'The Devil's Hand' is excellent - a pacy Faustian horror directed by Maurice Tourneur (father of Jacques), produced in occupied Paris by the German-controlled Continental Studios. www.theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray... #thedevilshand #paris #mauricetourneur #filmreview

★★★★ THE DEVIL'S HAND - Quirky and gripping French horror film, produced under Nazi occupation - now on #MastersofCinema Blu-ray - review @grahamrickson.bsky.social www.theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray...

The early Simon Rattle/Bournemouth Symphony recording of Mahler 10 has amazing loud bass drum thwacks in the finale.

Yes - if you go to the trouble of commissioning a hammer and hiring someone to whack it, you should get your money's worth. My amateur orchestra played the work some years ago and I can remember watching the poor woodwinds visibly flinch when the hammer struck.

Mahler apparently planned to have five hammer blows in the finale. Should we reinstate the deleted ones?

Love this! What's Derry like?

Steig was a genius. I amassed a small collection of his books when my daughter was young and still have them. He's underappreciated here in the UK, despite having written the story which became 'Shrek'.

It’s very funny and moving. You’ll enjoy it…

I still teach - though just music now; I really miss sharing good books with younger children. This William Steig classic is another one that could reduce the toughest boys to tears. Superb!

I love this book. Used to read it regularly when I was a primary class teacher.

I had a quick perusal last night. What he writes about Mahler and Sibelius is interesting.

I found this too, in mint condition - £1.

Wow! I paid £2.99.

Just found this in my local Oxfam shop. Never heard of this book. Has anyone out there read it? #aaroncopland #classicalmusic #oxfam

‘Field of Dreams stuff’: will Leeds finally get its trams after decades of promises? Plans for return of such transport have been discussed for years, and not all local people believe that service will come

One for @loudribs.bsky.social ? It's usually cheaper and less hassle for me to drive to the city centre than it is to get a bus. The most annoying thing about Leeds is its crappy, unreliable and expensive public transport. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... #leeds #publictransport #traffic

That’s not a French horn.

Ten years ago! Looking forward to a second attempt
.

My amateur orchestra starts rehearsing this next week. Can't wait. The final dance is fiendish, with loads of fast, light tonguing in the brass and winds.

This was the record. It must still be there.

My mum had a scratchy old Pye LP of Barbirolli conducting Sibelius 5 and Pohloja’s Daughter, which I can still remember hearing as a young child and the first movement baffling me. I loved the finale though.

Kelli Weston wrote the article. Here’s my LP:

The article was in the most recent S&S - will dig it out and see who wrote it.

I’ve got the soundtrack album upstairs - nice gatefold sleeve

Thanks for that - fascinating. We saw it in a film festival where the organisers said they had a hard time finding a copy, hence the German subtitles.

I was reading a piece in Sight&Sound last week about the late 50s screen version of Porgy and Bess, which had Previn as MD. We saw a rare print of it in on screen many years ago. Flawed and dated but fascinating. Now suppressed by the Gershwin estate, I think.

Never seen it - have read about how good it is

Is this the one with the Andre Previn score?

And terrifying.

Me too, and I got my first watch when I was seven! Don't get me started...

Something similar happening to childrens’ ability to tell the tile from an analogue clock face. My daughter (22) told me that ‘no one wears a watch anymore - you just use your phone’