Personal Blogs

The effort that went into MU123’s TMA 02 did bring a good result, with all my MU123 results in the nineties percent - my best set of results from five modules so far.

Ok, so it may not be the most difficult (maths) module in the world - and there’s no exam…  - but, 99% for TMA 02 is going to be a hard act to follow  A welcome ‘gift’ to start a few days rest from assignment writing and mathematical communication, etc.

Meanwhile, I’m preparing my trumpet playing for Christmas morning with some Dvorak on the side, so to speak.

So… Saturday (23^rd) sees me in London for the regular ‘pizza-run’ 

As ever, time was spent watching the ‘hi-fi’ers in Richard’s (R) shop and listening to some of the good sounds (when ‘allowed’ to!) Not wanting to ‘be in the way’,  I found myself with half hour to spare and whilst on the way to Workshop Coffee - Wigmore street - I wandered over to STEINWAY HALL which is just around the corner, situated in Marylebone Lane. As it was empty (other than two members of staff) I was given the opportunity of playing some of the wonderful instruments that are on display. Although my trumpet playing won’t win me any awards, my piano playing is more or less neglected whilst studying, and even though I have grade six in both (from all those years ago) it would take a lot of time to get anything musical together. Having said that, I was able to get a ‘feel’ for some of the pianos (playing chord-sequences and the like) and found remarkable differences between some of them. The one for around (only!) £75,000 will do nicely!

After all that, some "Damn Fine Coffee" (Agent Cooper anyone??) and back to R’s shop we walked down, past Bond Street tube, to the Bruton Place Pizza Express (PE) where we both had yet another very good pizza. Even though it was fairly busy this did not spoil the evening, as has often been the case in the Baker Street one (for example). Bruton Place has now become to PE of choice, but when it is raining (snowing, foggy etc.) the Thayer St. PE will do nicely, as it is just around the corner from where R works at KJ West One

Meantime, I have been listening to Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony - on ‘repeat’ and catching various movements as it cycles round - and this time it is the version performed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton of Ivan Fischer. I also have a copy performed by The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (under Marin Alsop) but am preferring the Budapest version at the mo…

Right then, must get on with some maths revision as although I have been reading the module books it’s now time to prepare for (and do!) the iCMA and TMA that are looming…

Now that MU123’s TMA 01 is dispatched - mostly confident about the arithmetic, but less so about the presentation and wordage - I thought I put a few words here…

…also, my result from DD131 (Soc.sci) is encouraging and so it’s looking good for DD206 (more Soc.sci) which I’m hoping to start this time next year. Meantime I have M140 (Statistics) to look forward to, starting in February 2014…

Unusually for me I went to Pizza Express (PE) during the week when, on Tuesday 22^nd Oct, I went with Laurence (son) to have lunch at the Ruislip PE. It was thanks to Carol (ex-wife) that this was possible when she came to London for a meeting and luckily (for me) Laurence had no lectures or other commitments ‘till the Wednesday morning. After this good, enjoyable meal (but not, perhaps, the best of PE) Laurence and I played trumpet duets in All Saints church, where he was happy to ‘show-off’ his newly acquired Bach Strad trumpet which cost a handy four figure sum(!)  - If only I had money for such things 

Not only that, I also had PE with (hi fi) Richard on Saturday just gone, 26^th October… so the other unusual thing is two pizza's in the space of a week !
Slightly less unusual is that this second pizza was at the Thayer Street restaurant, better than the pizza in Ruislip (unfortunately for Ruislip!) and around the corner from the hi fi shop. Whilst there, I continued my customary visits to Workshop Coffee where the two espresso's I had were made (I think) with un-blended, and very good, Ethiopian beans. All adding up to another good Saturday afternoon spent in the vicinity of Marylebone.

…and all the while, since last posting, I have had Schumann symphonies in my cd player.

I am concentrating on no.’s 2 and 4 with the occasional movement from no.1. These (and my copy of no. 3) are performed by the Robert Schumann-Philharmonie under the baton of Frank Beermann. All good recordings, if not up there with the ‘best’ interpretations as some critics would have!

