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

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Programa de Festival Internacional de Piano, Denia

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Saturday, November 16, 2024

Helsinki Philharmonic under Saraste play a Sibelius programme

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  Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra in a program devoted to the music of Sibelius. Now a Finnish conductor w...
Friday, November 8, 2024

Shunta Morimoto at the Denia International Piano Festival in Bach, Chopin and Liszt

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  I don ’ t normally write detailed reviews of chamber music concerts. It ’ s not because they often aren’t memorable, it ’ s just that I te...
Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Shunta Morimoto plays in Denia, 7 November 2024, 8pm, Teatro Centro Social

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Monday, October 28, 2024

Mahler Seven by the Tonhalle Zurich under Paavo Jarvi in ADDA Alicante

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A concert program that devotes 77 minutes to a single work is not commonly encountered. Yes, there are the symphonies of Mahler and Bruckner...
Saturday, October 19, 2024

Paquito D'Rivera and Aaron Copland under Jost Vicent in Adda, Alicante

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Apparently, this was a program of two halves. Meaningless phrases are always the best openings… On the face of it, the first half of this co...
Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Programa de mano Denia 3 oct 2024

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About Me

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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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