Robin Fenwick
adventitious comms, tech, and music
So… You think Radio 3 is stuffy?
Aug 9th
I beg to differ – middle class, yes, but stuffy? No.
This video is a good piece of online outreach from the Proms digital team, and conveys some of the joy of performance on any scale. The video comes courtesy of Jon Jacob of Thoroughly Good fame, and there’s a behind the scenes blog post here.
There’s been some debate this week about why Radio 3 is picking up listeners, with a lot of focus on people turning to classical music in times of recession and stress. I can believe that, but I also suspect that Radio 3 is being rewarded for maintaining a consistently high supply of quality content produced by people with real knowledge, commitment, and dedication to their subject.
Who are you and what have you done with real coffee?
Aug 3rd
Take my word for it – if you see these on your local supermarket shelf, don’t listen to any little voice which says “hey, maybe it isn’t as bad as it looks.” Vile, and then some.
Why I support the Liberal Democrats
Aug 2nd
I’ve had a busy afternoon working on various projects for the Lib Dems. As is so often the case, when a Sunday has disappeared full of Lib Demmery, the question “why do I bother?” flashed (oh so briefly, for I am a sworn loyal footsoldier of the yellow peril) across my mind.
Supporting a third party in a country without proportional representation can sometimes be difficult – we don’t tend to have the motivation of the prospect of imminent government to call on.
So for anyone else who finds themselves wondering tonight whether their Sunday would’ve been better spent in support of some other cause, I thought I’d share with you the answer I refer back to whenever the “why bother?” question comes up. It comes from the closing sentences of Simon Hughes‘ final speech as President of the party, in September of 2008.
Over the last four years I’ve been humbled by huge support, and love and kindness by many of you, and I thank you for so many good times.
Four years ago, members of my family were sitting in those seats as I became Party President, my good mother among them. Last year I had to dash from the platform of conference to the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, where she was fighting for her life.
On that day a combination of fantastic NHS care, and bluntly the miraculous, pulled her through.
Sadly, in November, she died.
But from conference when we were by the bedside in Birmingham, we heard a round of applause in solidarity for our family. For my younger brother, who is one of our councillors, and for me.
That warmth of gesture shows to me that we’re more than just a group of people who carry the same card in our handbags or our wallets. We’re more than just a group of people with personal ambitions. We have a collective vision, and we have a collective hope. Our vision is far bigger than the aspiration of any one of us as individuals, and our hope is to honour our mothers and fathers by building in this country a fairer, more compassionate and more prosperous future.
That’s why we are Liberal Democrats, and that’s why we don’t just deserve to succeed, we will succeed. Don’t ever give up on that cause – it’s the most wonderful thing you can do.
You can’t argue with that, eh?
Pick of the Proms
Aug 2nd
As I write I’m listening to the Monteverdi choir singing four Bach motets, thanks to the ever-wonderful Radio 3. Fantastic.
My promming is getting off to a slow start this year – work and holidays have kept me away from God’s own Royal Albert Hall (incidentally, did you know Tallis is at the foot of the Albert memorial? Neither did I.)
Here are my pick of the Proms – the concerts I’ll be trying to get to, and commend to you… spend £5 on a gallery ticket, and give it a whirl. Bring a cushion. I have had to leave out the lunchtime chamber music Proms, as no prospect of attending one this year, more’s the pity (though if I can squeeze one in it will be PCM 19)…
- 2 August – Prom 24: Includes Beethoven’s 4th symphony, and some top choirs – with the added bonus that I don’t know the Berlioz Te Deum at all. I might be tempted back the following night for Prom 25 too…
- …probably not, however, as I do want to get along to Prom 29 on 6 August, for some top Rossini
- 12 August – Prom 36: I adore The Sixteen, Handel’s Coronation Anthems make me want to curl up in a ball and make happy gurgling noises, so this may be my top Prom of 2009 – particularly as it (perhaps a little predictably) ends with Zadok – but then the Proms so often take you by surprise, so you never know…
- 15 August – Prom 40: Who can resist the BBC SO trotting through Beethoven’s 9th? The Albert Hall’s long acoustic makes the final movement feel really huge.
- 21 August – Prom 48: I’m a sucker for a bit of Wagner. So, even if (whisper it) I’m not overly wild about the Symphonie fantastique… well, it’s also Wagner, and it’s the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, who can make sentimental people cry at 50 paces. This is the one our office is going to. Fidelio is also very tempting.
- The OAE will be the stars on 25 August for Prom 53. I love the OAE, and the Handel choices in the programme. Second-favourite concert.
- Fianally, Prom 74 – it’s the Vienna Phil and Strauss. You’d be mad not to.
Something of a choral bent to my choices this year, but then that’s where my musical interests lie at the moment. Who knows, next year it might justbe Glastonbury. (Don’t count on it.)