As far as my own playing is concerned, I am now concentrating on the pieces for All Saints’ Remembrance Day service on 10^th November. During which, amongst other items, I will be performing Last Post, Reveille and accompanying the choir in the anthem In War, resolution by Malcolm Archer (1952 - ).

Along with these items - and my other favourite hymns and marches(!) - I now have the Variations for Trumpet and Orchestra in F, by Friedrich Dionysus Weber (1766-1842) to learn. The copy I have has been transcribed for trumpet and piano whilst also being edited by John Wallace (trumpet player) and Reine Dalquist and published by Faber Music. This is one of the very first compositions written for a keyed or valved trumpet and first performed as such in the 1820’s.

The pizza that is, and although I’m getting stuck into MU123 (Discovering Maths) I wouldn’t really call it tasty. Talking of Studies, I duly dispatched the final TMA (EMA) for DD131 on 16^th September so here’s hoping for a favourable result. I now look forward to a year of living math-wise.

On Saturday 21^st (hi fi) Richard and I decided, after the rather poor pizza from Great Portland Street on Aug. 17^th, that we would eat in the Bruton Place (Mayfair) Pizza Express - PE - for a change from the usual in Thayer Street. Before meeting up with Richard at KJ West One and setting out for our evening pizza I paid my now customary visit to Workshop Coffee in Wigmore Street. Great coffee, as per usual, and some friendly banter with the (all female) baristas…To quote from Time Out magazine “…the coffee (roasted at the Clerkenwell site) is several cuts above the London norm. Sit at the counter if you like watching baristas (skilled and friendly) at work. An unassuming gem.”

It is (almost) worth the tube ride to visit this coffee shop alone but then there is the £6 fare on top of the £2.20 for each espresso (I had three!) which would add up to a rather expensive coffee session

With the Bruton Place PE being just off Berkeley Square, and not far from the Ritz, it is a little different from eating pizzas in the area around New Cavendish Street. This one also happens to be the PE that served excellent food on the occasion I went there with my son on May 26^th this year. Not only was the food really good both times, making the extra mile or so of walking well worth the effort… we get to be in the posh bit for a while. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Marylebone Village area of course, but even the good ol’ Monopoly game highlights the difference between Mayfair and everywhere else!

Thought I’d also mention the Bugatti Veyron (a special edition of an extremely fast sports car) taking pride of place in one of the large windows of Berkeley Square’s Bentley showroom, with a price tag of around £1,500,000 (1.9m Euros) - ten times the price of an ‘ordinary’ Bentley! Here’s me thinking that expensive hi fi has Big numbers, although with many systems costing (£) 6 figure sums and some that cost considerably more than the aforementioned Bentley, I guess it is. As previously noted, I can’t afford to run a car let alone buy hi fi these days…

This past two weeks has seen time for Dvorak’s Second Symphony (from the 1860s) which has became more ‘interesting’ since investing in Bruckner and Mahler symphonies. I have also been playing the cornet (trumpet) part of Gustav Holst’s 2 suites for Military Band while having the recordings playing on my ‘system’ - more music for the neighbours to enjoy... perhaps?  The Wind Orchestra of the Royal Northern College of Music (for my listening) makes it sound easier than it is!

This picture includes Karl the organist and shows us up in the organ loft - once again, many thanks to Brian H.

This is my usual position when performing during the services at All Saints and although often with Karl at the ‘manuals’ these days, there are a number of organists available for this purpose - but only one trumpet player!

My next ‘appearance’ is on Sunday 1^st Sept to play during the Offertory and Recessional Hymns - as chosen by Brian R. (the music coordinator)

…is what I’ve been listening to lately.

More or Less is a BBC radio programme broadcast on Radio 4 and on the World Service and is made “…in association with the Open University”. We (the public) even, on occasions, are privileged to have contributions from ‘our very own’ Kevin McConway of the OU’s Maths and Stats dept.

