A Touch of Culture

The concert season has started at Keele University.  Last week we attended the first of seven Autumn Term concerts organised by the Keele Concert Society. The programme was Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibiton followed by Mahler's 4th Symphony.  I knew the first piece, but the Mahler was new to me and not at all what I expected, but much lighter.

The players were an ensemble of players from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) and the concert took place in the University Chapel, the shape of building enhancing the sounds. The musicians certainly got the season off to a good start.

The wooden benches in the chapel are hard to sit on for long periods - we've been to concerts at this venue before - but the solution to the problem was simple - I took a cushion.

The following evening friend V and I went to the cinema to see a recording of  Hamlet, which is currently being staged at the Barbican in London.  The leading role is played by Benedict Cumberbatch (he of Sherlock Holmes fame), so not surprisingly, at the Barbican, performances are sold out and only returns are available as they occur.

It is so much easier, and very much cheaper, to see live or recorded performances just a few miles from home, that V and I  are becoming regulars at these performances and before Christmas we have planned to see three more performances - another Shakespeare, a Gilbert and Sullivan Opera and a Ballet.

An Autumn Stroll

The weather has been fine for the last few days and according to the weather forecast is set to stay that way for a couple of weeks yet.
On Sunday afternoon daughter and I went for a stroll in the pleasant autumn sunshine and spent a couple of hours walking the local footpaths.  There were so many signs of autumn that I took photos to share.

At the end of the road, a shrub full of autumn colour.

The trees beginning to change colour

Elderberries - the birds haven't found this tree.

A path through the trees

Fungi

Blackberries still need to ripen

Waiting for dinner

High stripey clouds

Not quite as tall as the sweetcorn in Ohio!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An evening out

On Thursday, friend V and I , went to the pictures to see a broadcast, live from the Vaudeville Theatre, London, of 'The Importance of being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde. 
For the cost of a cinema ticket we had a really good view of the play and enjoyed being able to see close-ups of the actors - we'd have needed theatre glasses to get such close-ups if we had been at the Vaudeville Theatre.  Seeing live broadcasts means we can afford to see many more shows than if we had had to travel, usually to London, where even the cheapest theatre seats are expensive, and then probably needing hotel accommodation.
This particular production was special because the part of Lady Bracknell was played by actor David Suchet, who is very famous as the character Hercule Poirot, taking the lead in each one of Agatha Christie's Poirot stories, filmed for television, over a period of several years.
When it came to the curtain call, he curtseyed so elegantly, he could have been presented to the Queen.