Transporting music

Image: On the South Downs Way. Malcolm Oakley. Wikimedia Commons RICHARD DOVE savours the sounds of Ed Hughes and Airat Ichmouratov On a couple of occasions, I have cycled across the South Downs, and even managed (once) the slow climb up Ditchling Beacon. I should have had Ed Hughes’ music to accompany me. It would have made…

Prom perfection

Image: Wikimedia Commons RICHARD DOVE relives a wonderful Last Night For some it is all about vexillology.  For some the study of the flags being waved defined the evening. For the Daily Mail, the plentiful EU flags were a clear and obvious betrayal of Brexit. But they chose not to notice the quite resplendent union…

Good times in Kent

Photo: Drew de F Fawkes. Wikimedia Commons RICHARD DOVE cavorts to Chic at Rochester Castle In this year’s Grammy Awards, Nile Rodgers received the rare and prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. He told us last night (6 July) that whilst very honoured, it implies a career end and he announced: “He ain’t done yet.” On cue,…

Basso profundo

Image: Wikimedia Commons RICHARD DOVE is bedazzled by a phenomenal bassist Being a virtuoso musician presents a fresh set of responsibilities. You can play anything at any tempo, and you do. The results are not always, shall we say, rewarding and affecting. That could not be said for bassist Shri Sriram and his quartet at…

Splendid Sun King

Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their children. Image: Wikimedia Commons RICHARD DOVE revels in Akhnaten at the ENO “The thing about Philip Glass is that there’s so much repetition.” A friend pronounces his verdict. Well, yes, but what repetition. The ENO revival in association with LA Opera with the third of Glass’s so-called ‘portrait’ operas, Akhnaten, is…

An older New Romantic

PHOTO BY GIORGIO ERRIQUEZCommons.Wikimedia RICHARD DOVE drops back into the Eighties with one of the era’s great singers Anthony Patrick Hadley has an MBE and a voice from the Gods. He has forged a forty-year career in the skittish world of pop music and, by last night’s (5 May) showing, is still going strong. At…