Music

[Under development: 21 May 2005]

Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall

In the summer of 1977 I attended the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, London, UK. This was for me the achievement of a minor life dream, for I had watched the event on television every year since my parents first acquired a television. I have wide ranging classical music tastes, but with a preference towards late nineteenth and early twentieth century music. When I am not listening to BBC Radio Four, I listen variously to BBC Radio Three and to Classic FM.

Unclassical Music

I was going to write that I have eclectic musical tastes, but I doubt that people whose musical tastes are genuinely eclectic would concur. I enjoy folk music, folk rock, progressive rock and some mainstream (including pop rock). I can listen to Country and Western music only while in North America, and even then only beyond cultural metropolises. I enjoy some jazz, and jazz-influenced music, such as the music of John Coltrane and Dave Brubeck, and what Norah Jones material I have heard. I adore what Van Morrison does to almost every musical genre he picks up, but frequently find unrewarding the material from which he is drawing. I regret to declare that I dislike almost everything that I hear played on BBC Radio One (and therefore do not listen to it). I know relatively little about World Music. I currently subscribe to Yahoo’s Launchcast, which provides me with a pleasant diet that satisfies my unclassical musical tastes.

  p.g.h@btinternet.com