Viva Espana

Woe are watching a concert from Madrid by the Berlin Philharmonic performing Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjez (sp?)  (Chris???) with a flamenco guitarist playing the solo.  The best meets the best really.  I wish I was hearing it live instead of via the inadequate speakers on the tv.

I really feel the need for some sun.  We haven't had much sun since April.  We have had occasional days, even maybe a couple of days together, but the overall impression since May has been wet, grey and windy - also cool.  Now we are officially in autumn, the prospect is more wet, more wind, and cooler.  They keep saying that we are in for a bad winter because there are lots of berries on the trees, which is a depressing thought as well.

We did look at having a little holiday, but various other factors make it either impractical (too much on) or other financial commitments mean it isn't feasible at the moment.  Sigh.

So looking at Madrid before the concert started made me really want to go there.  I have been fleetingly to Madrid, but it was in March, with a student choir in tow, and we had almost no free time.   We did fit in a really good paella in the evening though.  Ho hum - another day.

It is fascinating watching a flamenco guitarist play the Rodrigo with Brian, because he is classically trained and has played the piece so every so often gives a sort of grunt as the guitarist does something which a classical guitarist wouldn't do with a scored piece - bending the notes round much more.  Also the cadenza he just played was all him - really different.