Nordic Saint

Roy Harris's 3rd Symphony is one of my favourite pieces of music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyI_XmJnvO4 Paavo Berglund & the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Sibelius Symphonies & Tone Poems, mostly recorded at Southampton Guildhall in the 1970s.

Southampton is one of the worst cities in the country for classical music. Why is that? Apart from the visits of the Welsh National Opera to the Mayflower and some chamber music at Turner Sims, there really isn't much going on. Even Basingstoke has more classical concerts. Anyway, these are the ones I've been to in the last couple of years: 2013 March 19. Mayflower Theatre. Welsh National Opera. Lulu. 2013 March 20. Mayflower Theatre. Welsh National Opera. Madama Butterfly. 2013 April 9. Royal Festival Hall. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Yefim Bronfman, Michael Tilson Thomas. Schoenberg: Them & Variations for Orchestra Op. 43b; Brahms: Piano Concerto No.2 op.83; Brahms orch by Schoenberg: Piano Quartet No.1; Brahms: Hungarian Dance No.1 2013 April 12. Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Hélène Grimaud, Jiří Bělohlávek. Smetana: From Bohemia’s Mountains& Forests; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 Op.73; Dvorak: Symphony No.7 op.70 2013 April 21. Royal Festival Hall. Philharmonia Orchestra, Jonas Kaufmann, Jochen Rieder. Verdi & Wagner arias. 2013 April 22. Royal Opera House. Die Zauberflöte. 2013 May 14. Royal Opera House. La Bayadère. 2013 May 15. Royal Festival Hall. Philharmonia Orchestra, Rolando Villazón, Guerassim Voronkov. Verdi arias. 2013 May 18. Bournemouth Pavilion. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Nicola Benedetti, Kiril Karabits. Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture; Host: Jupiter from the Planets; Korngold: Marietta’s Lied; Shostakovich: Romance from The Gadfly, Andante from Counterplan; Saint-Saëns: Introduction& Rondo Capriccioso; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.2 2013 May 21. Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Boris Berezovsky, Neeme Järvi. Arvo Pärt: Silhouette; Grieg: Piano concerto in A minor; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6; Arvo Pärt: Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten 2013 May 23. Sadler’s Wells Theatre. 6000 Miles Away. Sylvie Guillem, Aurelie Caya, Lukas Timulak, Massimo Murru 2013 May 27. Royal Opera House. La donna del lago. 2013 June 5. The Anvil, Basingstoke. Philharmonia Orchestra, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Christoph von Dohnányi. Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1; Beethoven: Symphony No.3 2013 June 8. Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. Welsh National Opera. Lohengrin. 2013 June 22. Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Opera North. Siegfried. 2013 June 27. Wigmore Hall. Marc-Andre Hamelin. Ives: Piano Sonata No.2; Brahms: Piano Sonata No.3 I F minor Op.5; Mozart: Piano Sonata No.16 in C major 1st movement 2013 July 9. Royal Opera House. Tosca. 2013 July 11. Royal Opera House. La Rondine. 2013 July 22. Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms. Das Rheingold. Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim 2013 July 23. Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms. Die Walküre. Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim 2013 July 28. Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms. Götterdämmerung. Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim 2013 August 6. Royal Opera House. Bolshoi Ballet. The Sleeping Beauty. 2013 August 16. Bolshoi Ballet. The Flames of Paris. 2013 August 22. Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms. Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Anna Caterina-Antonacci, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Tchaikovsky: Fantasy Overture Romeo & Juliet; Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder; Prokofiev: Symphony No.5 in B flat major; Shostakovich: Folk Feast from The Gadfly 2013 September 1. Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms. Orchestre de Paris, Janine Jansen, Paavo Järvi. Arvo Pärt: Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten; Britten: Violin Concerto; Berlioz: Overture Le Corsaire; Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3 in C minor; Bizet: Galop from Jeux d’enfants, Farandole froml’Arlesienne 2013 September 5. Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms. Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Joseph Calleja, Xian Zhang. Verdi: (La forza del destino) Overture, (Attila) O dolore! Ed io vivea, (I vespri siciliani): À toi que j'ai chérie, (La Traviata): Prelude Act 1, (Simon Boccanegra): O inferno!… Sento avvampar nell'anima , (Aida) Triumphal March Act2, (Luisa Miller): Oh! fede negar potessi … Quando le sere al placido , (Rigoletto): La donna e mobile;Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony; Rossini: William Tell Overture 2103 October 3. Barbican Hall. London Symphony Orchestra, Christian Tetzlaff, Daniel Harding. Mussorgsky: Night on the Bare Mountain; Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto; Stravinsky: Firebird Ballet 2013 October 22. Mayflower Theatre. English National Ballet. Le Corsaire. 2013 October 31. Royal Opera House. Wozzeck. 2013 November 14. Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Liang/Maliphant/Wheeldon. Yuan Yuan Tan, Fang-Yi Sheu, Damian Smith, Clifton Brown 2013 November 28. Mayflower Theatre. Welsh National Opera. Maria Stuarda. 