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barbara hannigan & reinbert de leeuw

socrate

erik satie

winter & winter

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Watched the Barbara Hannigan DVD this afternoon with Lily snuggled up in the crook of my arm (she's been distinctly aloof & bad-tempered of late).

Admiration for BH only deepens - not just the ability to simultaneously direct an orchestra & deliver the most demanding vocal lines but also her sheer energy & self-discipline (the daily jog, Japanese knife pack for personal catering that is stowed in her suitcase, the 5-minute costume changes ...).

As the rather porky Simon Rattle says, one feels honoured to share the planet with her. 

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& it just so happens that the recent Satie CD is in Fnac & so I feel duty bound to investigate. 

Ravishingly beautiful, of course. One of the five voices that really touch.

& not that one should judge a CD by its cover ... but the photos are well-judged too.  The wonderful Reinbert de Leeuw* with cigarette lifted to the lips strikes a suitably dissolute note against the cascading locks of Hannigan (freshly showered after an invigorating work-out, no doubt). 

On est satiesfait ... 

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* listen to his Satie Gymnopedies etc. & marvel at the tempo - huge spaces open up between notes making Morton Feldman's inheritance all the more evident. Contentious, I know, but it works for me.