This is a long running series which concerns itself with the statistical information used in various media/publications and by politicians to ‘enhance’ viewpoint(s). I admire this programme particularly as it doesn’t shy away from criticising all those that use statistics ‘out of context’ and in so doing is always pointing out the actual numbers behind the published stories and political speeches. As I’m about to do 60 credits of Maths (MU123 in Oct.) and Statistics (M140 in Feb. 2014) I decided to go through all the ‘back-issues’ to see what it was all about. This week I reached the 2013 series having listened to the available archived episodes which go back to January 2009!

…and Dvorak’s 6^th just happens to be one of his symphonies that I like

This is not to say that I stopped listening to other ‘stuff’ though, with the Bruckner and Mahler that I downloaded more recently also being played. The Schumann symphonies from 1840-50 are also good (much like the Beethoven that I so used to enjoy) but, these days, I find more to enjoy in the later ‘romantic’ compositions of the 1860s to the 1890s. Music that I listen to after this period tends to be of the ‘English school’ of composers such as Vaughan Williams and Holst - although he is not English! - pleasure from which mainly stems from the Wind and Military bands that I used to play in as a youth A lot of English folk-songs are incorporated into the musical suites that I like and this gives quite a different feel from the Dvorak and early Bruckner symphonies that I have recently ‘discovered’ and am enjoying

Other regular events have appeared in my schedule, not least my favourite trips to Aston Abbotts (with Mum and Dad on the 14^th) and into London to see Richard on Sat 17^th. Mostly these occasions are good, but the pizza on 17^th was not particularly ‘special’ - eaten at the Pizza Express in Gt. Portland Street. As noted previously hereabouts this one still seems below par in comparison to the other PE’s that we visit, with mine being rather burned around the edges. It wasn’t as if there were a great number of patrons - a problem that sometimes ‘affects’ the Baker Street venue - and at least the staff were welcoming and attentive and the atmosphere acceptable. So, out of the three visits we’ve made to this PE, only the first one was good (which was over 18 months ago) and I’m therefore not inclined to go back there, for awhile…

Now, back to the studies for TMA04 of DD131

(edited for 'spacing' and typos!)

As one gets closer to the end of the 19^th century, it seems that composers tended to write symphonies that, for me at least, become too long to listen to in one go! My recent ‘discovery’ of Bruckner’s 0 and first symphonies along with Dvorak’s later works and subsequent ‘re-writes’ are about as far into this period as I will go for now. Therefore I find myself ‘going back’ to Robert Schumann and his first two symphonies from the 1840s. These, like my original favourites from Beethoven that came before this period, last not much more than half an hour unlike some of the later Bruckner (Mahler, and others…) which go over the one hour mark. I also find myself enjoying particular movements of the symphonies that I have, like the many third (or sometimes second) movement Scherzos that became popular during this time.

Yesterday saw me in Marylebone Village again and spending time in my current fav. coffee shop (Workshop, Wigmore St.) and, of course, (Hi Fi) Richard’s Hi Fi ‘emporium’ in New Cavendish Street. In spite of the rain that came later in the day - which made for a rather damp journey home - a good time was had with pizza being eaten in the Baker Street Pizza Express. While not exactly the best pizza (either from Baker St. or elsewhere) this more than made up for the ‘missing’ trip that should have been made toward the end of June As always, even with the assurance of “…no, we are not that busy…” there was good number of patrons, which caused the service to be a little slower than is often the case in the more quiet and, for me, preferable PE restaurants.

Next Sunday (4^th Aug.) sees me in church to play along with the usual Offertory and Recessional hymns. In this case, they will be “Be thou my vision…” (tune Slane) and “Alleluya, Alleluya, hearts to heaven…” (tune Lux Eoi). I also hope to get in a bit of time with Karl the organist with a view to eventually playing a Samuel Long voluntary that was (apparently) posthumously published in 1770, by his wife. Other voluntaries are being attempted...

… a bit of Bruckner, returning to Dvorak this morning

So, today, I have the eighth symphony from Dvorak in my cd player. This one was originally published (by Novello) as the fourth, in 1889, but by the time I got to perform it with the borough youth orchestra in the late 1970s it had the now familiar number of the eighth. This is the one I know best and I even got to play the ‘trumpet call’ that opens the last movement, although only at rehearsals as I was deemed to be not as ‘good’ as the other guy I have also played trumpet in the ninth, but this time on the ‘2^nd desk’. By then I had reached grade six with grade eight being a bit beyond my abilities and this is probably still the case! Anyhow, I enjoy just listening to number eight these days...

