BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Prom

22 July 2026

On Tuesday we were at the Royal Albert Hall in London for our first visit to the BBC Proms in many years. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Storgårds, were in impressive form. The programme opened with 'Tales of a Summer Sea' - a piece by Betsy Jolas, who is due to celebrate her 100th birthday this year. This was a belated UK premiere for her 1977 reworking of elements of the incidental music she wrote in 1962 for a production of 'The Tempest'. It's an atmospheric piece that conjures up the power of the ocean through a large orchestra including masses of percussion and two sets of timpani. We then heard Sueye Park perform the Sibelius 'Violin Concerto' - one of my favourite pieces and one I have played in the orchestra for on several occasions. Sueye Park played beautifully and delicately but the acoustics of the vast Albert Hall made it quite a strain to hear the solo violin. John Storgårds restrained the orchestra volume very effectively but I would have preferred to hear both soloist and accompaniment a little more off the leash. The second half of the concert featured 'Also sprach Zarathustra' - Richard Strauss's orchestral tone poem inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's huge poem. The opening fanfare must be one of the most famous moments in classical music, from its use in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey', but the 35 minutes that follow are rarely heard. Which is a shame as it is a great piece - powerful, playful, spectacular and serene. Though I know the work from recordings, I had never heard it live before and it was really helpful to see it performed in order to make sense of the different sections of the music and the instrumentation. It was wonderful to hear the mighty Albert Hall organ. The tubular bells chiming midnight, heralding the quiet, enigmatic ending of the piece, rang out brilliantly from the balcony at the top of the Albert Hall. It was a very entertaining concert, excellently performed.

London Athletics Meet 2026

22 July 2026

On Saturday we made our annual visit to the London Stadium in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the Diamond League London Athletics Meet. I was looking forward to our first opportunity to see the remarkable world record-holder poll vaulter Armand Duplantis, but sadly he had to withdraw from the competition part-way through with an injury - though  he still managed to come in second place. We also saw Keely Hodgkinson beating Femke Broeders-Bol in an exciting 800m. But the highlight of a brilliant sunny afternoon of athletics was seeing Josh Kerr break the world record for the mile - a record that had stood for 27 years. His final lap was a thrilling race against the clock with the whole sold-out crowd of 60,000 on its feet cheering him on.

Buckingham Music Festival

16 July 2026

On Wednesday, we made a first visit to the Buckingham Music Festival at the Radcliffe Centre, a lovely converted church concert venue in the middle of Buckingham (where we previously saw the Adderbury Ensemble, reviewed here in October 2024). In the morning we saw a piano recital by Craig Greene which featured three early sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 3 was composed in 1775 during his early years visiting Munich. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 was composed in 1795 and dedicated to his teacher, Joseph Haydn. And Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 1 was his Opus 1, composed in 1853 when he was just 20. It was fascinating to hear the contrast in these early works by the three composers, brilliantly played by Craig Greene, and to hear the development in the use of the piano over a relatively short period of time from the 1770s to the 1850s. The hall was packed for this morning recital. After lunch, we returned to the Radcliffe Centre for a performance by Oxus, a string quartet from Oxford, who presented a programme 'From the Steppes of Central Asia', inspired by the peoples and vast landscapes of the Caucasus and beyond. This featured movements from string quartets by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Borodin, which drew on local folk music across Russia and Ukraine. They also played arrangements of traditional pieces, including a Ukrainian folk song, music collected in Kazakhstan, an Armenian traditional tune, and finishing with a medley from 'Fiddler on the Roof'. It was a very entertaining and varied programme, nicely introduced by the members of the quartet. A very pleasant way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

14 July 2026

Our traditional, season-ending, short, Sunday afternoon Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert for the Friends of the Orchestra, is always a lovely way to mark the start of the summer. It's also a great opportunity for the orchestra to play repertoire that wouldn't fit into one of our normal concerts. It's a chance for us, and our audience, to explore shorter pieces for a smaller orchestra. At this year's Friends' concert at Christchurch in Northampton on Sunday we played Schubert's 'Symphony No. 8' (the 'Unfinished Symphony'). I hadn't played this popular work for many years and had forgotten what a lovely piece it is. There is something very satisfying about playing a classical symphony that is so cleverly constructed and beautifully written but less technically challenging than some of the repertoire we usually play, providing the opportunity to play much more carefully and precisely. I would agree with our percussionist, Keith Crompton, who said to me after the concert that he thought the Schubert was the best the orchestra had played for a long time. Conductor John Gibbons drew a lovely, rich sound from the orchestra and kept the rhythms clear and steady. We continued our tradition of featuring the latest Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust soloists competition winners. Amy played the final section of the Glazunov 'Saxophone Concerto' very impressively. And Stan gave a stunning performance of the last two movements of the lovely 'Concertino for Trombone' by Ferdinand David. When Felix Mendelssohn was asked to compose a trombone concerto he declined due to time restraints but passed the task to the leader of his Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ferdinand David. The resulting Concertino was dedicated to the Gewandhaus trombonist Karl Traugott Queisser, who first performed it, with Mendelssohn conducting, in 1837. We also played the catchy 'Folk Song Suite' by Vaughan Williams and we finished the concert with the Rossini overture ‘The Thieving Magpie’ which featured excellent solos by Harriet Brown (oboe), Helen Taylor (flute), Rob Reid (clarinet), Sian Bunker (bassoon) and Ian Jones (horn). 

