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

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

A Month in Yorkshire by Walter White

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A Month in Yorkshire by Walter White is a superb book. First published in 1861, it was one of the first travel books designed for a new ki...

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

A Journey to Crete, Constantinople, Naples and Florence - Three Months Abroad by Anna Vivanti

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A Journey to Crete, Constantinople, Naples and Florence - Three Months Abroad by Anna Vivanti was published, originally for private circulat...

Saturday, June 8, 2024

73 poems by e e cummings

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poetry:to me is about passing images that sometimes stick but often pass by only to return un:announced when le ast expected ...

Thursday, May 30, 2024

The Work Of Nations by Robert B Reich

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The Work Of Nations by Robert B Reich was published in 1991, written, therefore, prior to that year. In the book, the author describes the r...

Saturday, May 18, 2024

ADDA Simfonica with Irene Theorin under Josep Vicent in Strauss and Shostakovich

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Concerts seasons often parade a procession of “great works” calculated to promote ticket sales. Anything less well known is often regarded...

Sunday, May 5, 2024

A dream of a concert: Tomas Brauner and Senja Rummukainen join ADDA Simfonica in Smetana, Prokofiev and Martinu

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“Such stuff as dreams are made on, we are all spirits and are melted into air” are words that ought to remind us of the ephemeral, temporal ...

Sunday, April 28, 2024

The Philharmonia with Suzuki and Queyras in Schumann and Dvorak - another case of "no superlatives"

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Some time ago, for a review of the concert in Alicante’s ADDA auditorium, I used the headline “No superlatives”. I chose the words not becau...

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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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