Belfast in the sunshine and the rain.

A deck chair from the Titanic, recovered from the North Atlantic a few days later. A famous idiom: "Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic", indicates a pointless activity. But not if you were the Chief Deck Chair Arranger on board. (These also look pretty bloody uncomfortable!)

Deeply moving to see this: Wallace Hartley's violin, found on his body a few days later in the North Atlantic. The actual violin played on Titanic. (Sadly unplayable now as the water and cold has warped it)

Now onboard the SS Nomadic, tender ship for RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic from Cherbourg Designed by the same team as Titanic and the only intact White Star vessel left. Tried to order a Guinness from the French barman but he just called me a bearded English idiot. Which is fair enough.

Titanic museum Belfast and SS Nomadic, the only White Star vessel left. Busy even on a rainy Tuesday morning but let's see what this is like!

RIP Dame Felicity Lott Mozart - The Magic Flute (Felicity Lott, Benjamin Luxon) | Full Opera youtu.be/HIAFQRl3nvM?... via @YouTube

As I'm off to Belfast next week to the Titanic museum, time for some of Gavin Bryars 'The Sinking of the Titanic' open.spotify.com/album/0KJ4na...

Götterdämmerung Met 1974 Rita Hunter Helge Brilioth Rafael Kubelik youtu.be/Zwqjz8U3-7E?...

The Illustrated London News announcing the London premiere of Parsifal in 1914.

Parsifal as 1980s anime.

Wieland Wagner's 1951 staging of Parsifal in Bayreuth. (Also the scene when you're the lone diner in a restaurant with too many bored attentive waiters.)

Oh to have been there....

Gonna party like it's 1954 with this new box set that took a long time to be released!

Aspiring conductor Guido Cantelli was sent to a POW camp close to Szczecin in Poland. Deported to Bolzano, he escaped its sanatorium where he was hospitalized and, gravely underweight, reached home to Novara where he hid, working on his craft. www.orchestracantell...

At 98 Herbert Blomstedt is still able to give a blinding Bruckner 7th! An extraordinary performance with the @berliner-philharmoniker.de

Happy weekend all.

Easy mistake to make.....

If you can't get your baton out for this and wave it around* to the fantastic music then what's the point of anything? (* Not a euphemism)

'Parsifal' in concert at the Ravello Festival from the Berlin Staatsoper, 1982. Conducted by Heinz Fricke.

Never owned a purely SA-CD (Super Audio CD) album before. Two CDs containing over 4 hours of music! Remarkable. (Even if I can only play it on my Blu-ray player, the only machine I have that's SA-CD compatible! Won't work in a regular CD player alas. But these should really have taken off!)

The YouTube algorithm can be a good lad sometimes.... Parsifal Act I | Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra youtu.be/Qd-qL7wig-M?...

A great Rheingold from Petrenko and the Berliners.

That 1962 Parsifal mate....still recovering!

Parsifal at La Scala

Just a very traditional Good Friday for me this year. A chocolate egg (to remember Jesus's betrayal by a giant bunny after eating the sacred Kit-Kat), followed by four hours of Parsifal conducted by Knapperstbusch in Bayreuth. Standard really. Have a happy Easter all!

New Parsifal production in Dresden. Amazingly only the third production staged there I think - after the original in 1914, then Theo Adam's in 1988. Looks interesting, wish I could be there!

An analogue evening with Bruckner's 4th.

Maundy Thursday Mozart from Otmar Suitner in Japan, 1984. youtu.be/I6iaaoEnwx4?...

Wagner - "Die Walküre" Erster Aufzug | van Oostrum, Schmitt, Kares | Roth | SWR Symphonieorchester youtu.be/prBUqFz_FCA?...

The crack cocaine of opera...

Ozawa and the Bostonians made some wonderful recordings together. This Planets deserves to be better known. (Yes it's on cassette)

Booked a day off work to watch this stream...Wagnerian priorities! digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/5...

Before it gets taken down..... Wagner - Tristan und Isolde youtu.be/WphKqjamhCE?...

Can't stop listening to the Bernstein 'Tristan', might now be my favourite recording!

Coming soon.... the complete Bernie and the LPO😍

Love a bit of Britten Sea Interludes. Everything on this album is Britten gold! open.spotify.com/album/090tbs...

Just on a little Tristan binge now, be back soon..... open.spotify.com/album/0EGfzK...

Listening to the last act of Tristan again, partly because it's extraordinary but also because someone in the back row at the cinema coughed almost entirely through Lise's Liebestod! Of all the moments to pick bruv... 😕 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Time to find out what all this Tristan und Isolde stuff live from the Met is all about. I've heard the music in this opera is quite good...

Tonight's film...more Kurosawa with the epic RAN. (Does it go with popcorn?)

Bruckner Friday! open.spotify.com/album/5bEshN...

Rare CD find. Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto conducted by Otmar Suitner and played by Hiroko Nakamura. Despite being recorded at Abbey Road Studios and featuring the LSO, this seems to have been made entirely for the Japanese market.

Might get back onto LinkedIn.

The last Wagner recording made in the GDR! Recorded October 1989, released in 1992.

Tonight's film. A Kurosawa classic.

How about a sun-kissed Quadriga for a Saturday morning 🙌 #berlin

Two fascinating discographies for the collector...but seeing all these recordings I'd not heard of before isn't going to help my bank balance (or shelf space)... 😕

Giulini's 'Eroica' this morning. Slow but impressive. open.spotify.com/album/6eIzUk...

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde - Lise Davidsen/Met 2026 youtu.be/nz_giZDTSxw?...