Thursday 18 January 2018

Peter Lanyon and Trevega Cliff




Felt like walking today even though the weather wasn't that promising - and it was a good 4 mile walk in the end which started on Trevalgan Hill just outside St Ives.
Wonderful to see a slate in memory of Peter Lanyon at the summit on a huge granite boulder.
His paintings have such strong links to this landscape - the painting below of Bojewan Farm, not far off.
More here.
Then a depressing walk (alas) downhill to Trevalgan Holiday Farm and caravan park, past territorial signs and electric fences to keep walkers on track. Narrow walkways in the mud, close to hedges and a slurry pit.
Anyway - onward to the sea - exhilarating.
In just over two hours, I didn't see a soul, unless sheep have souls.

Even the track back inland was lovely - not always the case on circular walks.
Main thoughts:

  • I wonder what a (very) long walk  would be like - the Camino, for example. Though people talk about all the people they meet - companions along the way etc. Solitary walking is very different.
  • There was a moment - suddenly - when I could hear the sea.  'I can hear the sea.' Someone's favourite quote from King Lear. Such a noise....
  • Seagulls diving bombing into the water. Must have been a shoal of fish driven into the rock
  • Demons in the mind: Cavafy and Ithaca. Travel well - but remember that you will bring many monsters with you.... 



Wednesday 17 January 2018

Icy spring and music in Leipzig



Click here













A whirlwind trip to Leipzig to see Siefried at the Opera House - and just by chance was lucky enough to catch the Dresden Boys' Choir rehearsing at St Thomas's Church, Leipzig. Breathtaking. Bach was a choirboy in this church. The first performance ever of St Matthew's Passion was here.
Outside, an icy wind and few signs of spring apart from these baskets on the pavement (the bulbs are planted so high, they become part of the display - must remember).
The white interior of St Nicholas' Church very peaceful - especially the painted pews .... Bach was organist here. Near the altar is a striking crucifix from  Coventry Cathedral: didn't manage to take a picture.
















Siegfried started at 4pm and by the second Act the square outside was so busy with skaters.  Blue lights - reminded me of visits to Warsaw soon after Epiphany.
Inside the opera house, Katherine Broderick takes a bow after her debut as Brunnhilde on this stage.




















Monday 8 January 2018

Ecce homo and flipping a chess board

The monochrome exhibition at the National Gallery - Rembrandt's Ecce Homo alongside a print by Jan Van Vliet, his engraver. The image is flipped and some parts of it in reverse gain strength, others lose. The man beckoning to the crowd is more noticeable in the print, as is the  man in the turban in the centre of the picture.
It's like flipping a chess board online - you see all sorts of possibilities, for losing as well as winning.























Monday 1 January 2018

Derbyshire Alabaster, St Just and the Three Kings



Going to see the reredos behind the altar in St Just Church is a Christmas ritual (am not sure that it is backlit at any other time of year). More about the history here.  It's very delicately carved in Derbyshire Alabaster.
This year someone has enthusiastically placed flower arrangements right in front of them, but never mind.
Outside - there's no escaping it - St Just's can look pretty bleak. Such a lot of granite. But everywhere does this time of year when the sun doesn't shine.

Reading and watching

  • Foot by Foot to Santiago de Compostela/Judy Foot
  • The Testament of Mary with Fiona Shaw at the Barbican
  • The Testament of Mary/Colm Toibin
  • Schwanengesang/Schubert - Tony Spence
  • Journals/Robert Falcon Scott
  • Fugitive Pieces/Ann Michaels
  • Unless/Carol Shields
  • Faust/Royal Opera House
  • The Art of Travel/Alain de Botton
  • Mad Men Series 6
  • A Week at The Airport/Alain de Botton
  • The Railway Man/Eric Lomax
  • Bright Lights, Big City/Jay McInerney
  • Stones of Venice/John Ruskin
  • The Sea, the Sea/Iris Murdoch
  • Childe Harold/Lord Byron
  • All The Pretty Horses/Cormac McCarthy
  • Extreme Rambling/Mark Thomas
  • Story of my Life/Jay McInerney
  • Venice Observed/Mary McCarthy