BIRD/SONG Collegium Musicum of London Chamber Choir (Greg Morris conductor) Temple Church Saturday November 22 2025 I have been to a number of Coll Mus concerts, as my son Sam is a member of the tenor section. I might not be a totally disinterested party but my opinion of the high quality of this concert was so obviously shared by the large and very enthusiastic audience that I feel justified in speaking my mind... Quite simply: this is the best I have heard this choir sing

The Christmas Story ( Weihnachtshistorie ), SWV 435, is a musical setting of the Nativity in German by Heinrich Schütz , probably first performed in 1660 in Dresden . It was published as Historia der Geburt Jesu Christi ( Historia of the birth of Jesus Christ). After the grand edifices of 'Messiah' and 'Christmas Oratorio' let us turn to something shorter but no less moving. In this work of about 45 minutes, Schutz distills his material into something quite wonderfu

It's taken me a long time to realise the rather close connection Philip Larkin had with Roger McGough. At first sight, any connection seems unlikely. It is true that both are popular poets, but their readerships are probably not that closely aligned - although research might prove me wrong. Their public profiles are certainly very dissimilar: Larkin, the deeply private academic librarian writing poetry of febrile subtlety, and profound feeling, which underlines his complex, i

Alfred Schnittke 'Concerto for Choir' - The Cantus Ensemble - Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception Farm Street - Saturday 8th November 2025. Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) was a self-defined 'polystylist' composer who often introduced contrasting, even conflicting elements in the same work - heterogeneous ideas yoked by violence together to borrow Dr Johnson's famous definition of metaphysical poetry. This polystylism extends to his work over all. Schnittke wrote a good d

For many years, my personal acknowledgement that Christmas is upon me has been a private recital of Bach's 'Christmas Oratorio' . This has usually taken place in the week before Christmas with the First Part (there are six) repeated at some point on the Day itself, when it was originally performed. For several years my recording of choice was from 1958, conducted by Kurt Thomas and featuring Agnes Giebel, Marga Hoffgen, Josef Traxel and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. I still have

Wandering through London's Belgravia (a rare event for me) I came across a notice in an upmarket wine merchants: 'Customers, please note: we shall be closing at 5.00 pm on Tuesday 4th November to allow our staff the opportunity to enjoy a well-deserved Christmas party.' Chistmas comes earlier every year, and already the supermarkets are glittering with festive delights. With this in mind, and pausing only to wish the staff at Belgravia's Jeroboam's a happy and profitable Yule

I have always enjoyed browsing in Charity shops, and now that CDs appear to be as outdated as the Dodo, and the Kindle seems to have replaced 'real' books, at least to some extent, there are some real bargains to be had. The 'Crisis' shop in Putney is always worth a visit - affluent areas are usually happy hunting grounds - but recently has had a very large donation of rare Gilbert and Sullivan recordings. A lot of these are 'pirates' and to these I shall return in a later B

Adolescence has a lot to answer for. Harry Enfield's Kevin goes from pleasant, polite young boy to foul mouthed pustular monster when he...

Apologies for my rather lengthy absence. A summer of marking public exam papers is largely to blame, but now all those have been safely...