2013 December 2. Royal Opera House. Parsifal. 2014 February 9. Barbican Hall. London Symphony Orchestra, Yuja Wang, Jaap van Zweden. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 Op.37; Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 Op.27 2014 February 25. Royal Festival Hall. Li Yundi. Schumann: Fantasie in C Op.17; Liszt: Tarantella No.3 from Venezia e Napoli; Traditional Chinese: Colour Clouds Chasing the Moon; 5 Yunnan Folk Songs, In that place faraway; Beethoven: Piano Sonata in F minor ‘Appassionata’ 2014 March 5. The Anvil, Basingstoke. Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, Barry Douglas, Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Kodaly: Dances of Galanta; Rachmaninov: Piano concerto No.1; Dvorak: Symphony No.8 2014 March 10. Barbican Hall. Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ivary Ilja. Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Borodin, Rimskykorsakov, Tchaikovsky, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Sviridov songs 2014 April 4. Barbican Hall. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Truls Mørk, Mariss Jansons. Haydn: Cello Concerto in C; Bruckner: Symphony No.7 2014 April 13. Barbican Hall. London Symphony Orchestra, Daniil Trifonov, Valery Gergiev. Messiaen: Les Offrandes Oubliees; Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2; Scriabin: Symphony No.3; Bach: Transcription of Violin Partita in C BMV 1006 2014 April 22. Royal Opera House. Faust. 2014 April 29. Royal Festival Hall. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Joseph Calleja, Andrew Greenwood. Rossini: William Tell Overture; Tchaikovsky: 6 Romances Op.6 no.6; Verdi arias. 2014 April 30. Royal Opera House. La Traviata. 2014 August 27. Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms. Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Wu Wei, Myung-Whun Chung. Debussy: La mer; Unsuk Chin: Šu; Wu Wei: Dragon Dance; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in D minor; Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor Allegro molto 2014 September 3. Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms. Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Roger Norrington. Beethoven: Symphony No.8 in F major; Berlioz: Romeo & Juliet Romeo Alone; Dvorak: Symphony No.9 in E minor; Faure: Prelude to Pelleas et Melisande Suite 2014 September 30. Royal Festival Hall. Daniil Trifonov. Bach arr. Liszt: Fantasia & Fugue in G minor BMv542; Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Chopin Op.22 2014 October 9. Barbican Hall. London Symphony Orchestra, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Rafael Payare. Dukas: The Scorcerer’s Apprentice; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.2; Rimskykorsakov: Scheherazade 2014 October 17. Mayflower Theatre. English National Ballet. Coppélia. 2014 November 3. Barbican Hall. Mariinsky Opera. Boris Godunov. 2014 November 13. Barbican Hall. London Symphony Orchestra, Denis Matsuev, Valery Gergiev. Balakirev: Russia; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2, Symphony No.3 Op.44 2015 January 8. Royal Festival Hall. Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Gustavo Dudamel. Beethoven: Symphony No.5; Wagner: 2015 (Das Rheingold) Entry of the Gods into Valhalla, (Götterdämmerung): Siegfried’s Journey , Siegfried’s dream & funeral music; (Siegrfried) :Forest murmurs, (Die Walküre): Ride of the Valkyries, (Tristan und Isolde): Prelude & liebestod 2015 March 28. Mayflower Theatre. Welsh National Opera. Hansel und Gretel. 2015 April 17. Barbican Hall. New York Philharmonic, Joyce DiDonato, Alan Gilbert. Salonen: Nyx; Ravel: Sheherazade, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales; R. Strauss: Rosenkavalier suite: R. Strauss: Morgen; Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake suite 2015 May 17. Royal Festival Hall. Philharmonia Orchestra, Daniil Trifonov, Vladmir Ashkenazy. Sibelius: Nightride & Sunrise; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3; Sibelius: Symphony No.5 in E flat 2015 May 18. Queen Elizabeth Hall. Takacs Quartet, Marc-Andre Hamelin. Debussy:String Quartet in G minor Op.10, Preludes Bk.2 Nos. 4,5,6,7,11 &12; Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor 2015 June 5. Royal Festival Hall. Philadelphia Orchestra, Lisa Batiashvili, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Nico Muhy: Mixed Messages; Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.1; Tchaikovsky: Romace; Rachmaninov: Symphony No.3, Vocalise 2015 June 10. Royal Opera House. La bohème. 2015 July 5. Royal Opera House. Guillaume Tell. 2015 July 9. Royal Opera House. Falstaff. 2015 November 22. St. John’s Smith Square. Jerusalem Quartet. Haydn: String Quartet No.1 in G Op.77 No.1; Bartok: String Quartet No.6 B119; Dvorak: String Quartet in F op.9 ‘American’ 2016 January 1. Royal Opera House. Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci. 2016 January 12. Turner Sims. Navarra Quartet. Mozart: Quartet No.1 in G K80; Haydn: Quartet No.25 in C Op.20 No.2; Beethoven: Quartet No.14 in C sharp minor Op.131 2016 January 28. Royal Festival Hall. Philharmonia Orchestra, Håkan Hardenberger, Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Sibelius: Lemminkäinen's Return Op.22 No.4; Rolf Martinsson: Trumpet Concerto No.1 ‘The Bridge’; Sibelius: Symphony No.2 in D major Op.43 NEXT: 2016 February 16. Turner Sims. Vienna Piano Trio

