Good Morning

Warren Cup

One of my favourite items in the British Museum is the famous Greek Warren Cup.





A classic piece of homoerotic images adorn the Warren Cup which is an ancient Greco-Roman silver drinking cup decorated in relief with two images of male same-sex acts. It was purchased by the British Museum for £1.8 million in 1999, the most expensive single purchase by the museum at that time. It is usually dated to the time of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (1st century AD).

The cup is named after its first modern owner, Edward Perry Warren, notable for his art collection, which also included Rodin's The Kiss statue and Cranach's Adam and Eve painting.

Representations of sexual acts are widely found in Roman art, although surviving male-female scenes greatly outnumber same-sex couples. It cannot be assumed that homoerotic art was uncommon as the modern record may be biased due to selective destruction or non-publication of pederastic works in later times.

Both scenes show draped textiles in the background, as well as a cithara (appearing as an eleven-stringed lyre, often symbolic of pleasure and drinking parties) in the former scene and tibiae (reeded pipes) with finger holes being depicted in the latter. These, along with the careful delineation of ages and status and the wreaths worn by the youths, all suggest a cultured, elite, Hellenized setting with music and entertainment.

Exquisite in my opinion.

Monday At The Movies

The film is the classic disco movie Saturday Night Fever which was marred slightly by tracks from the Bee Gees, sorry, but they grated on my ears. BUT the film still had some f ine tracks including this one.

Kool and the Gang - Open Sesame

Awesome 70's funk!! Yeah!!

Jazzy's Old Jazz Monday

Some classic jazz tunes -

Sidney Bechet - Egyptian Fantasy

Sidney Bechet - Egyptian Fantasy. Recorded January 8, 1941, New York. Sidney Bechet (cl); Henry 'Red' Allen (tp); J.C. Higginbotham (tb); James Tolliver (p); Wellman Braud (b); J.C. Heard (d).

Duke Ellington - Black And Tan Fantasy

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 -- May 24, 1974) was a USA composer, pianist and bandleader of jazz orchestras. His career spanned over 50 years, leading his orchestra from 1923 until death.
Though widely considered to have been a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, Ellington himself embraced the phrase "beyond category" as a "liberating principle," and referred his music to the more general category of "American Music," rather than to a musical genre such as "jazz." Born in Washington, D.C., he was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onwards and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club. In the 1930s they toured in Europe.

Duke Ellington - The Blues with a Feelin'

Spiffin' old jazz indeed, Bertie,

ENJOY

Spirits Awake

Whilst I may be an agnostic going toward an atheist, I sometimes find spiritual music very uplifting, so here are some of my faves -

Thomas Tallis - Spem In Alium

(I have never put my hope in any other
but in You, O God of Israel
who can show both anger and graciousness,
and who absolves all the sins
of suffering man
Lord God,
Creator of Heaven and Earth
be mindful of our lowliness.)

CD: The Tallis Scholars sing Thomas Tallis / Spem In Alium


Arvo Pärt - De Profundis

Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ
Tonu Kaljuste, percussion
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

John Tavener - The Lamb

And still I end in tears.

Enjoy

Counterpoint ..

is Bach or back!!!!
This is the BBC Radio 4 music quiz which is always a tough one. It covers areas of music that I am not into, you see, as well as classical and other forms. On this first heat, I got around 60 per cent of the questions right. These are some of the music used I got right -

Jung Jaeil - It Is Sunday Morning

Used in that film from South Korea called Parasite which I thought was great.

Miles Davis Quintet - Surrey with the Fringe on Top

Krzysztof Komeda - Lullaby

Igor Stravinsky - The Rake's Progress ( Act 2/Scene 2 - Introduction)

The Unthanks - The Scarecrow Knows

Kitty Macfarlane - Starling Song

ENJOY