Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover

Book Draw - Mistress of the Revolution

I would like to introduce you to a member of the family - his name is Alpaca and he has been part of our life for some thirty years now. As you can see he is pretty venerable and is suffering from thinning fur and his eyes have been sewn back in at least three times, and is beginning to show his age.  Alpaca is much loved and will always have a home with us until his fur finally disappears and his ears fall off, but we are hoping this will be a long way ahead.

As I mentioned in an earlier email, Henry has been getting a bit above himself recently, as we saw from the last draw when he got very difficult indeed, and this time has been practicing his French accent and muttering Merde under his breath at very frequent intervals, prior to the draw for Mistress of the Revolution.  I am all for a touch of verisimilitude, but felt he was going a tad too far so when Alpaca asked me if he could have a quiet word and then said he would really love to do a book draw, I realised he had been feeling left out, so agreed immediately.

So here he is making the draw and as his arms are rather short, he had to use his ears but he was thrilled to bits to pull out the name of the winner which is below.

So, Kim please send me your address and I will get this in the post to you as soon as possible.  Congratulations!

Classical Comics

It is nearly a year ago, as I have just discovered from a search on Random (gosh how time flies when you are having fun), that I mentioned I had received copies of previews of a new series of Classical Comics.  The ones sent to me were three versions of Henry V and I blogged about it here.

Karen sent me the full copies quite some time ago now and I have been shamefully remiss in not mentioning them before as I had promised to do, but the TBR pile just kept growing, like Topsy, and they ended up getting buried under the ever growing heap.  I am now talking about them because I spotted the versions of Henry V and Macbeth on the bookshelves at the Globe shop yesterday.  There had obviously been a full pile there but it had thinned considerably and only one copy of HV left and a few of Macbeth.  I was delighted to see them in such a prominent position and note that they were selling well.  I am sure there are Shakespeare lovers who will turn their noses up at these publications, but I am not one of them.

I am speaking as one who did not watch or listen to any Shakespeare for over  30 years as I found it all soooo boring and I lay this squarely at the feet of my teachers and the incredibly dull and unimaganitive way Will was taught at my school.  My feelings about my convent school and the standards of teaching there are well known to regular bloggers so I will not bore you again. 

I rediscovered Shakespeare just a few years ago and after watching the school parties at the Globe on Friday, I felt envious that I had not had the same experience as they. All those years wasted.  I mentioned in my earlier post that I hate using the word 'accessible' as I think this is an ideal that can lead to serious dumbing down (witness the new presentation of the First Night of the Proms which I dare not start on about otherwise this computer screen will implode), but in this case, if these books make Shakespeare more accessible than I am all for it.  They come in full text or plain text with the same wonderfully drwan illustrations throughout and I can highly recommend them.

On checking their website www.classicalcomics.com I note that coming up are Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol.

Great stuff.

The Globe Theatre

Yes, that is where I went yesterday and that is where I spent a simply wonderful afternoon watching a matinee performance of the Merry Wives of Windsor and I think I can safely say I have not laughed so much for ages.  My friend Linda and I were in the top gallery, front row seat, from where we had a wonderful view of all that was going on, could look down on the groundlings and would have been in a perfect position to chuck fruit and veg if we had not liked the play.  I simply adore going to the Globe. It has the most wonderful atmosphere, everyone who is there is expecting to have a jolly good time and to be thoroughly entertained, and they are.  The afternoon performance of MWOW was sold out as was the evening performance of King Lear.  Some members of the audience I got chatting to were going to both. This wonderful theatre receives not a penny piece in subsidy from anybody and I cannot help but be thankful for this, no government set targets to meet, no inclusivity, no ethic minorities that they have to allow for and keep happy - and the odd thing is that this theatre probably does all that without even thinking.  The place was simply heaving with people, vast amount of whom were under the age of thirty with loads of teenagers and school trips in evidence, and all having a hoot.

Christopher Benjamin, who I used to meet years ago as a reader when I worked at Highgate Library and who was in the Forsyte Saga (the first series) at the time, was Falstaff and was very very funny and, at the end, when he is brought to book for all his misdemeanours, quite touching.  The entire cast was solid and acted beautifully, even the 'rude mechanicals. who I normally find singularly unfunny in all Shakespeare's plays, whose comic timing was spot on.

