BBC4 and Documentaries & Opera

Last night i saw a great TV recital from Glyndebourne on BBC 4 of Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutti" (which means "all women are like that") by a young cast,and excellent period sringwork from the orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.Programme introduced by the lovely Verity Sharp.

It is a great comic opera with twists and turns in it and is supported by a wonderful libretto by Mozart's usual sidekick,Lorenzo DaPonte.

Strangely i don't have this opera in my collection but i do have both The Magic flute and Idomeneo.

Infact there was a great Mozart primer in my hallowed magazine THE WIRE way back in June 1991. It mostly covered the orchestral and chamber works of which i have some in the excellent mid-price Philips box sets,partucularly the String Quartets and String Quintets.The article recommended the Karl Bohm version on an EMI mid-price disc for "Cosi fan tutti" which i guess is now deleted ,so might have to call at Fine records or Gramex for a second hand copy.

Also on BBC 4 on Friday was a great documentary on Gil; Scott Heron,black poet and godfather of modern rap and hip-hop.

Talking of opera,i played a CD this week i haven't played since at least eight years ago;that is,Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" on Sony Classical 1990 from Sofia Festival Orchestra conducted by Emil Tchakarov.
Eugene Onegin is an opera about inchoate emotions,love discovered too soon or too late.It's a portrait of a young woman,Tatyna,who has read about love in books,and so falls in love with the first handsome man she meets,rings true,as does,Onegin,a suave sophisticate whose most pressing emotion is boredom,until he discovers,years too late,that he does love Tatyana.
Anna Tomowa-Sintow is radiant as Tatyana,particularly in the famous Letter Scene,one of the most painful outburst in opera.Just brilliant.

Weekend Frolics

No more scatalogical references for the time being. Having bemoaned the fact about the lack of work recently,and shitty companies (you said no scatalogical remarks!!),suddenly work has picked up again,fistly all week mostly from Sutton Research on cat food and a day down the Marina at David Lloyds.The the following week some on the train jobs from Oxford Research,all airport runs.The last day of this lot is July 22nd,and its one day on gatwick Express,one day on heathrow express,one day on Stanstead express and a new one,heathrow connect going from Liverpool Street station. Interesting to see what route that takes.

Finally received my cheque from Consumer Bubble (hoorah!!) but without no apologies. Still waiting for the one from IFC though,and it looks like Carmel who is meant to be responsible for such matters,will get the sack for not doing her job properly, and arriving late and going off early,as there has been mounting complaints about her to the director. All i can say it is about time.

On Saturday i did an exit survey in deepest Kemp Town in St.Georges Road. it was a camelot lottery exit survey - just one page - no more than 2 mins long. Ruth came down to visit for the usual 6 months accompianment. She is so much more laid back and fiendly than the awful strictly-by-the-book Annette Tibble.She only stayed for an hour in which half of that we had long cool drinks at a nearby bar.God bles her.

Bloody hot day though.However,completed the full quota of 27 without a problem.

I succumbed to buying a new CD as it was the chaepest in town from Essential Records.Thge latest by Sonic Youth "Rather Ripped". Only £8! Most other places were selling it for more than ten pounds. Sonic Youth are still going on strong and making excellent music,and still creating fascinating sonic immersions into avant-garde strategies.

Other bargains purchased are from Borderline,the reissued "Nuggets" 27 tracks of sonic garage pysch-rock from the sixties originally released on Lp in 1972,from Oxfam ,Comus "Song to Comus", a double CD of stuff from two albums by these early seventies acid-folkies,and a Savoy CD for £2 at the Saturday North laines market of wild and rare big swing bands.

I have put by a double Cd of two reissued albums by another folkie,Sheila McDonald at Across The Tracks for a possible exchange.

Too hot To F***K

Phew.It is too hot to f**k or anything else. I was going to horsham to do a chewing gum survey in the street for Continetal Research but will do it later on Monday.

It is a day for trying to stay cool and chilling out. I just hate it when its too hot or am i being a boring old fart as Johnny Rotten would have once said.

So i shall listen to some vinyl for a change. perhaps i should do a vinyl only playlist after i met two gorgius chicks in the Evening Star who hate CD's and are vinyl junkies. I understand their point of view. Most Cd's are controlled by uncaring global conglomerates who care little about real music and rarely take a leap of faith these days in different sounds. They always SEEM TO PLAY SAFE.

Why buy a Cd for twelve or fifteen pounds when you can buy 5 intersting vinyl albums from Snoopers or charity shops for the sam price.It makes economic sense really. The most recent discovery being the Napalm Death LP "Utopia Banished" for £3 which got a Wire Winner review in 1992.Once again WIRE is on the button.

Recent vinyl purchases are from Snoopers anyway. This morning got two 50p flexi discs which steviecat was selling including a Billy Jenkins one. Recently played some Herbie Hancock,Lonnie Smith, Gary Bartz,"Death Wish" soundtrack, and Anthony Braxton - all vinyl.

Long live vinyl.

Sundays Sensational Sixteen

These are the ones that kept me sane all week after the debacle of what has been happening.Ply loud i say.

1/ SONIC YOUTH Rather Ripped CD (Geffen)
2/ Various - Nuggets (Elektra CD)
3/ Comus - Songs To Comus (Castle CD)
4/ Television- Marquee Moon (Elektra CD)
5/ Scott Walker - The Drift (4AD CD)
6/ Low - Trust CD (Rough Trade)
7/ The Fall - Bend Sinister CD
8/ Shirley Collins - Within Sound CD
9/ Harrson Birtwistle - Earth Dances (CD single)
10/ Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin CD
11/ The Watersons - Mighty River of Song CD
12/ BB King - King of the Blues (MCA 4cd set)
13/ Bobby Beausoleil - Lucifer Rising CD
14/ Various - Early Morning Hush CD
15/ Napalm Death - Utopia Banished CD
16/ Death Wish OST - Herbie Hancock LP