Monthly Archives: August 2009

First a billionaire’s yacht, now a villa

Peter (my Lord) Mandelson is running Britain, not from the Houses of Parliament but from Lord Rothschild’s villa in Corfu. Nice job if you can get it! I suppose the response to this would be the same as the Tory MP criticised for his expenses claim retorted that we were all jealous. Maybe.
The sad thing is we’re talking about New Labour, a party hijacked by Mandelson and the likes which came into being to represent working people. At every opportunity Mandelson has very publicly shown his love for an opulent life style. He borrowed rather a lot of money for his London home from a very wealthy fellow MP then he was shown cavorting with wealthy and possibly very corrupt Russian businessmen, people who cashed in on the demise of the socialist state. We learn from the Independent report that it was Nat Rothschild, a friend of Mandy, who introduced him and Osborne to the Russian Deripaska.
During the Blair period questions were continually raised about the close links with the wealthy, people like Bernie Eccleston. Scandal was on the horizon. Mandelson needs to decide whether he wants to take running Britain seriously and stop playing the fool. Regrettably this is just another example of how our political elite demonstrate that self-gratification takes precedence over representing the people.

Continue reading →

A throwaway society

Blackwater as the truth emerges

Barbirolli and Vaughan Williams: the recordings

2 Replies

It’s always exciting when valuable documents suddenly appear as if from nowhere. Vaughan Williams music has of late been re-evalued and the dismissive notion of him being the leading “pastoralist” has taken a decisive blow. There were two descriptions around the time of the Pastoral Symphony (no 3), one the image of “Vaughan Williams rolling over and over in a ploughed field” (Hugh Allen) and Phillip Helseltine (the composer Peter Warlock) saying it was like a cow looking over a gate. Very deceptive. The Pastoral Symphony was no English landscape, but rather France in the depths of conflict. This is a depiction of the battlefields where VW spent time as an orderly driving ambulances, tending to the gravely wounded. It has been more aptly described as VW’s “War Requiem”, although that title probably really belongs to Dona Nobis Pacem.
John Barbirolli, “Glorious John” as VW referred to him when he dedicated his Eighth Symphony to his admired interpreter, did not record a VW symphony cycle. Commercially he recorded no 2 “The London Symphony” (twice with the Halle Orchestra in 1957 on Pye CCL30134 and HMV ASD 2360 a decade later)), no 5 (with the Halle C 3388-92 in 1944 and the Philharmonia no HMV ASD 508 in 1962), no 7 “Sinfonia Antartica” (HMV ALP 1101 with the Halle in 1953) and no 8 which was recorded at the time of its premier by the Pye Nixa label (NCT 17000, 1956). From the above a number of recordings are available on CD: nos 2 and 8 (both Pye recordings on CDSJB 1021 remastered by Dutton for the John Barbirolli Society) and no 2 on EMI CDM 5 65109 2. No 5 is available again on Dutton CDAX 8011 coupled with VW’s own celebrated performance of the 4th with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. No 5 with the Philharmonia is on EMI CDM 5 65110 2. The Antartica is on a two disc set including mostly VW but some Elgar: the Oboe Concerto with his wife, Evelyn Rothwell as soloist, the Tuba Concerto, The Wasps Overture, the Fantasia on Greensleeves and Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus – all well worth having! A live performance of the 8th Symphony is also available on ERM 181 from 1961.