Star of the show, however, which I am not sure was intended, was not Falstaff but Master Ford,  the jealous husband played by Andrew Havill, one of those actors whose face is familiar and who is always around, but never lauded.  Five minutes into the play, everyone suddenly twigged that he had based his characterisation on Basil Fawlty as created by the wonderful John Cleese. The expressions, the furious shaking of fists behind people's backs, the walk, everything.  Slightly puzzled by this, though it worked simply amazingly well, until I happened to open my programme in the interval and came across an article 'To the Manner Born' in which The Merry Wives is likened to a sitcom and there was a picture of Basil Fawlty himself.  Not sure that purists would approve but I, and everyone else in the Globe, simply loved it.  I would say that when he came to take his bow the applause was loud enough to take the roof off, but as the Globe does not posses one this would prove a tad difficult....

Before the play started I fell into conversation with two very nice ladies who persuaded me, with no difficulty whatsoever, to become a Friend of the Globe.  £38 a year and then realized that with my now available concession, it was £30 so no argument really.  This gives me advance booking, free entry to the permanent exhibition and tours of the Globe, 10% off at the shop etc etc.  I thought this was jolly good value for money and was leaving to go into the theatre when I was called back 'oh and as this is the 21st year of the Friends and as you have joined today, here is a gift for you'  and I was handed a box in which resided a Friends of the Globe mug.

Just what I needed.

Guess where I went today?

The other fifty....

This took me a little longer, but here we go:

1. I love Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies
2. I love Doris Day movies
3. I love Hollywood musicals particularly those starring Gene Kelly
4. I was once caught in a thunderstorm on Bondi Beach and danced all the way up my street giving a performance of Singing in the Rain and did not realise until I arrived back at my flat that I was being watched by some 50 people sheltering under a shop awning
5. I cannot play any sort of musical instrument - totally useless and I have tried
6. I cannot speak any languages for same reason - totally useless and I have tried, really I have
7. I adore (in no particular order):  Alan Rickman, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Colin Firth (of course), Ion Gruffydd (Hornblower), Richard Armitage
8. I once sat next to Jose Carreras in the Covent Garden canteen and shared a salt cellar with him as we ate fish and chips (well at least he did, I was too busy gawping)
9. I once bumped into Alan Rickman at Kings Cross Station and he smiled at me (I did not smile back as I was too busy gawping)
10. I once bumped into Omar Shariff (many years ago now) and he smiled at me (I did not smile back as I was too busy gawping)
11. I love tennis and used to go to Wimbledon a lot and saw on the Centre Court Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, Nastase, Borg, McEnroe and other assorted luminaries
12. I once had a dreadful attack of hay fever during a match on Centre Court and as I was close to the service line, the player (one Manuel Santana, last Spanish player until Nadal to win the trophy), stopped and smiled at me and said Bless you.  I was deeply embarrassed but have loved him ever since
13. I love cricket - used to loathe it until the niceties of it were explained to me by the cricket addicted father of a friend when we were both confined to the house, yes, hay fever again, no getting away from it, and watched cricket all day.  Now I never miss watching a match if possible.
14. My two daughters also adore cricket having sat through Botham's Ashes when they were small
15. I learned my secretarial skills on an old Imperial 70
16. I thought an electric typewriter was the height of sophistication
17. I suffered acute shock on returning to work after ten years and two children and finding out I needed to learn how to work a computer
18. I have just bought a brand new 80gb iPod and am having enormous fun loading it up with all the music I love so think perhaps I have come to grips with new technology
19. I hope
20. I love Kit Kats and when I was first pregnant ate at least one a day though that was probably more an excuse rather than a craving
21. I love peanuts but cannot have them in the house as I cannot rest until they are all gone so don't buy them
22. I have lost my taste for alcohol as I have got older though I can still enjoy the odd glass of wine
23. I love fresh crusty bread and a strong cheddar - bliss
24. I have a childish love for Kraft Dairylea cheese triangles and have been known to eat a whole box at one sitting
25. I hate Starbucks coffee and think it is tasteless
26. I love the coffee at Costa
27. I love tea and drink at least 15 cups a day and yes I know that it is loaded with caffeine and I should not drink so much so no need to write and tell me
28. I love digestive biscuits and always dunk them in my tea
29. I love chocolate digestive biscuits and always dunk them in my tea - this can of course mean that the chocolate melts and you have to be careful but they are lovely this way
30. I used to run a catering business and ran a small restaurant in an art gallery.  I baked two large quiches every day; I made a vat of home made soup every day; baked at least three cakes every day and many more
31. I hardly cook at all now
32. I love daffodils and tulips and they cheer the soul
33. Orchids always have an evil look to them as far as I am concerned
34. In the sixties I had mini-skirts and boots and thought I was cool
35. In the seventies I wore flared trousers with turn ups and thought I was cool
36. In the eighties I went to work booted and suited with a perm and shoulder pads and thought I was cool
37. In the nineties I strived for elegance and cut back on fashionable dressing
38. And now I wear comfortable shoes because of my bunions and clothes that make me feel relaxed
39. I snore
40. So I have been told
41. I have two teddy bears on my bed and a little blue rabbit called Alpaca which belonged to my younger daughter and now I look after him
42. I wear a large yellow t-shirt to bed which I bought in Atlanta ages ago - it is hideous but comfortable
43. I save my glamorous nighties for more appropriate occasions which I am not going to discuss here
44. Oh dear I am running out of things - seven more to go
45. I only wear pink lipstick and have about twenty in my make up drawer all various shades of, well, pink
46. I hate housework and now have a cleaner
47. I am mindful of the planet and the need to save water so only wash up every other day
48. I write this blog - every day if I can and have done so for two years now
49. I have many wonderful friends whom I have met through Random Jottings
50. I am in a very serene and happy time of my life

