You're a beautiful woman probably...

Through the wonders of the brilliantly portable Asus Eee PC and all-inclusive wireless Internet in (German) hotels, I can post to Blogger from my temporary place in Berlin. The two-stage flight (via Amsterdam) went smoothly and comfortably, although I have to admit that it's not very green. Easyjet used to fly here from Newcastle direct, but now it's apparently more of a money-raiser to fly direct to Krakow. I know there are a lot of Polish people in the UK these days but I still find this puzzling: I would have thought Berlin was a much more popular destination, for all sorts of reasons. Sadly, the weather forecast for the weekend is awful both in Germany and the UK. If the weather isn't too horrible here tomorrow we're off to Berlin Zoo, so here's hoping...

  As it's mid-March, I'm just starting to come out of my customary winter hibernation, and looking forward to a trip to Berlin over Easter. There's a transport strike there at the moment, and the news reports today are rather confusing. Apparently the talks today have broken down, but the strike will be suspended anyway. I think this is good news, unless I've misunderstood it, or it's been misreported. My German isn't very good, but reading it in German seemed to be easier than in the mangled Google Translation . Thankfully, we're staying in Schoeneberg - a central location - so if the strike is still on, getting to most places we want to see should still be possible, if awkward.

I was listening to some Villa-Lobos today and it raised my mood so much that I had to post here about how neglected this composer still is. Eccentric, original, clumsy, haphazard, funny, noisy, stunningly beautiful - his music is all of these things at different times. I see him as rather like an eccentric old uncle who, when you first meet him, you dismiss as just weird. Once you get into his music, it's incredibly loveable. He wrote a huge body of work including seventeen string quartets, at least three of which are masterpieces, five piano concertos and nine Bachianas brasileiras (Brazilian Bach-pieces), twelve symphonies and fourteen Chôros , including two sadly lost. Obviously, not everything he wrote is brilliant, but he's a master of musical development. I first heard Villa-Lobos' music more than twenty years ago. This was when recordings of many of his works were only just starting to appear. Thanks to the Marco Polo and Naxos CD labels, people now at least have th...