I seem to have seen the same tours, if not at the same venues, as some of you. I've just copied and pasted my recent gigs from Setlist FM: Dec 1, 2015: Madonna, The O2 Arena, London Nov 1, 2015: Madness, Wembley Stadium, London Oct 30, 2015: U2, The O2 Arena, London Oct 25, 2015: Bob Dylan, Royal Albert Hall, London Sep 5, 2015: King Crimson, Brighton Dome, Brighton Sep 2, 2015: Sufjan Stevens, Royal Festival Hall, London Aug 29, 2015: Rae Morris, Victorious Festival 2015 Aug 29, 2015: Primal Scream, Victorious Festival 2015 Aug 29, 2015: The Magic Numbers, Victorious Festival 2015 Aug 29, 2015: Peter Hook, Victorious Festival 2015 Aug 29, 2015: Kill It Kid, Victorious Festival 2015 Aug 29, 2015: The Flaming Lips, Victorious Festival 2015 Aug 29, 2015: Laura Mvula, Victorious Festival 2015 Aug 29, 2015: The Fratellis, Victorious Festival 2015 Jun 19, 2015: Elvis Costello, O2 Guildhall Southampton, Southampton Jun 19, 2015: Larkin Poe, O2 Guildhall Southampton, Southampton May 31, 2015: The Beach Boys, Royal Albert Hall, London May 28, 2015: Fleetwood Mac, The O2 Arena, London May 23, 2015: Paul McCartney, The O2 Arena, London May 20, 2015: Andy Fairweather-Low, Royal Albert Hall, London May 20, 2015: Eric Clapton, Royal Albert Hall, London Apr 29, 2015: Sharon Van Etten, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London Apr 29, 2015: Sam Amidon, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London Apr 15, 2015: Paul Simon & Sting, The O2 Arena, London Mar 8, 2015: Kip Moore, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 8, 2015: Jason Aldean, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 8, 2015: Ward Thomas, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 8, 2015: Lady Antebellum, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 8, 2015: The Shires, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 8, 2015: Brantley Gilbert, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 7, 2015: Florida Georgia Line, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 7, 2015: Lee Ann Womack, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 7, 2015: Sam Hunt, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 7, 2015: Brandy Clark, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 7, 2015: Sam Palladio, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Mar 7, 2015: Luke Bryan, C2C: Country to Country London 2015 Feb 21, 2015: The War on Drugs, O2 Guildhall Southampton Feb 21, 2015: Amen Dunes, O2 Guildhall Southampton Nov 25, 2014: Kasabian, BIC, Bournemouth Nov 25, 2014: The Maccabees, BIC, Bournemouth Next up: Hosier at Portsmouth Guildhall and Tame Impala at Alexandra Palace.

That is a great book. If you like it, you might also like Slow Motion Riot by Peter Blauner. I'm currently working my way through the David Downing John Russell 'station' spy novels, set in Berlin from 1939 onwards. I'm now on the third one: Stettin Station. Having recently, reread Le Carre's Smiley novels, I find Downing better in many respects. All of his characters are interesting and believable and his description of everyday life in Nazi Germany is very convincing. I expect there will be films to come.

Surely, there must be forums on the internet for people like Turkish who want to insult people anonymously online? Personally, I haven't looked for such forums but I guess they must exist. Try Googling forum + helmets + sh1t + b0llocks, Turkish, and you should find something more appropriate to your needs.

There certainly is some bias there. Everybody who is excluding Leicester, currently top of the league and in their 48th season in the top flight and Bolton with 73 seasons there and 4 consecutive top 8 finishes from 2004 to 2007 might as well exclude Saints too, as this is only our 39th season in the top division.

