It was raining here in Lewes, UK, this morning and the sky was angry and dark. Great I thought, I can stay in and do indoor things, weekend, lazy, self-indulgent things. My gym schedule rules that I shouldn’t do any exercise this weekend and the weather is telling me to do what I wanted to do anyway. I have plans for a musical weekend in the company of Johannes Brahms and Rufus Wainwright.
Brahms Symphony No. 1 is my current study piece as it is the jewel in the crown of the year 1876 on my long journey through the history of music and, thanks to a friend, I have now got the recording made by james Levine with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s. I loved this on LP but haven’t heard it for twenty years until now as it is unavailable in the UK. I’m loving it just as I did then but a little bit more maybe coming to it in chronological order.
I’m amazed i hadn’t come across Rufus Wainwright’s double album Want before. I know some of his songs and admire him as a songwriter so getting to know Want is going to be the other side of my indulgent weekend. Annoyingly though, the sun has just come out.
More of Brahms’ First to come but, for now, here’s Rufus Wainwright:
Meanwhile, I’m getting into gear for the imminent publication (in October) of my novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.
You can already pre-order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:
http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm
…or from Book Depository:
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070
…or from Amazon: