Buzzin' Sphygmo & Turangalila!
Week from Monday 26th June 2023 - The Elf Centre are nagging me to monitor my BLOOD PRESSURE for their "ANNUAL HYPERTENSION REVIEW"... The BUZZIN' SPHYGMO has come out of the drawer and I've been compiling one of my famous charts, so that I can plot a four-day average. It all looks perfectly under control to me, but now I have to yomp into town to present them with the results. They also mentioned something about doing a 'non-fasting' BLOOD TEST for cholesterol, but I think I already did that LAST month(?) I'm always 'invited' in for these blood tests, but they NEVER tell you up-front what they are for, so it's hard to keep track. I'm having another pricking on Friday.
They've done it to me again! I traipsed all the way to the Elf Centre on Friday, to be told that I didn't need the BLOOD TEST appointment after all because I'd already had it. I'd told THEM that!! It seems that I keep better records than the local NHS these days! This is the second time they've done this to me - the last time was for a vaccine that I didn't need because I'd already had one. And they wonder why I have high blood pressure?
Nowadays, at seven o'clock after the "STAR TREK" hour (currently re-re-re-runs of the earliest "DEEP SPACE NINE" episodes), the telly usually gets switched OFF and I just CATNAP with whatever BBC Radio Three has to offer that evening. It's not always COMPLETELY relaxing, and there are inevitably pieces of music (or performances thereof) that I don't care for AT ALL, but I find it a good way to ABSORB stuff...
On Monday night, the Berlin Philharmonic, with its Venezuelan conductor GUSTAVO DUDUMEL, played an interesting programme. I rather enjoyed the 'Latin' pieces by GINASTERA and ORTIZ in the first half, but CHARLES IVES' Second Symphony was a bit dull and grey for me. Great performance, I'm sure, I just didn't like the music.
Then on Tuesday, there was a 'live' version of "THIS CLASSICAL LIFE" (all sounds a bit podcasty for my liking!?!) illustrated by the BBC Concert Orchestra pumping out excerpts from 'popular' works, with plenty of gusto, but no subtlety whatsoever. MUSIC FOR THE CLOTH-EARED...
On "WINCHESTER WEDNESDAY", I'm generally pretty knackered by the time I can 'relax', so an earlier night is the preferred option. Not that I can be done with ELGAR oratorios in any case!
Thursday's concert is a "Gala to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of the Royal Northern College of Music, with performances by the college's string orchestra, chamber choir and symphony orchestra". But the 'listings' mags don't say what actual MUSIC they're going to be playing, so I didn't know if we're in for something startling or just another 'greatest hits' programme (UPDATE: It's an interesting and varied 'setlist', with the first half a bit like a live version of Radio 3's "Mixtape" - disparate pieces of music running together in a continuous 'flow', with no DEAD AIR gaps, audience racket or yakking. Most refreshing!)...
I feel I'm on safer ground with Friday's 'show' though. SIR SIMON RATTLE's LSO is doing OLIVIER MESSIAEN's "Turangalila Symphony"...
But now, the 'new' FRANK ZAPPA album "Funky Nothingness" has arrived and the TOUR DE FRANCE starts this weekend. DROP EVERYTHING!
They've done it to me again! I traipsed all the way to the Elf Centre on Friday, to be told that I didn't need the BLOOD TEST appointment after all because I'd already had it. I'd told THEM that!! It seems that I keep better records than the local NHS these days! This is the second time they've done this to me - the last time was for a vaccine that I didn't need because I'd already had one. And they wonder why I have high blood pressure?
Nowadays, at seven o'clock after the "STAR TREK" hour (currently re-re-re-runs of the earliest "DEEP SPACE NINE" episodes), the telly usually gets switched OFF and I just CATNAP with whatever BBC Radio Three has to offer that evening. It's not always COMPLETELY relaxing, and there are inevitably pieces of music (or performances thereof) that I don't care for AT ALL, but I find it a good way to ABSORB stuff...
On Monday night, the Berlin Philharmonic, with its Venezuelan conductor GUSTAVO DUDUMEL, played an interesting programme. I rather enjoyed the 'Latin' pieces by GINASTERA and ORTIZ in the first half, but CHARLES IVES' Second Symphony was a bit dull and grey for me. Great performance, I'm sure, I just didn't like the music.
Then on Tuesday, there was a 'live' version of "THIS CLASSICAL LIFE" (all sounds a bit podcasty for my liking!?!) illustrated by the BBC Concert Orchestra pumping out excerpts from 'popular' works, with plenty of gusto, but no subtlety whatsoever. MUSIC FOR THE CLOTH-EARED...
On "WINCHESTER WEDNESDAY", I'm generally pretty knackered by the time I can 'relax', so an earlier night is the preferred option. Not that I can be done with ELGAR oratorios in any case!
Thursday's concert is a "Gala to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of the Royal Northern College of Music, with performances by the college's string orchestra, chamber choir and symphony orchestra". But the 'listings' mags don't say what actual MUSIC they're going to be playing, so I didn't know if we're in for something startling or just another 'greatest hits' programme (UPDATE: It's an interesting and varied 'setlist', with the first half a bit like a live version of Radio 3's "Mixtape" - disparate pieces of music running together in a continuous 'flow', with no DEAD AIR gaps, audience racket or yakking. Most refreshing!)...
I feel I'm on safer ground with Friday's 'show' though. SIR SIMON RATTLE's LSO is doing OLIVIER MESSIAEN's "Turangalila Symphony"...
But now, the 'new' FRANK ZAPPA album "Funky Nothingness" has arrived and the TOUR DE FRANCE starts this weekend. DROP EVERYTHING!
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