• Proof-reading bloopers (BBC Music Mag)

Where’s a musically literate editor when you need one?  Here’s a panel from the September issue of the BBC Music Magazine, where Paul Watkins is interviewed in advance of the release of his recording with the BBC SO under Edward Gardner of Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto and Grave (Chandos CHSA 5106).  I spotted the glaring transcription error (line 6), but my friend John Fallas spotted the funnier typographical one (line 9).  Depressingly sloppy copy.

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• On What Would Have Been His 78th Birthday

On what would have been Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s 78th birthday, his daughter Anna has sent me a photograph of his newly installed gravestone (nagrobek).  One of the words which I have long used to describe his music is ‘granitic’, so I am fascinated by the sculptural use of this material above what looks like a smooth, dark-slate grave cover.  It conveys the character of the man and his creative outlook brilliantly: rugged, imposing and unconventional, yet warm-hearted, touching and touchable.

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