[concert] Stravinsky / Ravel, Kettle's Yard, 8th May

Alexandra Reid (violin), Hester Crombie (piano): Stravinsky's Suite Italienne and Ravel's Sonate pour violon et piano.
Suite Italienne (based on themes from the ballet Pulcinella) is 'Stravinsky at his most neoclassical', says Reid, but still rather too modern for me -- not objectionably so, but choppy and dissonant in places. I much preferred the Ravel, though the three movements didn't seem connected -- the Allegretto reminded me of Debussy, the Blues section of Gershwin's Summertime, and Perpetuum Mobile of Holst or maybe Saint-Saens. Some really interesting passages but the violin and piano didn't always seem to be working together.

My RFH concerts are usually appreciated from seats in the choir, behind the orchestra, so it's a rare treat to see a soloist's face. Reid's sheer surprised joy in the music was marvellous.

[Concert] Mendelssohn / Schumann, RFH, 10th May

Philharmonia cond. Dohnanyi: Jonathan Biss, piano. Mendelssohn, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor.

I was mainly there for the Schumann: the Mendelssohn rather washed over me, though well-played.

Schumann's Piano Concerto is not in my top five, but I like it very much. Biss's body language -- jerky and angular -- might've coloured my perception of his playing, which seemed overly choppy, especially in the third movement. I need to listen to this piece again because there's something very interesting, rhythmically, at the end of the first movement -- though again this may be Biss's interpretation.

We skipped the second half (Dvorak Symphony #9) due to health issues and Sunday trains.

The Gender Genie vs. K J Parker

I reviewed K J Parker's The Company -- rather like this review but different -- and remarked that despite the publicity material (which refers to the author as female) "there is something masculine about the style". "Ineluctably masculine?" retorts one reader, quoting the infamous description of James Tiptree Jr's writing.

I can't define what feels masculine about the prose. (I don't think it's the subject matter, which is heavy on military and technological themes, or the relative dearth of descriptive passages.) But hang on! Here are some sample chapters! And here's The Gender Genie, which uses a simplified version of an algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel, Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and Shlomo Argamon, Illinois Institute of Technology, to predict the gender of an author.

Extract from The Company | Words: 8891 | Female Score: 9023 | Male Score: 10922

Extract from Devices and Desires | Words: 1449 | Female Score: 1226 | Male Score: 1741

Another extract from Devices and Desires | Words: 1420 | Female Score: 2313 | Male Score: 1722

I don't actually think this proves anything, but I do think that my brain might work with the same algorithms as the Genie.

Historical Flavour of Old London -- a few resources

Have just compiled a set of handy links for friend-of-a-friend writing historical fiction set in London. I'm posting here for my own reference as well as others' -- feel free to suggest additions!

These are resources that give look and feel, the flavour of places rather than specifics. (If I want the location of a boxing salon in 1820, I'll type 'boxing London 1820' into Google. If I want to know what Mayfair was like in 1820 I'll use the links below.)

* Old Bailey Online. Old Bailey records 1674 - 1913. You can get a very good idea of a neighbourhood by the kind of crime that is committed there and who reports it. Also, full of human life.

* Museum of London image library

* MOTCO -- maps 1705 - 1862 (they also have images)

* Vision of Britain -- an amazing amount of information (maps, contemporary accounts, statistics) though can be hard to navigate