Giant leap into the bloggersphere

What was I thinking when I signed up for this blog? I am not a mover or shaker in the music business, nor do I lead a particularly exciting life (unless you count parenting). Fortunately I have the reviews to keep me sane, although the Aho survey nearly had the opposite effect, what with all those pesky Finnish spellings to check and double check.

I seem to have built up a backlog of discs and today have just completed a review of flute works played by Sharon Bezaly. She’s always a pleasure to hear but I’m really looking forward to the new Ashkenazy/Philharmonia DSCH 5 from Signum. I have listened to it once already and I can’t quite make up my mind about it. However I have Ashkenazy’s earlier RPO account on Decca for comparison, along with Bernstein in Tokyo (one of my first CDs) and Kondrashin on Aulos.

I manage to fit in my listening around the demands of my 11-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son, who regard Dad’s obsession with classical music with thinly disguised amusement. I have tried to interest them but as I’m sure most parents will confirm it’s a tough battle, given the all-pervasive pop. That said I did manage to get my daughter to watch Alan Yentob’s mini-profile on the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra earlier this week. I think she found it interesting; I know I did. Indeed, the SBYO must be one of the wonders of the modern classical music world. I'm happy to say their recent Fiesta disc is one of my picks for 2008 .

Looking again at my pile of discs I have to restrain myself ,as there are one or two that I’m saving ‘til later. I do try to spread them out, so that the less interesting discs are interspersed with much-anticipated ones. Which brings me back to the Shostakovich Fifth, a symphony that made quite an impression when I first heard it 30 years ago. It still has the power to overwhelm, although I suspect from a first listen this Signum disc isn’t quite in that category. But, as we all know, subsequent hearings can make all the difference.

As most of you will have guessed Mahler is something of an addiction for me and I’m following the Zinman/Tonhalle cycle with great interest (and enjoyment). The Sixth has just been released on the mainland – curiously Sony BMG release schedules mean we get these discs later than our European cousins do. Now that is a much-anticipated performance and I hope Len will allow me to review it before the year is out.

For now DSCH beckons, so I’ll leave you all in peace.