STOP PRESS for Brendel fans

There is an actual documentary about Alfred Brendel on BBC2 tonight, at 11.20pm (not exactly prime-time but we can always set the video if we can work out how to use it). 'Alfred Brendel: Man and Mask' follows the great pianist through two years, during which he works with such artists as Simon Rattle and Matthias Goerne, and explores the influences that shaped his life and musicianship. He's also featured in The Culture Show at 10pm - which has extra culture on it today, including our beloved Felix and his birthday. Here, apparently Brendel reveals a fondness for the films of Bunuel.

I don't know yet whether the documentary will be available on the BBC iPlayer after tonight, but if it is then I will link to it here.

Mendelssohn is 200!

It's Mendelssohn day! Over at BBCR3 Felixcitations I have borrowed the JDCMB Cyberposhplace and the Virtualvintagechampers and Felix is holding a party, which the virtualcybercontrollers are providing free of charge on condition that we are allowed to see his trans-spiritual-dimensional guest-list in advance. UPDATE: The post is now up, and open for suggestions of who else he could ask. Drop in for some cyberbubble!

Meanwhile, here are three musicians who should definitely be there: Arthur Rubinstein, Gregor Piatigorsky and Jascha Heifetz. Turn up the sound now and wallow in their glorious playing of the first movement of the D minor piano trio.

(Apropos de Heifetz, yesterday was his birthday. It was also Fritz Kreisler's. I am vaguely pondering what possible astrological connection there could be between the two greatest geniuses of 20th-century violin playing and, um, Groundhog Day.)

snowgold?

This is our street today. Apparently this is the heaviest snow in these parts for 19 years. You know, dear readers, where I'm meant to be this evening. And you know, too, that it only takes a fraction of this amount of snow to stop all transport in the UK. More precipitation is forecast for this afternoon. Hmm.

UPDATE, 1.50pm: TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED. All we have in place of Die tote Stadt is, er, a very dead city.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Also cancelled today is the first night of Jonathan Miller's new production of La Boheme at English National Opera. And several big West End jobs...

UPDATE, THURSDAY MORNING: I will now be attending the DTS performance next Wednesday, 11 February. Weather permitting.

I feel like this sometimes....

Pictures by Jane Burton of unutterably adorable cats, from the Telegraph website. Good light relief for the weekend. Some of us need it.

Decca boss decamps to Sony

Hearing that Bogdan Roscic, MD of the Decca Music Group, is pushing off to become president of Sony Classical reminds me rather of the numerous Poles one sees these days at British airports, heading for flights home. Why would anybody in their right mind (which he is) leave Universal Classics - the big one, the quality one, with JDF, Kaufmann and Bartoli to name but a few - to work for a label that's distinctly less glitzy?

A brief news story in Gramophone carries the ominous sentence: "Decca is being subjected to considerable scrutiny prior to an expected restructure by Universal Music." I know that my estimable readers are just as capable as I am of reading between the lines, so I won't elaborate.

If you're looking for Tote Stadt reviews, please scroll to the update on yesterday's post...