Though April showers may come your way

April: the story so far:

Sunday 1^st

Glasgow City Council decided to try again and resurface my street. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell the company that they were hiring the machinery from. They also forgot to tell First Buses to put the buses back on, so I had to sit and watch TV as Celtic beat St. Johnstone at home to go within one point of clinching the title.

Wednesday 4^th

I was still packing about ten minutes before I had to leave home and catch a bus into town to take the overnight coach to London (see True Adventures for details).

Saturday 7^th

In the midst of Wednesday's packing panic, I forgot to set the Sky+ box to record the Kilmarnock-Celtic game. Just to spite me, Celtic scored 6 goals without reply and played some wonderful football to win the league before the SPL split. Apparently.

Sunday 8^th

Got home just after 8am and went for the Three Bs; breakfast, bath, bed. When I got up around 3:30, with my legs like tree trunks (fucking Megabus), I discovered that there had a been a domestic in my absence.

Monday 9^th

Washing, shopping, more washing.

Friday 13^th

Unlucky for some, particularly me, as I had to go to work. Had to rush home and pack for my next trip out.

Saturday 14^th

Loaded up the car and headed for Lancashire for more True Adventures.

Monday 16^th

Flooded the bathroom after I left the tap running whilst I went to tidy the stuff I’d  removed from the car.

Tuesday 17^th

Washing, shopping and more washing (again) followed by the first rehearsal of the new term. Humourless and selfish fellow clarinettist (a rare beast) left me without a part for the new piece we were working on; the ‘Grande Valse Brillante’ by Chopin, arranged by Stravinsky (there just had to be a twist to it). Further news emerged about the shambles that was the application process in March.

Thursday 19^th

Attended the final concert of the BBC SSO’s 2011-12 season, and what a way to finish. I was sitting in the back row of the Balcony, and had an unobstructed view of the stage. The concert opened with soloist Jennifer Pike playing the ‘Sonata For Unaccompanied Violin, BWV1001’ by J.S. Bach, then the orchestra chipped in with Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 4. This tired out the audience so much that it began to disperse for the interval however, we still had ‘The Lark Ascending’ to come. Embarrassed, people sat down again as Jennifer Pike returned. It is so easy to drift away during this piece. Not only does this do a great disservice to the soloist but it also tends to reinforce the description of RVW’s output as ‘cowpat music’. However, it’s not his fault, or that of the players and conductors involved. The blame can be laid firmly at the door of Classic FM and its obsession with charts and over-playing certain pieces, and this fucking ‘Hall of Fame’ shit.

The second half of the concert was given over to the 5^th Symphony and here I was on more familiar ground, as I have heard this symphony more than all of his others put together. It was a triumphal end to the Thursday Night Series, and must have left the capacity crowd wanting more. I am curious to discover how Manze, the BBC SSO and the City Halls will cope with ‘A Sea Symphony’ and how long we will have to wait to see it performed.

Friday 20^th

I became the owner of a Kindle, and proceeded to download some free books from the Amazon website, including a version of ‘The Duchess of Malfi’, which I am going to see in a couple of weeks time.

Saturday 21^st

Went for a haircut, followed by much running around all over the place, and another M&S ‘collect by car’ cock-up. I despair sometime, I really do. Spent the afternoon trying to recover from a very (self-induced) stressful morning.

My first RSNO concert of this season (better late than never) turned out to be a gem. In front of an almost packed Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and conducted by the legendary Neeme Jȁrvi, the orchestra delighted the audience with ‘Where the Wild Thyme Blows’ by obscure Scottish composer John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948), Beethoven’s 2^nd Piano Concerto (soloist Christian Blackshaw) and a magnificent performance of Sibelius’ 1^st Symphony. The second half was well worth the ticket price alone, and it was followed by one of the most joyful encores I have had the pleasure of hearing; the March from ‘Boccaccio’ by Franz von Suppe. I can’t imagine my next RSNO concert will have such a happy ending.

Sunday 22^nd

Slow day, and noisy, too, as the workmen turned up to fix the road (again). Celtic won 3-0 at Motherwell, and young Tony Watt had a dream debut, scoring two of them.

Here’s hoping that the rest of the month is like the end of March; tropical temperatures and a distinct lack of hailstones.