I'll stir-fry you in my wok

Trust ClassicFM to capture the zeitgeist. There I was, driving along Cathedral Street, when what comes on the radio but the ‘Romance’ from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor K466. You know the one; do-do de do de-do de do de do, etc. ‘What’s the problem with that?’, I hear you say. Well, I was on my way home from the City Halls after a Scottish Chamber Orchestra concert which featured this piece, played the American pianist, Jonathan Biss (who happens to be the grandson of the woman for whom Samuel Barber wrote his Cello Concerto).  The orchestra, under the baton of young Czech conductor Jakub Hrusa, began with Dvorak’s Czech Suite, Op. 39, the reason why I was attending the concert in the first place, and finished with Beethoven’s Symphony No.2, a work with which I am barely familiar. This was my first (and last) SCO concert of this season, and I suspect I will have missed more inspiring programmes. It was a good concert, but nothing spectacular. The SCO doesn’t have whatever the BBC SSO has, but my ears are always glad of it.

It wasn’t all music. Earlier in the day, I stopped off at Glasgow Green for a look at Jeremy Deller’s Stonehenge bouncy castle

When I arrived, people of all ages and many nationalities were sampling its delights, but I was more interested in the neighbours

I found the rules rather restrictive, and more than a little disturbing

I don’t even wander round my own house without shoes on; padding about in a public place in my socks is near the top of my list of life’s icky experiences. My fears were realised when I accidentally stood in a puddle, but I just had to put it to the back of my mind and enjoy the work as best as I could. We’re meant to learn something from art, aren’t we? Well, I realised that I can’t lift both feet off the ‘ground’ at the same time, so I couldn’t jump like everyone else seemed to be able to do. I tried trotting around it, a bit like Miranda Hart probably would, and I did a comedy fall; again, much like Miranda might. This allowed me to take a photo lying down. 

Soon, it was time to retrieve my shoes and head home, but not before I went to see the horses again.

A quick walk along to the restored Doulton Fountain opposite the People’s Palace convinced me that I should come back another day, when the light was more suitable for photographs. The museum and the fountain will still be there, but Deller’s installation will be long gone; proof, if proof were needed, of the ephemeral nature of modern art.

Finally, the sad news broke yesterday of the death of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, at the age of 47. I was never a big fan, but, through seeing some of their clever and funny videos on MTV over the years, I grew quite fond of a few of their tracks, not least Sabotage and Intergalactic. Enjoy.