And I have thoroughly enjoyed this exercise and hope you have laughed along with me.

Thanks and Prize Draws

Thank you to everyone who has visited and left messages on my first half of 100 Things about me which made me giggle when I started listing all these daft and silly things - the other 50 is nearly done though I feel I might be scraping the bottom of the barrel with these - we shall see.

This is to remind everyone that the draw for Mistress of the Revolution will take place this Sunday.  Henry, Henri, is getting in full Gallic mode and has been annoying me all week by muttering Libertie! Fraternite! Egalite! at regular intervals and has taken to eating lots of Brie with disastrous results on his digestive system so shall be glad when this is done.  If you have not put your name down in the comments section on the post please do so here.

I have two more books lined up, from nice kind lovely publishers, and next draw will be very soon so keep an eye out for it.  It is a book I have already burbled about and think is wonderful and I am going to burble some more, so be warned.

Vocal upgrade

Susan raised a query in a comment to my previous post 100 Things etc when I mentioned that my ex husband used to be a baritone.  I hasten to add that I did not do a 'bobbit' on him though this change in vocal style did occur just six months after we were married...

Patrick had a very lovely baritone voice, but it was a light and fairly high one and some of the baritone roles he was singing, or the baritone solos in oratorios etc did not sit well for him, the lower range was not strong.  I told him that in my humble opinion, he was a tenor with an underlying lower register and why not give it a bash?    He gradually began to sing tenor roles, going to singing lessons all the while, and the voice began to assume the brightness of a tenor.  He has been a tenor every since.

This upgrading of a voice is not unusual.  Placido Domingo was a baritone before he became the glorious singer we know and love and I have always felt that this underlying baritonal quality has given his voice     the bottom it needs. An example of this, and one I mentioned in my post on Don Carlos, was that this was a role that suited Placido well because of this attribute and that Rolando Villazon should not be attempting it.  Jose Carreras was rather taken over by Karajan early in his career and, in my opinion, dazzled him somewhat - difficult to resist a superstar conductor such as him - but I think he did Jose a disservice in that he gave him heavier roles to sing which did not help his voice at all.  By the time Jose had essayed Radames in Aida (which he should never have attempted) his wonderful golden tenor was showing the strain.  I saw Placido have difficulty with Radames once as well, it is a killer of a sing.

Another instance of upgrading, though in this case from mezzo to soprano, is that of Joan Sutherland. She had been firmly taught that she was a mezzo but her husband, Richard Boynge, disagreed and while he was giving her singing lessons would gradually transpose arias and scales so that she was singing higher than she thought she was!   Of course, she had the most glorious coloratura voice as we know, and again her voice was well supported by her mezzo qualities.

Now, we have the other way round.  Maria Callas had a sensational but short lived career because of an almost frightening disregard for her vocal health, hurling herself, literally in the case of Tosca, into everything. This made her one of the most exciting singers of all time but the voice began to show this lack of care. Towards the end of her career she sang Eboli (Don Carlos), and Carmen - these are roles traditionally sung by a mezzo but suited her voice then.  I even have a record of her singing the Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde which is an oddity but wonderful.