In my box, alongside my 80s and 90s pop cd collection, are some classical discs which is where I keep the Beethoven. I have the first five of his symphonies and also number seven - not six, eight or nine for some reason (?) This is possibly due to the majority of my cds being with Carol (ex-wife) down in Wales as I left them there for my son to play if he wished. I may even have some Bruckner there as I vaguely remember one of his works in my collection.

The Bruckner I refer to ‘at the top’ is in the Naxos library and over the past couple of weeks I have been listening to various movements of his early symphonies (known as 00, 0 and 1) and also the first and fourth symphonies of Beethoven of which I have two copies. I mostly prefer the Beethoven being performed by the Dresden Philharmonic under Herbert Kegel but this may well be down to the over-all sound quality. Kegel recorded these for the Capriccio label in the 1980s in digital format and these recordings seem to suit the cd medium well. Better, in fact, than the (more renowned) Deutsche Grammophon re-issue of Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in 1977. Still, as I no longer have my (Linn LP12) turntable, I will ‘make do’ with such re-issues especially for purposes of comparing performances, tempo, expression and ‘in-tune-ness’ etc. Some days, though, I struggle to work out whether one is too fast for me or the other too slow - rewarding none-the-less. I have it in mind to see which performances of Bruckner’s symphonies I prefer and may well end up purchasing and few…

… even though we keep talking about it - me and (Hi Fi) Richard, that is.

Yesterday afternoon (1^st June) was Marylebone ‘village’ again and I spent time at KJ West One, as usual, followed by a pizza in Thayer St. (as usual!) It looks like the Baker St. branch has fallen off the list of regular pizza venues, and as I have downloaded a list of the Pizza Express (PE) places in the area it may be a while before we try it again. The same applies to PE Great Portland St. as the last time we were there we got the worst pizzas either of us had for a good number of years! Baker St. is often very busy and this may account for the sometimes rushed (or delayed) service and no-so-good pizzas.

On Sunday last (26^th May) I had the rare treat of meeting up with Laurence (my son) and did so not far from Tottenham Court Road tube. We ended up ‘checking out’ the Dean St. jazz venue (and, of course, the associated Pizza Express restaurant…) and then wandered around the area for a while. Laurence was in London for a Muse gig at Highbury on the Sat. night with one of his mates and ‘twas brill (apparently) - not one of my favourite groups though…

We ended up eating PE pizza in the Bruton Place branch that is round the corner form Berkeley Square, before L caught a coach to Exeter to see another of his mates who was playing a gig there. Phew, a busy weekend for the boy! Anyhow, a very good pizza was had by us both, helped no doubt by it being a relatively quiet Sunday in the vicinity of Mayfair. Well worth another visit, as is the Dean St. venue but next time for more than just a quick look at the musicians warming up

All in all it was a good afternoon Yesterday in Marylebone Village although it did start out looking a bit doubtful. Not only was Richard out and about delivering and setting-up speakers and therefore not in the shop, the hail and rain in the early afternoon looked set to spoil things. By the time I got to Bond Street though (via the underground) things were looking up. It turned out to be quite pleasant in the sunny bits and there was no further rain ‘till after six o’clock!

Whilst waiting for Richard to complete his various ‘installations’, I spent an hour or so wandering around the area and did indeed venture into Workshop Coffee (Wigmore Street). This is something that I have been meaning to do ever since finding out how good it is (supposed to be), how close it was to KJ West One and that there are three or four Pizza Express places nearby. I had two espressos that were very different from the usual Costa/Starbucks (and other high-street) offerings… but I will need to re-visit this one and try out the other beans they sometimes use. Although a very good coffee, I have to say that this one was as bit too ‘fruity’ for me and not enough of a dark ‘chocolate’ flavour.

