The life of an English teacher is generally not much like that of the eponymous hero of ‘Goodbye Mr. Chips’, or of Hector in Alan Bennett’s ‘The History Boys’, still less like that of John Keating in ‘Dead Poets Society’. A teacher’s life is likely to be far more humdrum, faced with pupils who very definitely do not love the subject, who want to be told what to think and write, who will not behave, and whose main ambition seems to be to go to an ok university and get a ‘good

Amchor (Amersham Choral Society) celebrates its centenary in 2028. I had not heard them before, but my wife’s cousin Kate is now a member, so we made sure a visit to her coincided with a concert. Thus it was we found ourselves in the delightful surroundings of St Mary’s Church in the picture post card perfect village of Old Amersham to listen to a programme of music by Handel, Mozart and Schubert. It was gratifying to see a packed church, a very healthy choir of 70+, and a sm

Nicky Spence is without question one of the most accomplished British singers of his generation. This Scottish tenor is still relatively young at 43, and appears to be building his career with exemplary care and good sense. Starting off as a lyric tenor and singing roles such as Don Ottavio, he has now branched out into what might be broadly called Jugendlicher Heldentenor territory, making something of a specialty of Janacek’s anti-heroes. He has also sung Siegmund and Erik

More American twentieth century song composers. For many years, I have had a disc of American songs, ‘The Cloisters’ performed by Scottish baritone Henry Herford (b.1948) with his regular accompanist Robin Bowman, but have only just listened to it for the first time. Herford is a slightly older contemporary of mine: we took part in a Pierre Bernac masterclass together in the mid-1970s, (Bernac was enthusiastic about him, far less so about me) and sang a couple of concerts tog

I am always on the look out for unusual Art Song repertoire, so was particularly excited to come across the CD ‘In Her Voice’ (Art Song Settings of Women Poets) by American soprano Emily Truckenbrod and her regular collaborative pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng. Of the seven composers represented here I had only heard of one, Muriel Herbert (1897-1984), who studied at the Royal College of Music with Stanford and left a large body of song compositions in a very attractive English pasto

Barry Kosky’s production of Wagner’s ‘Siegfried’ at the Royal Opera House has received such a long series of adulatory reviews that it has become the hottest opera ticket in Britain, if not in Europe. Sadly, our budget did not stretch to forking out £500 a ticket to experience this in the flesh so my wife and I braved the dubious pleasures of central Croydon on an early Tuesday evening and headed to Grants Vue Cinema for a live relay. These tickets (£22.99 a pop) proved less

Our support for singer son Sam took us to the church of St Mary at Hill in Billingsgate London, for an enterprising and most moving concert given by ‘The Cantus Ensemble’. The first half was devoted to the Musikalische Exequien by Heinrich Schutz, which were written for the burial service of the splendidly named Prince Heinrich Posthumus von Reuss. There are three sections: Teil I: Concert in Form einer teutschen Begräbnis-Missa Part I: Concerto in the form of a German burial

After a brief hiatus, I had intended my next Blog to be a return to Michael Raucheisen’s ‘Lied der Welt’ project, and a consideration of the songs of Max Reger. Before I do that however, I must allow freedom to a few bees in my bonnet concerning Ralph Vaughan Williams ‘ opera ‘Hugh the Drover’. This seems to me to be an appallingly, and unfairly, neglected work. I hope my brief words below will encourage you to give it a hearing. As is so often the case, I am initially behold

Monteverdi 'Vespers' and Bach 'St John Passion'. The weekend of 7 th and 8 th of March was spent supporting our sons’ musical endeavours. First up on the Saturday was Sam singing the Monteverdi ‘Vespers’ with the Collegium Musicum of London in the suitably opulent surroundings of Holy Trinity Church Sloane Square. The ‘Vespers’ have occasioned a good deal of scholarly debate, mainly centering around how much of the work Monteverdi published he would have expected to hear i

A brief pause in my survey of Michael Raucheisen’s ‘Lied der Welt’ project to consider Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’. This temporary change of direction has been prompted by the thought that my loyal readership might appreciate a change from German lieder but also by the release of two ‘Gerontius’ related items: a new recording of the work, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, and the film ‘The Choral’, written by Alan Bennett and directed by his long-time collaborator, Nicholas

Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was, by all accounts, a rather prickly character. Photographs of him resemble one of the smaller birds of prey in a particularly angry mood, and his uncompromising attitude to music, and life in general, alienated many with whom he came into contact, notable Thomas Mann (who admired his music) and Adolf Hitler (who very definitely did not). Pfitzner eventually come to be regarded as an anti-modernist, although at the start of th

Michael Raucheisen (1889-1984) His father, by vocation a master-glazier, was organist, church choir leader and musical pedagogue. The musical development of his only son was so important to the family that they left the small town in which they lived. From 1902 Raucheisen lived in Munich, and from 1920 until the end of his pianistic activity in 1958, in Berlin. He studied at the Munich High School for Music. Around 1906 he played first violin at the Prinzregententheater and w

If my Blogs have any unifying theme, it is the relationship between words and music. To vary the mix a little, this Blog is about words on music, namely 'Leporello' by John Heath-Stubbs, which is, in my opinion, the finest English language poem with opera as its subject. It is a long poem, but I make no apology for quoting it in full. Leporello Do you see that old man over there? - He was once a gentleman's gentleman; His skull is bald and wrinkled like a leathery snake’s eg

My survey of Christmas music continues with five miniatures. They all offer a intense distillation of experiences associated with the Nativity. I suggest sampling them one at a time and sitting in silence once they have finished. Ideally, limit yourself to one piece a day. We begin with Gerald Finzi's final work, 'In Terra Pax'. This exquisite evocation of contrasting yet connected Christmas scenes is scored for chorus and orchestra, with soprano and baritone solos. The ope

Hodie ( This Day ) is a cantata by Ralph Vaughan Williams . Composed between 1953 and 1954, it is the composer's last major choral-orchestral composition, and was premiered under his baton at Worcester Cathedral , as part of the Three Choirs Festival , on 8 September 1954. The piece is dedicated to Herbert Howells . The cantata, in 16 movements, is scored for chorus , boys' choir , organ and orchestra, and features tenor , baritone , and soprano soloists.Stylistically,

BIRD/SONG Collegium Musicum of London Chamber Choir (Greg Morris conductor) Temple Church Saturday November 22 2025 I have been to a number of Coll Mus concerts, as my son Sam is a member of the tenor section. I might not be a totally disinterested party but my opinion of the high quality of this concert was so obviously shared by the large and very enthusiastic audience that I feel justified in speaking my mind... Quite simply: this is the best I have heard this choir sing

The Christmas Story ( Weihnachtshistorie ), SWV 435, is a musical setting of the Nativity in German by Heinrich Schütz , probably first performed in 1660 in Dresden . It was published as Historia der Geburt Jesu Christi ( Historia of the birth of Jesus Christ). After the grand edifices of 'Messiah' and 'Christmas Oratorio' let us turn to something shorter but no less moving. In this work of about 45 minutes, Schutz distills his material into something quite wonderfu

It's taken me a long time to realise the rather close connection Philip Larkin had with Roger McGough. At first sight, any connection seems unlikely. It is true that both are popular poets, but their readerships are probably not that closely aligned - although research might prove me wrong. Their public profiles are certainly very dissimilar: Larkin, the deeply private academic librarian writing poetry of febrile subtlety, and profound feeling, which underlines his complex, i