James Flattery

Ed Gardner and Jennifer France with the LPO after an enchanting Mahler 4

I like it. I really enjoyed the stewed apple notes. I am going to have to grab a CS Loch Lomond at some point.

Is War of the Worlds really one of the worst films ever? The new version of War of the Worlds has received a 0% critic score on review site Rotten Tomatoes.

I watched this film last night and thought it was absolutely dreadful.

I understand that the producers sat on the film for a long time before releasing. They should have just canned it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Sally Hawkins was absolutely sensational in Bring Her Back. I thought it was a grim but powerful film.

I'm off to the flicks tonight to see Bring Her Back. Let's hope it lives up to the hype.

a white dog with a red bow around its neck is looking at the camera with its mouth open ALT: a white dog with a red bow around its neck is looking at the camera with its mouth open

Just back from the cinema after seeing Superman. There is no doubting who the star of the film is.

I'm trying my first Loch Lomond 18 tonight. I really like the standard 12 year old, so I've got high hopes.
#whisky

It's Kubelik for me. I don't think that there is a weakness in that set.

I never used to be the biggest KFV fan, but the last couple of times I have seen him, I have been impressed. It was nice to hear Siegfried being sung rather than barked.

Musically splendid Siegfried at La Scala. I wasn't blown away by the production, but it wasn't terrible.

My first visit to La Scala for Siegfried.

I should add that panzerotti is the devil's food, but it's so good.

Have arrived in Milan today. Tomorrow night is my first visit to La Scala for Siegfried.

The Glyndebourne Parsifal was musically excellent. Beautiful conducting and playing from Ticciati and the LPO, along with great singing throughout.

However, the production was very poor with some really odd ideas.

On my way to Glyndebourne for Parsifal. Lovely day for it...

I don't know who to vote for.
#Eurovision

My take on last night's Die Walküre at ROH was it was good, rather than great. The Erda/mother nature character seems very influenced by the Frank Castorf Ring.

Prudenskaya, Romaniw and Maltman were in fine form.

Pappano's conducting was an improvement from his 2018 effort in this work.

I'm a bag of nerves watching the Arsenal.

A fine Turandot tonight at ROH with the three main singers in fine form. Gemma Summerfield as Liù was particularly impressive.

I'm on my way to ROH to see Turandot. A work I have not seen in over a decade.

I gave this a spin last night. I thought the singing was good, but nothing spectacular. I thought overall, it was all too refined.

On the whole, I enjoyed this performance. Although the soprano's voice was not suited to this work.

Riccardo Muti after tonight's Verdi Requiem with the Philharmonia.

My favourite Verdi Requiem is the performance Muti did with Bavarian Radio. Norman, Baltsa, Carreras and Nesterenko are the soloists in that set. It only got an official release 4 or 5 years ago.

I wish he would come to London more often. I suppose he has his reasons.

At RFH for Verdi's Requiem conducted by Riccardo Muti. I've been looking forward to this one. William Thomas replaces d'Arcangelo.

I've always liked his recording of Salome. The orchestral sound he produces in that set is excellent.

Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic after a very fine performance of Mahler 5.

At the Barbican to see the Czech Philharmonic perform...

Gene Hackman died of natural causes days after wife died of rare respiratory virus Cause of Betsy Arakawa’s death was hantavirus pulmonary syndrome while Hackman died of heart disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease contributing

So sad. I just watched Hoosiers tonight. Hackman was absolutely marvellous in that movie.

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ma...