SSD10

Sounds of Social Distancing | Week 10

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Apologies for a bumper crop this week. For those of you (and I am told there are a few) who listen to the weekly offering in one sitting, you may prefer a break after track 13, where a natural pause suggests itself.

I was half intending this to be the last for a bit, but have been persuaded by higher authorities to continue until week 12, thus covering much of our 2020 festival period.

It strikes me that acting as curator for this venture is not dissimilar to being an Artistic Director, which requires balancing the possibly conflicting desires of pleasing the audience as opposed to pleasing oneself. I must own up: I have only been pleasing myself. In other words all the choices are pieces of music I love, and not ones I think you will love but don’t really like myself. I have confidence in believing you will like them too! There, it’s out. That’s what an Artistic Director does. And I must state that I think it’s really important that he or she does that, and truly believes in the inherent artistic worth of everything which is programmed.

Last week we seemed to be heading east. This week, we are un petit peu gaulois, in the form of Poulenc and Debussy. A majestic Wagnerian opening, heralding an epic evening, jumps disturbingly to the tango bars of Buenos Aires, and so we are off - a bit like Phileas Fogg and Passepartout.

With my best wishes for your good health of mind and body, and for gradual release.

Michael Chance

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