So, we ended up in the Thayer Street Pizza Express where not only did I enjoy good garlic bread and pizza I got through another two espressos. I would say that this one (much like Luton) is one of the more consistent of their restaurants if not quite always the best it could be… Which leaves Baker Street 3^rd out of the ones we currently eat at -  4^th if the independent Silver Dollar(Rayners Lane) is included, which may well be our next pizza venue in a few weeks time.

… we continue! I used to ‘do’ a lot of Pete Tong a few years back

So, quietly studying for TMA06 (S104) and TMA02 (DD131) but will have to ramp it up a bit after the weekend if I’m not to rush at the last minute… At least iCMA 46 (geology) came back good and is the best mark since iCMA 43. A better result than chemistry and biology, but not physics!

Went food Shopping in Slough today; played trumpet in church on Tuesday (and will again on Friday) and still have Smetana’s Ma Vlast keeping me company. Talking of which, I managed to get copies of the actual music to all six of these symphonic poems this week, full scores and trumpet parts. I will use this to follow the different musical threads, as they are played, especially the trumpet part!

Spring seems to have sprung at last even if it is very windy around here which is taking the edge off it a bit…

Having just finished planning this coming weekend, I thought I’d mention that the Easter Day service (31st March) went well. Our lady organist - JP - did her usual fine job of accompanying the service and my two small contributions were generally appreciated by those I saw afterward. We don’t have 100% acceptance of ‘trumpets in church’, but it is only once in a while and Father Desmond likes it From my point of view, I played well which shows that it was worth the preparation in the week or so beforehand (I certainly needed it...)

So, this coming Saturday I’m hoping to get round to church, after a few morning ‘errands’ at the local shops, with a chance of meeting our newly appointed organist and of introducing myself (and my trumpet!).

Sunday more or less sees a repeat of 24^th Feb when I will be taking Mum and Dad to Aston Abbots to visit Mum’s friend Christine. I then go on to Luton to see my friend Richard with Pizza E being the preferred lunch (as always) and I am certainly looking forward to it… (yum yum)

Meanwhile I have started work on the next pair of assessments for S104, with preparatory reading being done for both these and also for TMA02 for DD131 and it looks like I need to get the S104 work out of the way fairly soon. I have to do one before the other as I can’t really see me doing both together in the two weeks leading up to the (nearly) coinciding deadlines of 7^th and 8^th May. After this it will be S104 revision time and with the exam scheduled for 4^th June I think will be difficult to ‘cram’ it all in. Still, statistically (with allowance made for a drop in percentage for exam results) I have a chance of passing, albeit a slim one!

Lyrics from “All my Life” by the Foo Fighters, and yes I do have some of the albums but don’t really listen to them any more, just the odd track perhaps. This one starts like this:

“All my life I've been searching for something -
Something never comes never leads to nothing -
Nothing satisfies but I'm getting close -
Closer to the prize at the end of the rope -

All night long I dream of the day… etc”

Anyway, I’m referring to my latest TMA’s and iCMA’s and have indeed ‘done’ TMA05 and sent if off on Wed morning, cut-off day! So at least I can have a short break now and am looking forward to going into ‘London Town’ on Saturday afternoon to see ‘Hi Fi’ Richard. Pizza’s are in order that day along with a listen to some of the latest offerings on display in KJ West One…

As well as “All My Life” now going around in my head, last week I took the time to listen to a number of recordings of Rachmaninov’s 3^rd Piano concerto and a mighty fine piece it is too! Courtesy of the Naxos music library I was able to hear at least 6 different versions and picked out two that I might buy. The first one has a great soloist but not such a ‘together’ orchestra, and the other one I liked captured the sound of the orchestra well, but I’m not so keen on the soloist’s interpretation of this piece. The rest were either too slow, too fast or too 'intense'. Still, judging by the amount of recordings that are available, I may well find one that I will actually buy…

The two pianists I preferred are Artur Pizarro, and Bernd Glemser and the recording I have of Beethoven’s 3^rd piano concerto is performed by AP and it is Very good. Perhaps AP’s style doesn’t suit the Rachmaninov as well as it does the Beethoven - or maybe I like the Rachmaninov to be played in a certain way… or perhaps these combinations would be improved on a different day, with a different group of recording engineers?