This month's Gramophone has my review of the new Mahler 5 conducted by Runnicles. Superb playing from the orchestra, consisting of some of the most distinguished in north America and beyond.

At the Royal Festival Hall tonight for a performance of Berg's Wozzeck:

View along the Thames from the eastern Golden Jubilee Bridge.

#NowSpinning the mysterious sound world of Vaughan Williams’s Flos Campi. This is music that seems to come from Another Time and Another Place, floating across the ether. It’s extraordinarily passionate music.

Once the British press gets the classic introspective and depressed backseat car photo of you… it is over.

I’ve only just heard about the great Michael Tilson Thomas’s passing. He was a truly magnificent musician, but also a model of courage in his last years. Rest in peace, kind sir.

Very much liked this painting when wandering around the National Gallery in London this afternoon. Painted in 1710 by Rachel Ruysch during her time as court painter in Düsseldorf.

When my pals & I left Twitter

I misread the headline as one movie and got very excited for a moment…

At music camp, the bassoonists learned how to take off their reeds and make a sound using just the bocal that resembled a moose in heat. During a rehearsal they all tried this out. The conductor stopped and yelled, "French horns! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!"

Conductor Ryan Bancroft acknowledging the brass after performing Tchaikovsky 5. High energy playing from the Philharmonia Orchestra, once again on superb form.

This afternoon's concert:

Recommend a film from the 50s.

I've not been buying many box sets recently, partly due to saturation, but couldn't resist this one of performances by Pascal Rogé. Recordings made between 1969 and 2010 on 43 CDs.

“That bass drum strike was like the voice of God... what are you scared of?” Great chat with conductor Elim Chan, who tells me about her entry into music, her “Cinderella moment” at the Proms and her ambition to “go against the grind”: bachtrack.com/interview-el...

Found this absurdly large James Bond-killing spider outside our front door. Apparently it's a false wolf spider, originally from the Mediterranean and now living in London ready to pounce on people using doorbells.

The April issue of Gramophone has my review of the new 20 CD box of live concerts performed by Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker in the 1970s. Expensively priced but some of Karajan's finest performances, and the remastering of the original radio recordings is outstanding.

The new Haitink box has arrived! 31 CDs recorded between 1967 and 1996 with the LPO, the Philharmonia and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera. 😊

Mark Wigglesworth, Maxim Vengerov and the Philharmonia after their performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto at the RFH this afternoon. Magnificent in every way. With Bacewicz's Divertimento and Walton's Symphony 1 on the programme, this was an outstanding concert.

At the Royal Festival Hall this afternoon. Maxim Vengerov and Mark Wigglesworth replacing the indisposed Lisa Batiashvili and Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

#TheCompleteBritten #55 A Boy was Born, Op. 3 (1933) Britten's first masterpiece marked the changing of England's musical guard. Premiered on the day Elgar died, his 19-year-old successor married compositional virtuosity to vivid word painting and emotion that goes straight to the heart ❤️

Went to see Mozart's La finta giardiniera at the Royal College of Music this evening. A lively and entertaining production with excellent singing and playing from the student performers under conductor Michael Rosewell.

RIP Nicholas Brendon, 1971-2026. The second actor from Buffy the Vampire Slayer who has died in little over a year.

Oh good grief.

I came up with a Schoenberg joke, but it turns out everyone prefers my earlier stuff.

The British government when we applied for my wife's spouse visa under the Tories: you don't need to work, it's not a condition for the visa and after 5 years you can settle. Labour now: well actually you should have worked and also earned more than this new income threshold we just came up with.

RIP Len Deighton Before he became a famous novelist, he was a successful graphic artist & designed the cover for the first UK edition of On The Road by Jack Kerouac.

A little bit of sanity.

Today's excitement was having to evacuate the Wembley IKEA when the fire alarm went off and it started smelling of smoke. Amazed at how many people thought it was fine to continue shopping. It was serious enough that the store was still closed two hours later.

A fascinating documentary here about John Barbirolli from 1965, showing him conducting Berlioz, Bruckner and Tchaikovsky, playing the cello, cooking dinner with his wife Evelyn Rothwell, telling anecdotes, and doing a fearful amount of smoking. Excellent image quality too. youtu.be/laqDg0b_v0A?...

Paavo Järvi thanking the London Philharmonic after performing Sibelius 2 at the Royal Festival Hall this evening. My third time hearing a live performance of the piece that blows away all the recordings I know. Alexandre Kantorow's performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 2 earlier was stunning.

At the Royal Festival Hall to hear the London Philharmonic with their newly announced chief conductor designate, Paavo Järvi.

News: Paavo Järvi appointed as new Chief Conductor & Artistic Advisor of the @LPOrchestra

Pleased to see this impressive release of Martin's chamber music picked as an Editor's Choice in Gramophone this month. My review is currently free to read online: www.gramophone.co.uk/reviews/mart...

I guess when they started calling it the Department of War instead of Defense they did it for a reason.

Went into a hi-fi store for a totally unrelated purpose and came away with a new pair of headphones. Sennheiser have totally knocked the ball out of the park with this model. By far the best closed back headphones I've ever heard plus noise reduction and the choice of cable or wireless connectivity.

Gianandrea Noseda thanking the LSO's percussion section after performing Rachmaninoff 1 at the Barbican last night. Marvellously energetic and impassioned playing from the orchestra in this excellent concert.

At the Barbican for my favourite Rachmaninoff Symphony:

Saw this old train sign at the auctioneers and now I'm really tempted to put it up in my kitchen

This is my favourite among a host of wonderful discoveries pre-dating Britten's Op. 1, including Quatre Chansons Françaises, Quartettino, Elegy for solo viola and more. Hear them on my #TheCompleteBritten playlists. Qobuz: open.qobuz.com/playlist/515... Youtube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Watched "On the Beach" (1959), starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins. Less immediately terrifying than "The War Game" or "Threads", but still very bleak and enormously poignant.

Fascinating article (and video) about the world's second largest gold stockpile hidden under the streets of central London. news.sky.com/story/sky-ne...

Updated list of classical big boxes spotted in the future releases lists: Barenboim/Warner (37) Gavrilov/Warner (21) Haitink/LPO/Decca (31) Harnoncourt/Warner (29) Kocian Quartet/Praga (31) Rodziński/Decca (25) Rogé/Decca (43) Stein/Decca (15) Romantic Piano Concerto/Hyperion (50)

At last, a box set dedicated to Boult's stereo recordings. Sir Adrian looks quite pleased about it too.

Lawrence Renes and the RCM Symphony Orchestra after their performance of Adams's Shaker Loops and Bruckner 7 in South Kensington last night. These concerts where established conductors lead music student orchestras never fail to impress.

Thursday evening at the Royal College of Music in South Kensington:

It's always a pleasure to see a recording I've reviewed get picked as a Gramophone Editor's Choice. Very impressive performances here, including a phenomenally intense and moving account of Webern's Five Pieces Op 5.