Bach Cello Solo No.1

In August 1954, at age of 77 Pau Casals (1876-1973) performed Bach’s G-Major Cello Solo at Abbaye “Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa”, a Catholic monastery located south of the small border town Prades in France (Catalonia of Spain is on the other side of border). Pau Casals settled in Prades in earlier 1940’s after the Spanish civil war in 1930’s, and he came back to Prada as the conductor and cellist at Prades Festival in 1950’s. A small museum in Prades is dedicated to the memory of Pablo Casals.

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Bach: Cello Suite No.1 in G Major, Prelude

Culture – the way we express ourselves and understand
each other – can bind us together as one world.

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For Henry Frankel

Henry Robert Frankel (Oct.11, 1944 – Nov. 2, 2019) was an American philosopher and historian of science noted for his historical and philosophical analysis of the continental drift controversy and subsequent discovery of plate tectonics. He was Emeritus Professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City… Frankel’s four volume work, The Continental Drift Controversy, published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press, is generally considered seminal and definitive in the field of earth sciences… Through this career-long research, Frankel became recognized as the world’s leading expert on the controversies associated with continental drift and the development of plate tectonics.   Continue reading “For Henry Frankel”

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The Journey Of Things

At the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich to see Magdalene Odundo’s exhibition The Journey of Things, a celebration of 45 years of her amazing hand-built pots, featuring many of her iconic vessel sculptures, and accompanied by a history, or rather a herstory, of inspirational encounters along the way – touchstones first seen at the British Museum, the Commonwealth Institute, the Museum of Mankind, the Pitt Rivers Museum, Kettle’s Yard and the Sainsbury Centre itself, to name but a few. Continue reading “The Journey Of Things”

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A Walk To Sainsbury’s

We were in Norwich recently, staying at a hotel in the city but eager to visit the Sainsbury Centre just out of town. We were advised to take a taxi because buses were temporarily diverted. “It will take you about half an hour on foot but it’s not a pleasant walk. Better to cab it.” And yet, despite the advice, we walked it, and the sun came out, and the way was lined with trees and other hopeful signs. Continue reading “A Walk To Sainsbury’s”

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November Pots

A windowful of pots, painted pots by David Stubbs and thrown pots by Chris Keenan, cool paintings, tactile vessels, handmade studies in repetition and variation, they’re all the result of a purposeful ritual and a prolonged gaze. Reflections of the artists’ hand and eye. Look closely and you’ll see me taking the photograph with one of David’s painted pots! Continue reading “November Pots”

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In Real Life

We came down from Granary Square via the King’s Cross Tunnel. Its multicoloured lightwall appears to be a taste of things to come. This was back in August, school-holiday time, and our grandchildren were staying for a week, so before daytrips to Madame Tussauds, Brighton, Lavenham, the British Museum and Camden Lock, I suggested Tate Modern and we took a train to Blackfriars. Continue reading “In Real Life”

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