range…Read more Gentle Giant
Lay Lady Lay
A lot of complex, challenging music has featured on this blog recently so I'm going to choose a nice simple song as my track of the week: Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay. (There should be commas in there really but it's usually written without the punctuation and I'll stick with that convention.) The first time I…Read more Lay Lady Lay
Soft Machine
I just love the Internet! The other day an email dropped into my in-box inviting me to listen to Karl Jenkins on composed.com which is, apparently, a brand new streaming service. "Oh, that's good", I thought, "I'd like to hear some of that". The email described Karl Jenkins as an award-winning composer, which he is,…Read more Soft Machine
Streets of London
If Leonard Cohen's songs are poems set to music then Ralph McTell's are stories. He tells them like your favourite uncle did as you sat on his knee as a kid. There's a warmth in his voice and a chuckle in his eyes as he lets the story slowly unfold. In Streets of London, though, there's a…Read more Streets of London
Yes
There was a lot of good music on the radio in the late sixties but by the time I started university in 1971 it had been almost entirely replaced with banal and sickly-sweet pop songs. Look away now if, like me, you don't want to be reminded of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, Grandad or Bridget…Read more Yes
Crotchety Man 