© Protected - Selected Classical Music in Poland and the Europe of Chopin - Reviewer's Notebook

Click on photographs for a superior result    Edward Cahill at 24 Edward Cahill in performance at Montreux 1935   Edward Cahill retired to  Monte-Carlo in 1961.  This view of the port is from the  The Trophy of Augustus  at the village of La Turbie 2010 I have not been idle and simply driving classic cars around the summer  countryside  and living a generally  hedonistic  and sybaritic lifestyle. I do work but not all day! There are many postings on this blog over a number of years concerning the progress of the biography of Edward Cahill. For the few people who may be interested in my progress in  putting  together the vast jigsaw that is the life of my great-uncle the  Australian  concert pianist, I chilled the first bottle of champagne in preparation to  celebrate  the completion of the final Chapter 20.  This has now been drunk  to celebrate my...

For some reason I have been rather involved with my classic cars and driving recently. Must be the glorious weather.  I have always been a passionate picnic person and when I was living in Marylebone in London (for 30 years up till 2004) I spent hundreds of weekends visiting National Trust country houses and having picnics both in summer and winter (but with different food and wine of course). The countryside in Poland is not so regulated and privately divided as in the UK and picnics are still an absolute delight here with little fear of trespass.  Sunday was gloriously sunny and 32C so out I went in the MG TC. Rather than repeat myself here read about the excursion on this link http://www.casualcars.blogspot.com/2014/06/summer-picnic-june-9th-2014.html

On Sunday I arranged a tour of the Modlin Fortress for the car club of which I am the chairman. It is about 30 kms from Warsaw at the confluence of the Vistula and Narew Rivers. I suggest you have a look at this link as there are some superb photographs  of one of the greatest fortresses in Europe as well as interesting  historical commentary and classic  cars of course. I cannot repeat the material here but it deserves your attention. It was the last chance to see many parts of the fortress before redevelopment wrecks the historical atmosphere and ambiance which will be lost forever. http://www.casualcars.blogspot.com/2014/05/modlin-fortress-excursion-18-may-2014.html

Young Girl from the Trobriand Islands during milamala time I was rather pleasantly surprised to read an article about the exotic Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea yesterday with some superb photographs.  It brought back so many wonderful even joyful memories of the many months I spent exploring the beautiful and peaceful Islands Provinces of the Papua New Guinea in order to write my book entitled: Beyond the Coral Sea: Travels in the Old Empires of the South-West Pacific (HarperCollins London 2003) The great Polish ethnologist Bronislaw Malinowski studied these islanders and inspired me with his superbly written book  The Sexual life of Savages. H e is   one of the great geniuses of modern times and scarcely mentioned these days.  If you are interested in further reading on the Trobriand Islands my book covers this fascinating...

I am afraid I was so disappointed in this keenly anticipated recital I cannot write about it at the moment with any degree of detachment. Too emotional. You know how lyrical I have been about his playing in the past. Just look at some of my past postings in the archive on this blog. All I will say is that there were some beautiful things, moments of finesse and nuance (flashes of the pianistic genius I remember) but also a large number of seriously unacceptable aspects of his interpretations (particularly in the Schumann) and an exaggerated display of keyboard virtuosity. I always considered  he was above this type of thing. He played Debussy Images Book I Nos:1 & 3, Chopin Preludes Op.28 and the Schumann Symphonic Etudes Op.13 plus sundry unfortunate encores. Much of the time he seemed out of control like a young thoroughbred stallion let loose in a field in sprin...