Judith Weir

Delighted to see that Judith Weir has been appointed Master of the Queens music.  Let's hope that she turns out to be an Edward Elgar and not a Nicholas Staggins! (No, I had never heard of him either).

I've been lucky enough to play a couple of piece by Weir: her song cycle Natural History and the orchestral piece The Welcome Arrival of Rain.   The latter in particular made a very strong impression right from the first notes I heard at the read through.  She had a fabulous ear for orchestral sonority and a beautifully crafted sense of imagination.   I feel that she carries on the tradition of Michael Tippet - especially late pieces such as the 5th quartet and the triple concerto  - and via Tippett to the Stravinsky of Agon.


I heard a broadcast of A night at the Chinese Opera when it was first performed and remember enjoying it, though truth to tell I can't remember that much about it.  Time to catch up with it again I think

Antony Hopkins - RIP

The Guardian is reporting this evening the death of Antony Hopkins

Guardian obituary


I remember with great affection his series talking about music which was a fixture of the radio schedules when I was at school and university.  I mean no disrespect to my teachers and lecturers when I say that I probably learnt as much about music from listening to his talks on the radio as I did from any other person.

His narrative approach to musical analysis is now very out of fashion but to a young learner it gave me exactly what I wanted.   In the short time since I read the obituary I have been remembering the music that I got to know through his talks.  Three that come to mind - still on my favourites list are

• Tippett string quartet no 2
• Britten violin concerto
• Schumann violin concerto

I also remember a couple of talks on pieces I knew well.  First of all Scheherazade, where he was totally un-snobbish about a piece of popular repertory and was very illuminating about Rimsky managed to tell a story in musical terms.   Secondly a programme about Beethoven 5.  This was the days before historically informed performances but he played a version conducted by Hermann Scherchen, which at the time was one of the very few performances which didn't introduce a massive ritardando before the recapitulation of the opening motive.   I remember thinking that that was exactly the right way to do it.

I can't imagine that on the current radio 4 (or even radio 3) schedule such broadcasts could ever find a place, which is a great pity.  Hopkins was a broadcaster of real distinction.

Hopkins was a Norfolk man like me, and I think that he once acted as an adjudicator in a music festival I was playing in.  But I was only 8 or 9 at the time so I can't be sure.