Last week on YouTube I saw a wonderful video of the Baritone/Tenor duet from the first act of Don Carlos sung by Villazon and Domingo with Placido taking the baritone part. It sounded magnificent.  Villazon's lighter tenor (somebody tell him to do Donizetti for heaven's sake) blended beautifully with Domingo's darker tones.  If I was being fanciful I would say Villazon was a glass of Chianti and Domingo a full bodied claret.

OK well I am sure you now know more about tenor/baritones etc than you really wanted to know, but I have enjoyed writing about it and it gives me an excuse to put in a couple of pics of the lovely Jose and the sexy Placido.

Who said opera was all about voice only......?

100 Things about me (well fifty) - if you are interested...

Have just read 100 Things About Me on other blogs, including Stuck in a Book, so thought I would have a bash. Anybody not interested, and I won't blame you if you are not, switch off the computer NOW...

1. My name is Elaine Simpson-Long
2. In my life, with marriages and divorces, my names have been Elaine Long, Elaine Shaw, Elaine Simpson-Long, Elaine McCarthy and then back to Elaine Simpson-Long
3. Bank manager once rang me up to ask if I was going to change my name again as they were running out of cheque books........
4. No secret that I am now an officially registered OAP but don't feel like one
5. I have no intention of behaving like one either
6. I have two gorgeous daughters
7. I am now a mother in law as one daughter got married last year, just in case there is anybody in blogdom who was not bombarded with posts about it or missed the odd occasion I mentioned it
8. I have now lived on my own for nearly ten years and love it, apart from now and then when I am feeling poorly and would love somebody to make me a cup of tea
9. ...or when I spot a spider and know that I cannot scream for help because nobody will come
10. .. or when my upstairs neighbour floods me out, which he has now done three times - last occasion I made him come downstairs after emptying out his overflowing bath tub  and mop up my kitchen floor and I stood over him while he did it
11. I am a PA and work for a law firm in the city
12. I worked for another law firm in the city up to last year when I finally threw in the towel after working for the Boss from Hell for 8 years and suffered a mini-breakdown
13. I now work for A Very Nice Boss indeed
14. I was an army child and spent my childhood living in Malta, Egypt and Cyprus
15. Then came home and lived in Newcastle and over one winter my blonde hair turned dark brown and I have been trying to become a blonde again ever since with varying results
16. I went to a convent school and hated it so much I walked out half way through taking my A levels
17. I took my A levels at evening classes several years later and enjoyed them so much more
18. I was a total Beatles fan in the sixties (still am) and went to some of their concerts, total waste of time as could not hear a thing because of the noise (I did not scream)
19. I was viewed as a dork at school as I loved reading and classical music. Not even my addiction to the Beatles balanced this out
20. I went to my first Prom concert when I was 13 at the Albert Hall, was instantly smitten and for the following 20 years attended regularly, most years with a season ticket and went to every single concert
21. My daughters attended their first proms at age 13 and 15 respectively and it was a wonderful feeling to stand in the arena at the Albert Hall in the same place where I used to stand at their age and have them with me
22. I presented Sir Malcolm Sargent with a present from the Prommers on his 70th birthday in front of a packed Albert Hall.  I had to walk down a long flight of stairs onto the stage and was petrified I would fall over
23. I have attended many Last Night of the Prom concerts and nothing beats bellowing out Rule Brittania and then Jerusalem at the end
24. My ex husband took over the baritone role (this was before he became a tenor) at a live performance of Carmina Burana at the Proms some 30 years ago now when Thomas Allen collapsed and had to be carted off the stage.  Andre Previn was conducting and Patrick went on and finished the performance. 
25. I used to sing in a choir and have sung the Messiah, Elijah, Verdi Requiem, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Berllioz Te Deum, Dream of Gerontius, Carmina Burana by Orff, and many other pieces
26. I no longer sing in a choir as my ex now conducts every local choir for a distance of 40 miles and not sure he would like his ex turning up in the first sopranos so now just sing in the bath instead
27. I adore opera
28. I am a Wagner fan but try to balance this out with other music as I have met obsessive fans of the aforesaid composer and they are all slightly mental
29. I love classical music and Beethoven is the one composer I could not do without.
30. I find most of Bach tedious and have had to defend this position against rants from irate musicians all my life
31. I love travelling and in my life have visited Egypt, Malta, Cyprus, Spain (many times), Italy (several times Venice is my most favourite place in the world), Balieric Isles, Turkey, Fiji, Singapore, travelled up the Panama Canal, Australia (where I lived and worked in Sydney for two years many moons ago), New Zealand, USA (mainly the big cities) but visited in Vermont and New Hampshire for the Fall Foliage, France, Greece and the Greek Islands, Tunisia, Canary Islands.
32. In the UK my favourite places to visit are the Lake District and Yorkshire - I know there are many other wonderful parts of the country but these are my most loved
33. I cannot remember when I could not read - my mother says I started very early
34. I am a very fast reader for which I am most thankful
35. I can read a straightforward thriller in an hour
36. Teachers at school did not believe I could read quickly and when I told my English teacher I had finished Bleak House (in 3 days) she told me that was impossible and made me read it again which I did and loved it all over again.
37. I have just come back from a week's holiday where I read 11 books
38. This is not a boast as they were relaxing reading and easy to get through
39. I love Victorian literature, always have done ever since I was a child
40. I have all of the output of Anthony Trollope on my shelves and am working my way through them
41. I have multiple copies of books I love which most of my family and friends think is potty
42. Well they are wrong
43. I love reading children's literature with Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden and Winnie the Pooh high on the list of favourites
44. I have never read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe but hopefully I will have done by next week
45. If a book is on the Booker long or short list I avoid it like the plague - no need to write in and harangue me it has already been done by others - many times
46. I love historical novels
47. I love historical biography - my favourite period being Victorian
48. I am a Bronte fiend and have been since I read A Man of Sorrow a biography of Patrick Bronte some forty years ago
49. I have visited Haworth many times and will be doing so again later on this year
50. I am now going away to do the other 50 things about me if I can dredge up some more and will allow you all to recover and lie down in a darkened room.  This is a truly wonderful egoistical exercise!!!!

