Forget running marathons–Ysenda Maxtone Graham has become addicted to a 12-year project that aims to perform all of the composer’s vocal works
In this craze for -athons, my favourite is the Bachathon. You simply can’t have too much Johann Sebastian Bach, as anyone who remembers Radio 3’s ‘Bach Experience’ from a few years ago will agree—his music was broadcast non-stop for six days and nights. It was paradise, if your idea of paradise is wall-to-wall Bach.
You could drive to the supermarket and put the car radio on: a Brandenburg Concerto. Wake up in the middle of the night and switch on the radio: a chorale prelude. The astonishing thing about Bach was that he didn’t compose any duds among his 1,128 works.
There’s something about the sublimity and profuseness of his music that inspires people to challenge themselves to perform or record it in bulk. At the top of my birthday wish-list is Deutsche Grammophon’s new box set, Bach 333, released for the 333rd anniversary of his birth (last year). With 222 CDs and 280 hours of his music, it would be my desert-island luxury and solace and well worth the £403 price tag.
Denne historien er fra April 10, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra April 10, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds