Philip Spires commonplace book

I have kept a commonplace book for many years. It's a place where scraps of impressions are filed for future reflection. It's not a diary, it's just a mental scrapbook, concentrating on book reviews, concert reviews, visual arts and some occasional pieces on travel. It is also a place where I occasionally reflect on what I write. Details of my books can be found at http://www.philipspires.co.uk

Showing posts with label beethoven. Show all posts

Monday, April 22, 2024

ADDA Simfonica and Trio Vibrart in Beethoven

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Again the program looked familiar. The only thing that appeared not to be predictable was the playing. And on that score, the ADDA orchestra...

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Something special - Pablo González, Francesco Piemontesi and the Dresden Philharmonic in Beethoven and Strauss

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Something special was experienced by the ADDA audience last night. On the face of it, the concert was almost conventional, as concerts somet...

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Josep Vicent conducts Beethoven and Montsalvatge in Alicante

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Beethoven ’ s Ninth Symphony is one of those works I can hear anytime I want. I play it to myself in my head - at least, I think I do. It ...

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Programa 13 de diciembre Festival de Piano de Denia - Tsisana Kikabidze tocará Beethoven, Liszt, Bartok y Rachmaninov

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Friday, April 28, 2023

Pinchas Zuckerman with the Sinfonia Varsovia in Penderecki, Schubert and Beethoven – a real delicacy

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The word “delicacy” can mean many things. It can signify refinement in a personality, something good to eat, or describe something too fragi...

Monday, October 3, 2022

Orchestra La Scala Milan under Riccardo Chailly in Alicante's ADDA

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A program juxtaposing two first symphonies has to invite comparison. When those first symphonies are those of Ludwig van Beethoven and Gus...

Saturday, April 9, 2022

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Adam Fischer, Elisabeth Leonskaja and the Dusseldorf Symphoniker in Beethoven and Mahler in Alicante's ADDA

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I have seldom had the privilege of participating in a concert audience that showed their appreciation with such heartfelt enthusiasm. At t...

Monday, December 14, 2020

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Mariozzi-Mariozzi-Rucli in Brahms, Beethoven and Rota and Palomares-Espi in Musica Iberoamericano

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Live music in December 2020 is probably not the commonest of commodities wherever you live. In our corner of south-east Spain, we have some....

Monday, December 10, 2007

Costa Blanca Arts Update - Interpretation perfected by presentation – the Berlin Mendelssohn Trio in Palau Altea, Altea, Spain

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One of the great, even reassuring, things about what the CD shops ignorantly label “Classical Music” is its freedom, its liberality, its dem...

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About Me

philipspires: I was born in Wakefield and was brought up in Sharslton, a mining Village. I went to London University and then became a maths teacher, working initially as a volunteer teacher in Kenya. I spent sixteen years in London, in Balham and Islington. In 1992, I left Britain for Brunei and then Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. I currently live in La Nucia, near Benidorm in Spain. I am interested in the relationship between nature and nurture, birthright and experience. Themes of culture and identity and their relation to economic and social roles underpin my writing. What we are born into relates to what we become, but we are rarely in control. What others do, our interests and intellects and the way we choose to earn a living, all of these shape us into what we become. It may be that culture is the sum of all assumptions that others make on our behalf, whereas identity represents our reactions to them. I did a PhD on the effects of education in economic development in the Philippines. I was President of Alfas del Pi Music Society for twelve years.

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