I agree. The U21 team looked very badly coached and organised last night. Most of the players who looked so promising a year or two ago, like Sims and Hesketh, are going backwards. There doesn't seem to be the same high level of player development under Hunter and Jahdi that there was under Dodd and Williams. If Reed doesn't want to bring them back, perhaps we could poach the Huddersfield U21 coach?

It was a very cleverly worked move. Fonte took 2 defenders with him towards the near post while Austin stepped back to leave himself unmarked in front of of goal. He headed it down perfectly though.

It certainly was. I bet Man United would happily swap Schneiderlin for Wanyama now. Without Wanyama, Schneiderlin only looks a shadow of his former self.

He certainly put shift in against West Brom. He seems to at last be developing a partnership with Ward~Prowse.They're both only youngsters .

At least he's done better than this one, who seems to be totally useless without his help: http://http://www.fantasyfootballstrategist.co.uk/2016/01/21/1616/ http://www.redcafe.net/threads/morgan-schneiderlin-2015-16-bench-performances.406512/page-49 What a disappointing signing. A nothing player so far. He can't even get the things right that he was supposed to be good at. Been really poor lately. Not starting XI material IMO. Worrying performance. These are the games when you want him to stand up and be counted. Totally invisible and really quite poor. Positional discipline was shocking for someone who is reasonably famed for it

I've had a look at a replay of the game, and I have to agree, I was wrong about him. It was, at worst, a reasonable performance. From my viewpoint at St Mary's, I thought he just fell over for the penalty, but I can see now from the TV replay that he was on his way to scoring when he was pushed. Also, I hadn't realized how close he was to scoring when his shot was cleared off the line. I guess he set such a high standard with his performance against Watford that I was expecting too much. I like his attitude and hope he does well.

Targett had his best ever game for Saints v Watford, but he was poor again today. He was our weakest player out there. His pace, his crosses, passes and defensive work were all substandard. Let's hope he can show that Watford form again. He was like a different player in that game.

Credit must go to our 2 centre backs. Ighalo and Deeney didn't look any better against them and nor did the Arsenal forwards.

This sounds the most likely one now: http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/stoke-city-and-southampton-in-transfer-battle-price-a-little-high

Let's hope he's not allowed to coach our goalkeepers though.

Clasie's best game so far. If he can play like that every week, he'll do.

We need an attacking midfielder who can play 90 mins regularly and score goals. How many times has Honda played 90 mins in Serie A this season and how many goals has he scored? Like Stekelenburg, he was good 4 years ago, but we need players who are good now, like Borja Baston and Denis Suarez,

That's not strictly true. The investment in players like Keegan, Ball, Watson, Osgood and Shilton, in the McMenemy era, brought us our most succesful spell as a club. I'd also say that the investment by Markus Liebherr made a big difference to the club. If you look at successful clubs, they are mostly where they are because of the money invested by their owners.

You should try watching lower league teams on a regular basis. There is no more passion and pride than there is in the Premier League, just a lot less skill and entertainment. As for effort, why do you think Pompey fans boo their team off the pitch so regularly?

We already are paying more than most other Premier League fans. The average price our fans pay is the 7th most expensive in the country. Even if we want to have the most expensive tickets in the world, it will be hard as Arsenal include Champions League games on their season tickets, which pushes their price sky high.

I agree. I think you've got that exactly right.

Consistently good players, like Schneiderlin, Clyne, Shaw, Lallana and Alderweireld, are really good players. Players who are only capable of playing well for 30 minutes, every 3rd or 4th game, like Juanmi, Martina, Clasie, Romeu and Cedric, are not really good players. That would explain the team's more inconsistent performances. Fans want to blame the manager and the few good players who have stuck with us, but it's not their fault that they have worse players around them now.

You're not really expressing your views about the squad there. Personally, I think the squad is getting weaker. Our best players are being sold and poorer quality replacements are being brought in. I know money doesn't guarantee success, but none of the 100 million + Premier League prize money (150 million next year) and only part of the money made from player sales is being spent on replacements and none is being spent on stadium development either. Koeman and the nucleus of good players still here are unfairly bearing the brunt of the blame for this, when in fact it is the owner and her advisors who are responsible.

Everybody tried playing passes to Targett, but he couldn't control any of them, so they gave up on him in the end. You could see players moving to the left, seeing there was only Targett there, and then drifting back into the centre again, because they didn't want to waste possession. Targett does not have good enough pace or ball control to operate down the flank at this level. He's not very good at defending either. Do you think any other team in the Premier league would consider playing him?