@fieldrye.bsky.social
Oh yes EB brings me out in hives. I'm sure (I hope) she's lovely but check the complacency. Inane nun article very scattershot in argument. I can get annoyed with the 'Check your privilege' types but then remember EB represents us white middle class Grauniad types, so fair point, really.
December 2, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Oh yes EB brings me out in hives. I'm sure (I hope) she's lovely but check the complacency. Inane nun article very scattershot in argument. I can get annoyed with the 'Check your privilege' types but then remember EB represents us white middle class Grauniad types, so fair point, really.
A brilliant and horrifying article. Where there's a stench, you can be sure Cherie Blair will be defending it. Great bit of journalism even if ir renders me more depressed.
December 2, 2025 at 11:55 AM
A brilliant and horrifying article. Where there's a stench, you can be sure Cherie Blair will be defending it. Great bit of journalism even if ir renders me more depressed.
Yes Lee, best live rather than written but forgot about Carole Cadwalladr. A true hero and she is being proven right. I will try the nerve
November 30, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Yes Lee, best live rather than written but forgot about Carole Cadwalladr. A true hero and she is being proven right. I will try the nerve
Monbiot, Mangan and occasional knockout features, like the recent Atwood article are great but the endless listicles. Best thing is the Stephen Collins cartoon. But I remember when the Guardian had a daily Posy Simmonds cartoon. Now I have a Private eye subscription and pay the odd individual journo
November 30, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Monbiot, Mangan and occasional knockout features, like the recent Atwood article are great but the endless listicles. Best thing is the Stephen Collins cartoon. But I remember when the Guardian had a daily Posy Simmonds cartoon. Now I have a Private eye subscription and pay the odd individual journo
It really isn't my paper anymore. 90% comment, lots of it finger wagging while hypocritically filled with fanboy reviews of trash telly. Their bizarre headlines make into Private Eye frequently. Really wishy washy arts coverage too with no analysis about why something is good or bad.
November 30, 2025 at 8:01 PM
It really isn't my paper anymore. 90% comment, lots of it finger wagging while hypocritically filled with fanboy reviews of trash telly. Their bizarre headlines make into Private Eye frequently. Really wishy washy arts coverage too with no analysis about why something is good or bad.
Brilliant at everything it seems: not just Mozart, Janacek and Handel. At least he was A list for last 2 decades of his life. A Barbican Fidelio (not my fave opera) with Brewer and Milne had the energy of a 30 year old. Brilliant
November 30, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Brilliant at everything it seems: not just Mozart, Janacek and Handel. At least he was A list for last 2 decades of his life. A Barbican Fidelio (not my fave opera) with Brewer and Milne had the energy of a 30 year old. Brilliant
I grew up as a kids reading all those record guides which gave Mackerras a whiff of the journeyman, a B list conductor on cheaper labels and editions, with just a glitzy Janacek cycle to his name. How wrong could they be?
November 30, 2025 at 12:28 PM
I grew up as a kids reading all those record guides which gave Mackerras a whiff of the journeyman, a B list conductor on cheaper labels and editions, with just a glitzy Janacek cycle to his name. How wrong could they be?
Came across as genuinely modest. Perhaps he wasn't but he was the most sincere musician I have ever come across and chatted to. And no airs or graces or snobbery about gigs. Vienna one week, Bristol the next. The quality always the same
November 30, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Came across as genuinely modest. Perhaps he wasn't but he was the most sincere musician I have ever come across and chatted to. And no airs or graces or snobbery about gigs. Vienna one week, Bristol the next. The quality always the same
Mackerras gave this low rent gig his all, just like with everything. He was delightful backstage chatting to me about previous Carmens and my Wagnerian pal asked him when he would do Meistersinger over here. 'Eugh' , Mackerras replied, 'that was my Waterloo' Not judging by the DVD of it
November 30, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Mackerras gave this low rent gig his all, just like with everything. He was delightful backstage chatting to me about previous Carmens and my Wagnerian pal asked him when he would do Meistersinger over here. 'Eugh' , Mackerras replied, 'that was my Waterloo' Not judging by the DVD of it
That is so sad to lose that but what a lovely postcard to have been sent. I met Mackerras once in 2000 or 2001 conducting a very ordinary rep WNO Carmen at the Bristol hippodrome, despite being at height of recording fame. Orchestra obviously sounded especially perky and muscular...
November 30, 2025 at 12:21 PM
That is so sad to lose that but what a lovely postcard to have been sent. I met Mackerras once in 2000 or 2001 conducting a very ordinary rep WNO Carmen at the Bristol hippodrome, despite being at height of recording fame. Orchestra obviously sounded especially perky and muscular...
