Andrew Morris

Here is the first part of my unfinished Shostakovich graphic novel. There are no pictures; it's just the text. If you want a look, look now because I might change my mind and remove it. devilstrillblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/sleepi…

@RichardBratby I still do that tbf

@devilstrillblog I started listening to R3 seriously around 1987-8. It seemed authoritative. But pre-internet, the pool of available knowledge was much, much smaller & less checkable. Quite often in my own early writing (c1998-2002) I simply adopted an authoritative tone & took my best guess.

Quite a common online response to moans about R3, I've noticed, is to list overseas stations which "still do it properly" but which basically just broadcast endless playlists of recorded music. If all I want is to wallow in an outsize record collection, I can do that at home.

@RichardBratby Oh yes - I'm very sceptical of golden-age talk too. I started listening in the late 90s and early 2000s and the talk of dumbing down was deafening. But I do tune in and hear some clunkers, though I do realise that is totally subjective evidence.

@devilstrillblog But then, I'm a little sceptical of golden age-ism. I keep hearing about the dazzling erudition of the panels on Face the Music but when I watch it I quite often see people who seem flustered by any repertoire outside the experience of a mid-century RCM piano student.

@RichardBratby But there has been a clear decline in the average presentational style, which has foresaken knowledge and authority for phone-in cosiness. But maybe that's popular, which I wouldn't begrudge.

@RichardBratby Agree with you on this. I don't want "here's the entirety of Bruckner's 5th" at 10 am; that sort of thing has never been easier to access for one's self.

Jerry Goldsmith's music is such an important ingredient in this.

I'm only just catching up on @TheRestHistory Jimmy Carter trivia, and I'm wondering if @holland_tom and @dcsandbrook know that Carter was also one of at least 3 presidents to have witnessed a UFO?

Hurrah! An actual review. theguardian.com/music/2026/feb…

@RichardBratby @_paullay I wonder who you could mean 😄

@_paullay I was once attacked online as "elite" by a Corbynista opera singer who made great play of her Scouse realness. She didn't clock that we were both from Merseyside; me from a state school, she from a £17,000 per year independent. I didn't say as much, but it was nice to know.

Across the board in British politics, why do people like Goodwin, Starmer, Jess Phillips etc, etc, etc pretend they come from working-class backgrounds when they clearly do not? thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

Where are the college students in the West protesting for her ? Where are the competitively righteous boomers living in Zones 1 to 3 of London who will opine loudly about her rights?

Yet somehow so much better than the paper in most modern books.

@sandymatheson10 @hugh_canning @LoveInner Yes - 2&3 were on a DG disc with I think music from The Bolt. Rest of the cycle (1, 4-10) was on Chandos with RSNO.

@hugh_canning @LoveInner No - he only did Symphonies 11-15 for DG (possibly also 2 & 3?).

#NowSpinning Shostakovich Symphony 15 with Järvi in Gothenburg. This has been a thrilling cycle and this one has started extremely well. Järvi has a real knack for letting it all hang out.

Off the cuff, I said to my class today: "Education is about more than just exams. It's about opening doors in your mind you didn't know were closed." Gonna need that on a mug now.

Had fun this morning singing for a recording of Havergal Brian's previously unrecorded setting of Psalm 137 "By the Waters of Babylon" with the BBC NOW and Martyn Brabbins. Tomorrow we're back for HB's "The Lord is My Shepherd." Forthcoming from Lyrita.

@Alecosaurus It various - the sentiment comes from the right and the left. The right thinks we don't teach kids about Churchill, say, and the left thinks we don't teach children about Churchill being racist.

@devilstrillblog They'd doubtless say, 'Ah, but you're teaching the wrong facts and putting a 'woke' spin on it.'

I'm always puzzled when critics or commentators declare that an historical issue or period is not taught in schools (and should be), and I think "but... I'm literally teaching that at the moment."

@tombennett71 One thing I've noticed in my time in education is that there is a tremendous amount of energy put into not expecting very much of children.

They’re not disrupting lessons or abiding teachers because the day starts too early, but because of the deeply ingrained habits and attitudes they bring with them. You’ll never sort out behaviour problems by avoiding the only strategies that work.

Tackling the behaviour crisis in Scottish schools by focussing on the shape of the school day is a spectacular way to miss the point. Children mess about when we let them, when the boundaries are vague or ambiguous, and where consequences are trivial. This is like trying to lose weight by changing the colour of your plate.

@MarshallColman @amwilson_opera Oh

@devilstrillblog @amwilson_opera I don't think art is about self- expression.

You know what's going to happen next, don't you? People will start endorsing AI because it means "everyone can be an author". We're a hop, a skip and a jump away from artistic talent being rebranded as elitist. Already there are people out there arguing meritocracy is unfair.

@Tom_Godell He's been getting a revival in the UK. Glad to have the chance to hear it, but his music is not to my ears any sort of revelation.

@devilstrillblog His work is overdue for a revival

Someone's trying really hard to make SCT happen again.

@amwilson_opera I think if struggle to find it retrospectively but I'll let you know if I see it again

@devilstrillblog If you can point me to some examples I'd be grateful!