December 2017 reading and listening

To be updated…

Postcards from the Edge Carrie Fisher
Apple of My Eye Helen Hanff
The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper
A Manual for Heartache Cathy Rentzenbrink
The Ship Antonia Honeywell

Last Leaf Danish String Quartet

November reviews for The Times

After ten good years, my laptop finally decided to give up and head into retirement. And after several months of denial, I've finally given in and accepted that it's not going to come back to life. I'll admit I'm rather enjoying the novelty of actually being able to type, copy, paste on my new computer without it being a complete headache. Time for some blog housekeeping! Here are a few of my recent reviews for The Times. Links included. They are all paywalled (go on, subscribe!) but you can sign up for two free articles a week.

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Mariss Jansons
27 November 2017

Just before the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra arrived in town, its chief conductor Mariss Jansons went on record saying that women conductors weren’t his “cup of tea”. Cue outcry, particularly as the Latvian was also at the Barbican to be awarded the gold medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society. 

Full review: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/concert-review-bavarian-rso-jansons-at-the-barbican-ptghg0sk6

The Rake's Progress at Wilton's Music Hall
14 November 2017

There may be a more atmospheric and appropriate theatre in which to stage Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, but I wouldn’t bet on it. The intimate Wilton’s Music Hall is right in scale and feel. 

Full review: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/opera-review-the-rakes-progress-at-wiltons-music-hall-e1-6d6g6w3s2


The Riot Ensemble
14 November 2017

Less traditional concert, more experimental music laboratory, this BBC Radio 3 Open Ear event showcased the quite new, the new and the made up on the spot. It’s an interesting formula. That I felt the results were mixed is almost part of the point 

Full review: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/concert-review-the-riot-ensemble-holloway-nahum-at-lso-st-lukes-ec1-xlbdcx7rs

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla
10 November 2017

Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 1 has already become Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s calling card, after he played it to win BBC Young Musician in 2016. This was the second time I’ve heard the 18-year-old cellist play the piece live this year, and if I was secretly expecting a carbon copy, then shame on me. Even in a matter of just a few months, Kanneh-Mason’s interpretation has grown in maturity and stature, and here he gave a thrillingly memorable performance.  

Full review: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/concert-review-city-of-birmingham-symphony-orchestra-mirga-grazinyte-tyla-at-symphony-hall-birmingham-rwk07rx07

London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
1 November 2017

It is hard to say who is more of a speed merchant, the pianist Khatia Buniatishvili or the conductor Gianandrea Noseda. Either way, they are kindred hotheads. Luckily, they both have the knack of pushing tempos to their limit and, just at the point of no return, managing to keep the music from free-fall.

Full review: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/concert-review-london-symphony-orchestra-noseda-at-the-barbican-7cs3vbbv0

Helen Dunmore – a small tribute

I got to know Helen Dunmore's writing thanks to my mum. For that reason alone, her name was instantly special. My mum loves reading, I always trust her taste in books. I remember her recommending Zennor in Darkness to a friend when I was a teenager. Yet for some reason I only started reading Helen's books when I was in my twenties, when I had moved to Bristol. One Christmas I gave my mum two books of her poetry, and I was reminded: this was a writer I should really read. I went to the library, the big central library, and took out Burning Bright. And realised that the city she described was my new home, the arty cinema in her novel my new local hangout. But more importantly I felt I had made a discovery: a writer who wrote with wisdom and wit, a cool elegance and a human warmth. Who was not afraid to confront the darkness, nor afraid to embrace the light. I carried on reading.

The story could have stopped there with one happy reader. Then a few years ago I signed up to a French class, and in the first lesson was surprised to see a familiar face. It was the writer from my bookshelves. I was, I'll admit, starstruck. Over the next few years, it was a privilege and a pleasure to share a horror of the subjunctive (perhaps I'm projecting my horror on to Helen) and a delight in the French novels we read each term. I took a year off my lessons last September, and was shocked when I learned she had terminal cancer. I wrote to Helen, and her reply was so kind and generous. I get the impression that was how she was with everyone. She was a brilliant and thoughtful writer and poet and a wonderful human being, someone who I have found inspiring in every way. All of these small musings are simply an inadequate way of saying how sad I am that she has died, to say thank you for the words. My thoughts are with her family and friends. Helen's last book, Birdcage Walk, was also set in Bristol. I can't wait to read it.

The Spinning Heart

Country: Ireland
Author: Donal Ryan
Book: The Spinning Heart

This was one of my airport bookshop buys – from Belfast, NI, where I also bought one of my favourite books in translation, Strange Weather in Tokyo, a few years ago. Not the same airport, though, in case you want to be pedantic; though both had a shelf or two dedicated to Irish writers. Perhaps I should have chosen some James Joyce – I've still not read Ulysses, for instance – but with little room in my hand luggage, I needed to opt for something a bit slimmer. Added to that, this is a debut novel – and there's always something intriguing about that –  with enough good reviews to start its own fan club.

And I'd pay my dues. Donal Ryan's story of a rural Ireland struggling after the financial collapse of 2008 makes a strong impression. Each chapter brings in a new resident, each individually interesting yet each adding something to the narrative, centred around the implosion of a property developer. The strength of their voices, the use of colloquial language are what gives this novel is its texture and soul; their individual accounts of poverty, ambition, moral strength and weakness, of acceptance and hatred. It was easy to be absorbed by these rich pen portraits, so easy that, like every day life, it's not until the worst has happened that we can see all the forces conspiring to enable it. Empty promises and empty houses lead to a terrible act.

I loved how vividly the thoughts and feelings of Ryan's characters came across, how he balanced poetry with realism, how strongly this felt like an 'Irish' book – rooted in place and recent history. Next stop, Joyce.

Drawing up the reading list

Right. Time to get organised. I started my Reading the World project in rather laid-back fashion. I've since realised a few things. One: unless I keep focused, it could be rather a long time until I navigate the globe. Two: some countries are going to be a lot harder to cover than others, so that will need a bit of planning. Three: reading is a solitary pursuit but for me this is about learning more about the world. I don't want to read in a bubble. I want to know what books people from far and wide can recommend. So, to start with, I put out a note out on Facebook. Over the past two days, I've had 55 book suggestions. They range from Jilly Cooper to Gogol. Shockingly, I've never read either…

If you've got any book suggestions, please do let me know by commenting or emailing.