From the pictures of Anna Maria Jopek on the Web, you'd have thought she is a glamour model. Her hair is the colour of sun-ripened wheat, her eyes shine cornflower blue, and her feminine curves would grace the cover of any glossy magazine. But AMJ is not known primarily for her looks. She is a…Read more Anna Maria Jopek
classical
Grandbrothers
The grand piano usually leads a solitary life. It rarely teams up with other instruments, especially electronic ones. So, the intimate connection between Erol Sarp's grand and Lukas Vogel's electric hammers and dampers may be unique. Together, Sarp and Vogel are Grandbrothers. Sarp is a classically-trained jazz pianist; Vogel is an electronics engineer who builds…Read more Grandbrothers
Unremembered
It seems to me that 'unremembered' is not quite the same as 'forgotten'. A forgotten memory is lost forever; unremembered events remain in the locked mental storage cupboard, waiting to be rediscovered when mistress Serendipity stumbles upon the key again. In 2011, the vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, commissioned the American composer, Sarah Kirkland Snider,…Read more Unremembered
Ukraine
In the summer of 1971 a group of school-leavers embarked on a trip to Russia. The 19-year-old Crotchety Man was one of the party. In those days, a political Iron Curtain separated Europe from the U.S.S.R. and we were warned to behave ourselves. High jinks and selling our Westerner's jeans to the locals could lead…Read more Ukraine
Stranger in Paradise
A post on Hubzilla this week had me searching the wetware memory banks for a song from the sixties. The tune was familiar, but the title escaped me for a while. In the end it came to me in the shower - it was called Stranger in Paradise, and it was sung by one of…Read more Stranger in Paradise
Distractions
I have been rather distracted over the last couple of days. When the schedule called for blogging I was reading about quantum theory or wrestling with crosswords. But today I'm determined to be productive. Of course, I'm short of time now, so what better way to salve the conscience than to offer two of the…Read more Distractions
Gnossienne No. 1
gnossiennen. a moment of awareness that someone you’ve known for years still has a private and mysterious inner life, and somewhere in the hallways of their personality is a door locked from the inside, a stairway leading to a wing of the house that you’ve never fully explored—an unfinished attic that will remain maddeningly unknowable to you, because ultimately…Read more Gnossienne No. 1
The Staves
There's an economic and cultural schism in the UK. It's called the North/South divide. In the South the people are wealthy, urbane and sophisticated; in the North they are poor, primitive and uncouth. Colloquially, the boundary between these two regions runs through Watford. When a southerner refers to people living in places "north of Watford"…Read more The Staves
The Phantom of the Opera
On the whole Crotchety Man doesn't like musicals. I have seen a handful, either on stage or as a film, but they usually leave me cringing with embarrassment for the writers, the cast and the poor, long suffering audience. There are exceptions: Hair had some good songs and a decent storyline; The Little Shop of…Read more The Phantom of the Opera
The Rite of Strings
When we talk about a string trio we usually mean violin, viola and cello: acoustic instruments playing chamber music in a broadly classical style. But substitute a guitar for the viola and a double bass for the cello and you get a stringy creature with a rather different complexion. Then, if you electrify the violin…Read more The Rite of Strings
Crotchety Man 