Huw Ellis-Williams

Beethoven 3
Dvořák 7
Haydn 94
Mahler 6
Mozart 41
Shostakovich 6
Sibelius 7
RVW Sinfonia antartica

A wonderful recording, the first Wagner set I bought.

10 Karajan favourites:
Das Rheingold
Walküre
Mahler 6
Strauss Tod und V
Salome
Sibelius 2 EMI
Bruckner 5
Beethoven symphonies 1960s
Debussy Pelleas
Nielsen 4

YouTube video by Violin PlayAlong Haydn, String Quartet Op 1, no 1 - Video Score . Aeolian Quartet

Wonderful to restart #A-Haydn-A-Day with this performance of Op 1/1 by the Aeolian Quartet. Loved the violin playing in the slow movement youtu.be/TDVGtuVU6a0?...

Creative subjects are disappearing from our schools because of the EBacc. The Curriculum and Assessment Review must not miss the opportunity to give every child access to music and arts education.

Read our open letter in today's Times, signed by 700+ people 👇

Still here! A wonderful journey, the winner is Haydn. The depth and variety in these symphonies is astonishing. Thank you @deeplyclassical.bsky.social and @loveinner.bsky.social

YouTube video by 1Furtwangler Haydn - Symphony No 96 ‘Miracle’ - Beecham, RPO (1957)

Ooh, Beecham … that was fun #A-Haydn-A-Day
youtu.be/04vTsowVZnQ?...

Antonini’s performances are wonderful, for me the discovery of #A-Haydn-A-Day. Energetic, alert, exciting. I’ll be coming back to them when this journey is over

America has turned on its triends Trump's abandonment of his country's allies is real and will endure Winston Churchill is credited with saying that America does the right thing after exhausting the alternatives. Donald Trump has turned that aphorism on its head. In the past 10 days, he has all but incinerated 80 years of postwar American leadership. Those who thought America was a friend or ally, notably Ukraine and Nato, are dropping once safe assumptions to cope with a world in which America is an unabashed predator. Countries that were treated by Washington as adversaries, notably Vladimir Putin's Russia, are suddenly America's friend. There were hinge moments in history when the US displayed its character as global leader, such as Dwight Eisen-hower's repudiation of Anglo-French imperialism in the 1956 Suez crisis, or Ronald Reagan's 1987 exhortation to the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall. They defined the world's idea of America. Trump's assertion this week that Ukraine "should have never started" the war is the dark version of those. His account of Russia being provoked to invade Ukraine came straight from Putin's talking points. So too was JD Vance's Valentine's Day speech in Munich in which the US vice-president identified liberal democracy as Europe's real threat from within. These moments will live in infamy. What do they tell us about what is com-ing? First, there should be no doubt that Trump's contempt for allies and admiration for strongmen is real and will endure. During his first term, Trump's instincts were curbed by the more traditional Republicans around him. Trump 2.0 is the real article. It is entirely possible that figures like Marco Rubio, his secretary of state, or Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, still believe in the US-led alliance that each once championed. Their private thoughts are irrelevant. Each displayed fealty to Trump's predatory vision of America at talks with Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia this week. Uk…

Brilliant but devastating editorial in the Financial Times.

“In the past 10 days, he [Trump] has all but incinerated 80 years of postwar American leadership. If you are not at the table, you are on the menu. America has turned.”

Still internalising the Vance Munich speech. A sitting Vice President goes to Europe, barely says a word about the despotic murderous regime which has invaded its neighbour, and instead lectures his allies about freedom of speech. It’d be funny if it weren’t so serious.

#A-Haydn-A-Day What better way to start the day than No. 44? Rehearsal and concert later. I’ll need some of Haydn’s bracing energy today

1. Be wary of corrupt misuse of power. 2. Have faith in US Constitution, however frail. [My paraphrase]

Amazing letter sent to schools by ex-Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox in answer to questions as to what lessons Americans should learn from Watergate.

We appeal to those in power at Cardiff University to cherish and protect the School of Music. Matching the pride that Wales famously possesses for its musicians, the School takes such care training its students, and the UK music profession embraces all they have to offer.

Sign the Petition SAVE CARDIFF UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC

I studied Music at the University of Wales. Music has been my career. I think this decision is so sad, and for the UK, where music is one of its major sources of income, inexplicable.
www.change.org/p/save-cardi...

Signed and shared.

SAVE CARDIFF UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?

The Music Department at Cardiff University is too valuable to lose. It is a vital part of music education in Wales. Please sign this petition. chng.it/gHszLVrGVy

YouTube video by CLASSIC&OPERA Haydn: Sinfonia nr. 31 in D major Hob. I/31 "Hornsignal" - Arturo Toscanini; NBC SYmphony Orchestra

youtu.be/rtU9Jff7FsA?... #A-Haydn-A-Day has taken me to the dawn of recorded time. Toscanini in 1938. Fascinating, spirited performance with lovely solos.

YouTube video by Haydn2032 Haydn Symphony No. 79 | Kammerorchester Basel | Giovanni Antonini (Haydn2032 live)

youtu.be/Q6YHh_G8f-c?... - A wonderful start to the day. Applause after the delightful second movement, quite right too. #A-Haydn-A-Day

I cannot stress enough that libraries need to be defended. Public. Academic. School. Fight for them. USE them & make it known that you're using them.

As a librarian who lost the fight at their institution & was forced to toss 120,000 books because "no one reads books anymore," I am begging you.

Screenshot, Merriam Webster dictionary gif, word selected is ‘salvation’

Feeling hopeful

Great opera, it’s got everything. Hoping for more converts to the cause.

Eight operas:
1. Wagner: Das Rheingold
2. Berlioz: Les Troyens
3. Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
4. Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle
5. Janáček: From The House Of The Dead
6. Britten: Billy Budd
7. Verdi: Falstaff
8. Wagner: Die Meistersinger

I’m having a great time. So many discoveries. It’s not just the nicknamed symphonies!

#A-Haydn-A-Day gets to No 99, possibly my all time favourite! A wonderful gift for Christmas Eve.

Photo of the front cover of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales, illustrated by Peter Bailey. Village snow scene, two boys carrying snowballs.

A lovely surprise gift. Memories of passages being read at Carol Services in school

YouTube video by Naxos Music Haydn: Symphony No. 98 (feat. Adam Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra)

#A-Haydn-A-Day helps you work, rest and play!

Day 28: Symphony No. 98. The finale includes a passage for solo keyboard. At the first performance in London in 1792, it was played by Haydn himself. The way Ádám Fischer does it here made me burst out laughing! A wonderful way to start my day ❤️

20 days of #A-Haydn-A-Day. Wonderfully varied, something new every day. Enjoying the recommendations from followers of this group. I’m drawn to the lean sounds of groups such as Il Giardino Armonico. Marriner remains as stylish and refreshing as ever. The vibrato of VPO and Boulez, too rich for me

#A-Haydn-A-Day gets to No 104. My first Haydn symphony because it was in a volume of piano reductions of popular symphonies, one of the few I could play. It’s going to be a great day

YouTube video by Sadanori Kobinata Haydn “Symphony No 100 ‘Military’” Herbert von Karajan • Berliner Philharmoniker, 1982

Normally I like Karajan, the soundtrack of my youth! Somehow I missed his Haydn until No 100 #a-haydn-a-day Fabulous ensemble, viola parts I’ve never noticed before, well-drilled percussion.
It seems in a different century from Il Giardino Armonico’s No 45 youtu.be/3W0I8Yc7bbE?...

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