'Four Last Songs' by Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon

14 July 2026

I have written here several times (particularly in November 2010 and November 2024) about my long personal connection to the 'Four Last Songs' by Richard Strauss. I am grateful to Lindsey Jackson for remembering this and giving me a copy of Linda and Michael Hutcheon's 2015 book 'Four Last Songs' which explores aging and creativity by looking at the late works of four composers: Verdi, Strauss, Messiaen and Britten. The Hutcheons are academics at the University of Toronto (a literary theorist and a physician). As they both entered their sixties they became increasingly interested in continuing creativity in older age, and their book felt a very timely read for me as I started my retirement. By examining the later lives of the four composers, they look at whether their last compositions try to sum up their lives and their achievements or to point forward through an unexpected change in style. Verdi, famous for his very successful tragic operas, deliberately chose to end his career by writing a comic opera, 'Falstaff', to send a message to other Italian composers warning against the increasing 'Germanism' of Italian opera. The late works of Richard Strauss, including the 'Four Last Songs', seem to reject his previous exploration of modernism and revert to 'being Strauss'. Messiaen decided to spend his last years writing his first opera - the incredibly ambitious 'Saint Francois d'Assise'. Britten's last opera 'Death in Venice' deals specifically with aging, creativity and death. The Hutcheons' short book is fascinating - fairly academic in tone but with plenty of background about the context of the composers' later years - and made me want to listen more attentively to their (and other composers') late works.   

'The Barbecue at No. 9' by Jennie Godfrey

9 July 2026

Having enjoyed Jennie Godfrey's debut novel 'The List of Suspicious Things', in which a young girl in West Yorkshire in the 1970s attempts to identify the Yorkshire Ripper (reviewed here in July 2025), I was intrigued to learn that her new book is set in 1985 on the day of the Live Aid concert - a period that could have been my Mastermind specialist subject. 'The Barbecue at No. 9', which I read as an unabridged audio book (narrated by Gemma Whelan, Josh Dylan, Raffey Cassidy and Stephen Mangan) uses Live Aid as a backdrop and timeline for a gathering of neighbours. The Gordon family have invited all the other inhabitants of Delmont Close - many of whom have never previously met - to a barbecue in their garden to celebrate the occasion of the charity concert. At first I found it difficult to take in the substantial cast of characters (particularly listening to the audio book where it is difficult to skip back to check the names and house numbers). But soon I realised that the four narrators represented the four principal characters whose stories were going to be explored in depth. As with 'The List of Suspicious Things', Jennie Godfrey's writing reminded me of the novels of Joanna Cannon (including ‘The Trouble with Goats and Sheep’, set in the long hot summer of 1976, reviewed here in January 2022). The alternating stories of multiple, otherwise unconnected, individuals united in a moment also reminded me of Liane Moriarty's novel 'Here One Moment' (reviewed here in January 2025). You can tell there are going to be some twists and revelations but it took me a while to work them out. 'The Barbecue at No. 9' is enjoyable, entertaining and satisfying and I'm pleased to report that the Live Aid references were obviously well-researched.

Wimbledon 2026

4 July 2026

We had a lovely day at Wimbledon yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, but not too hot, with temperatures going up to 25 degrees and an occasional gentle breeze. We had tickets for Court 3 where we saw three entertaining third round singles matches. We watched the No 11 seed Belinda Bencic play Anna Kalinskaya, seeded 19 (who we saw playing doubles with Sorana Cirstea at Wimbledon last year, reviewed here in July 2025). This was an enthralling three set match with both players making plenty of mistakes. But Bencic always looked the better player and ended up pulling through. 

We then watched one of the most bizarre tennis matches we've seen at Wimbledon. Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany beat the No 8 seed, Daniil Medvedev, in straight sets, despite Medvedev leading 4-1 in the second and 5-2 in the third. Medvedev seemed to lose the match by getting increasingly frustrated, going through a phase of exaggerated gestures, followed by a period of sarcastic mutterings as he struggled to beat the huge, Struff serve. But he continued to play brilliantly on occasion, and just when we thought Struff would pull ahead in the face of Medvedev's dips, Struff's first serve appeared to desert him with both players struggling to close out the third set. Arguably the match was won on one amazing moment: Medvedev appeared to have played a brilliant winner with the ball legitimately going around the side of the net and back into court. But Struff asked for a video replay and, after several minutes delay, the replay on the big screen clearly showed that the ball had gone past the other side of the net post, through a gap in the net and out the other side, giving the point to Struff. 

Finally, we watched Karolina Muchava, the No 10 seed, playing Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand, the world number 164 who was appearing in her first Wimbledon, having only played one Grand Slam before this, the 2026 Australian Open where she went out in the first round. She had got through to the third round at Wimbledon having beaten Maja Chwalinska, the recent French Open finalist, on the way. At first, we feared this match might be incredibly one-sided, as Muchova took an early lead. But Sawangkaew showed no fear and played very impressively, pushing the second set to a tiebreak before departing to huge cheers.

Suntou Susso and the Gambian Superstars

2 July 2026

Last Friday we were at The Stables in Wavendon to see Suntou Susso and the Gambian Superstars. Suntou Susso is a Gambian griot in the tradition of the hereditary musicians whose songs chronicled history and tradition across the Mandé Empire of West Africa (like the late great Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, reviewed here in May 2008). Suntou Susso is a singer, songwriter and kora player with a very likable personality. He had the audience up dancing, almost from the start, on one of the hottest days of the year. He was backed by a very impressive six piece band of brilliant musicians, playing a mixture of traditional and contemporary instruments, who are clearly having lots of fun. It was mostly fast and frantic dance music: one tune with a slightly slower reggae beat provided a nice contrast. I also particularly enjoyed the couple of more contemplative solo pieces with Suntou Susso accompanying himself on kora. It was a very enjoyable evening that left the audience and the band smiling.