Happy birthday to my niece Helen who becomes an official teenager, instead of the teenager-in-waiting she's been for the past six years. Mrs K and I have bought her her very own domain name, e-mail me and I'll send it to you so you can see the jolly japes we got up to with her web site. I call her this morning as I'm driving into Nimes and ask if she's had any nice presents. Being polite she says she hasn't opened them all yet so she hasn't got to ours yet but she's sure she'll love it.
Aha! Then take a seat at your computer and type in the following address - oh, and make sure you have the speakers turned up…sitting by the side of the road going down into Nimes I can hear 'Birthday' by The Beatles blasting out and everyone laughing. Excellent.
She loves her present, she says, which is lucky and she's probably the only girl in her class with her own domain name and website. Cool.
So on into Nimes to chop in the loan Mini for Seàn. Nice to have something with a bit of oomph that doesn't require you to drop down a cog or two every time you come across a slight gradient. OK, that's a little unfair - I exaggerate to emphasise the point, Mini Ones are underpowered. Coopers will probably do the trick, I suspect the supercharger whine in a Cooper S would drive me nuts.
Home to write and then back into Nimes this evening for a concert by the Madrigal de Nimes in the Grand Temple. The GT's main feature - only feature really, the Protestants down here were a dour bunch who didn't believe in decorating their churches, chapels and temples at all - is a HUGE organ which entirely fills the end of the building. Sounds impressive, too.
We start off with some hymns by Mendelssohn which are as boring as that suggests. Mendelssohn was 150 years behind his time and sounds like Bach on downers. Hora est and Hör mein Bitten have my underpants edging down my trouser legs like no one's business. Least of all yours. The - unnamed - soloist has a fantastic voice which is completely ruined by the incredibly smug grin that's permanently plastered across her face; she's good and she knows it and you'd better be appreciative of it.
Luckily the second half is Fauré's Requiem, and jolly good it is too. Born two years before Mendelssohn died, Fauré is much more a 20th century composer in feel and tone. He was taught at the Niedermeyer school of religious music in Paris by Camille Saint-Saëns - another great 20th century composer - and, in turn, taught Ravel when he, Fauré became composing teacher at the Conservatoire in Paris. Some more excellent solos from the choristers, two from a singer and a violinist perched high up on balconies amidst the very organ pipes themselves. Very dramatic and very good indeed. This is a serious choir which has recorded and toured widely, but I do wish they would pick pieces which serve also to entertain their audience and not just show off the singers' talents.
Thank you for developing this very good site !
Posted by: stories of bestiality at August 7, 2004 04:05 PM