With great pleasure the eight tracks which, perhaps foolishly, I mentioned in my Visiter column

A couple of weeks ago I accepted my chaplain's invitation to spend a Sunday evening sharing eight pieces of music with the good folk of Holy Trinity. I was a tad surprised how many people turned out on a November night to hear the tracks I had chosen and to hear Rod gently probe the reasons for my selections. In my Visiter column that week I mentioned that I would do a posting on the event so a wider audience could be reached. I did not imagine that I would find me asking me when I was going to put the list up on this website. My apologies for the delay.

First up is my mother shortly before she died she suggested that she would record some poems for my daughter to remember her by. She had recently acquired a book from her alma mater (Aberdeen University) that she was much taken with. It was a collection of poems in the characteristic speech of the NE of Scotland where she was born and grew up.




Next up was a song my father sang . He was a scoutmaster and we went together to an international camp in Denmark in 1968. Every morning the scouts assembled and any lost property was returned after the payment of a forfeit.  One morning my father was summoned to reclaim his berry. To the assembled scouts several hundreds of them he, resplendent in kilt, he sang this Harry Lauder song.

Next up is an aria from the Messiah which was sung by brother at the Leamington Music Festival in 1960. It was my introduction what is grandly called The English Choral Tradition


me> Next up is the first political one and for me dates from 1969 and the Stop the 70 Tour campaign against the all white cricket tour from South Africa
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The next choice was again political and will surprise no one who knows  me, it is The Land. Two versions here firstly the one I played and secondly the video I took at the Assembly some years to date it has had over 10 000 views



Next up is one for my youngest daughter who regularly used to play a CD in the car of 1950 hits




The full story behind my penultimate choice can be found here. The music is by John Tavener one of the foremost British compose of C20th.  I was involved in commissioning this piece whilst I was a member of Cheshire County Council. We played the first Ikon


Finally a bit of Bernstien from West Side Story




Rod Garner was gentle in his probing as he had promised. He did ask me which figure from the Bible would I like to meet and have dinner with. I chose Job