Things to Come

Good thing about Amazon is the fact that they latch onto previous purchases and then tell you what is coming up, though sometimes I am amazed at what they recommend 'because you looked at this' as there are occasions when there seems to be no link whatsoever.  If I look at a box set of Beethoven symphonies why should they think I would be interested in El Divo or Andre Botticelli (both of whom I have no desire to ever hear or see again)?  I am assuming this comes under the heading 'classical' and that is that.

Diversion here:  this has set off a train of thought and I remembered an incident when I was pregnant with my first child and attending my clinic at a large London hospital, and a nurse asked me what was my husband's profession.  At the time it was 'opera singer' and that is what I replied. She seemed quite taken with this and after a few seconds silence told me 'I had a woman in here the other week who was a belly dancer'.................Still trying to work that one out 30 years later.

OK I digress.  Have been checking out what is coming up and delighted to see that  we   have a new Ruth Rendell, not a Wexford, which is a pity as I am very fond of him, but I know this will be good.  Also, a new one under the name of Barbara Vine.  When I first started reading Mrs R some years ago now, there was a definite difference between the type of book written under her two names, but now they seem to be getting closer and closer and not quite so much clear blue water between them (apologies for the over used cliche).  Both go on my list.

And then a new PD James coming up which is a treat of the highest order as each book is always so concisely and densely written and I love Adam Dalgliesh and hope that Baroness James manages to stay well and healthy for a long long time to come so that we are not deprived of this annual pleasure.  I was watching an episode of the 80's tv series the other day and do much prefer it to the latest version with Martin Shaw as Dalglish, who I think is a seriously over rated actor.  He has now surfaced as another detective on TV, Inspector Gently, and caught a bit of it the other night.  His range of facial expressions runs the gamut from A-B (pace Dorothy Parker).  Looks as if, thank goodness, there are no further episodes of PD James in which he is involved coming up. Fingers crossed.  (However, we do have Julie Mckenzie as Miss Marple hoving into view soon, no doubt as part of the New Autumn Schedule, not sure I am particularly looking forward to this one either).

Away from 'teckery, I note that Amanda Grange has another one of her 'Diaries' on the way.  This time is the Diary of Colonel Brandon and as I love these and have bought the entire series so far, this has gone on my pre-order Amazon list.  Will be interesting to hear his views on Mrs Jennings et al.

I have also just discovered Mavis Cheek as I was given a present for my birthday of her latest, Amenable Women, featuring a wife who is now a widow and secretly rather glad to see the back of her husband, and who starts researching the life of Anne of Cleves and I am finding it quietly witty and rather fun.  Review to follow. Of course I have now checked out this author and find that she has written quite a few so these are on my wish list for the f