Two of my favourite de los Angeles albums on 1 disc. This gets played a lot
November 29, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Two of my favourite de los Angeles albums on 1 disc. This gets played a lot
Never seen this photo in colour before. Popp was another favourite who I didn't get a chance to see live. She dies when I was 14. I should have known better. Lovely voice. She was in Czech films before fled to Vienna to become a singer. Hollywood looks to match the voice
November 12, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Never seen this photo in colour before. Popp was another favourite who I didn't get a chance to see live. She dies when I was 14. I should have known better. Lovely voice. She was in Czech films before fled to Vienna to become a singer. Hollywood looks to match the voice
Signed. I hope a similar petition will be to save the BBC (from itself, its Tory plants, from the alt right.. ). The dragging of heels about paying the Post Master victims compensation while they fling more money at the instigator. Who at Fujitsu has such a hold at RM? Utter corruption.
November 11, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Signed. I hope a similar petition will be to save the BBC (from itself, its Tory plants, from the alt right.. ). The dragging of heels about paying the Post Master victims compensation while they fling more money at the instigator. Who at Fujitsu has such a hold at RM? Utter corruption.
That Margaret Marshall stuff has been a revelation. I hadn't paid much attention to MM until her daughter promoted her stuff. What a stunning voice. Janowitz with cleaner diction. I sometimes think (me as guilty as any) we ignore musicians with ordinary British names. To our detriment.
November 10, 2025 at 2:20 PM
That Margaret Marshall stuff has been a revelation. I hadn't paid much attention to MM until her daughter promoted her stuff. What a stunning voice. Janowitz with cleaner diction. I sometimes think (me as guilty as any) we ignore musicians with ordinary British names. To our detriment.
Thanks. Yes, in my concert going in the noughties, Milne was in my opinion the best lyric sop the Uk had produced. Intense, text aware and a sound very much like Lucia Popp. Only a few CDs and not much interest on the international bootleg circuit so I was thrilled when I found his channel
November 10, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Thanks. Yes, in my concert going in the noughties, Milne was in my opinion the best lyric sop the Uk had produced. Intense, text aware and a sound very much like Lucia Popp. Only a few CDs and not much interest on the international bootleg circuit so I was thrilled when I found his channel
Thanks for this. I sing in a London choir and a friend remembers doing Verdi Req with Esther-Gray and Simon Rattle! Rattle scrubbed the choir clean of any bad habits and 'tradition'. It remains for my friend the most exciting Verdi req ever. Did Esther Gray make/keep any recordings of such things?
November 10, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Thanks for this. I sing in a London choir and a friend remembers doing Verdi Req with Esther-Gray and Simon Rattle! Rattle scrubbed the choir clean of any bad habits and 'tradition'. It remains for my friend the most exciting Verdi req ever. Did Esther Gray make/keep any recordings of such things?
Sod Callas, this was the centenary I celebrated in 2023. A voice like a sheet of copper, caught in the sun. I never saw her. I had a ticket for a 1998 concert but she retired a few weeks before. Hers was the loveliest sound ever although I subscribe to the theory that she was a pushed up mezzo.
November 2, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Sod Callas, this was the centenary I celebrated in 2023. A voice like a sheet of copper, caught in the sun. I never saw her. I had a ticket for a 1998 concert but she retired a few weeks before. Hers was the loveliest sound ever although I subscribe to the theory that she was a pushed up mezzo.
100 percent concur. The women were great, Manrique and Luna good, Ferrando dire. Good production but worst of 3 stagings in a good, consistent Wexford year. I didn't love the Delius score but its staging was magical. Handel Dedamia still had me pining for an editor but what could you cut?
November 1, 2025 at 10:28 AM
100 percent concur. The women were great, Manrique and Luna good, Ferrando dire. Good production but worst of 3 stagings in a good, consistent Wexford year. I didn't love the Delius score but its staging was magical. Handel Dedamia still had me pining for an editor but what could you cut?
Sorry meant to shate gif of Bebe Glazer. Bebe Glazer!
October 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Sorry meant to shate gif of Bebe Glazer. Bebe Glazer!
Loved it. Emma and I were laughing like idiots. Please record your Streisand duet of Only fools and horses. Full respect for ditching the mic
October 15, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Loved it. Emma and I were laughing like idiots. Please record your Streisand duet of Only fools and horses. Full respect for ditching the mic
Damn it, I love Perez and she hardly ever sings here. I wasn't fussed about this new Tosca (Even if Netrebko had been a Ukraine feeedom fighter, I'd have passed on vocal grounds as well as her politics) but this must have been wondeful. I hope Kurzak recovers too
September 25, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Damn it, I love Perez and she hardly ever sings here. I wasn't fussed about this new Tosca (Even if Netrebko had been a Ukraine feeedom fighter, I'd have passed on vocal grounds as well as her politics) but this must have been wondeful. I hope Kurzak recovers too
Ft is stunning but always lived Rising damp too. Better acting too. Always loved Rigby's sincere response to: "We've just been to see Dr Zhivago"
"Oh, what did he say?"
"Oh, what did he say?"
September 21, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Ft is stunning but always lived Rising damp too. Better acting too. Always loved Rigby's sincere response to: "We've just been to see Dr Zhivago"
"Oh, what did he say?"
"Oh, what did he say?"