**SPOILERS** Ugh I have a lot of Feelings about this episode. While I’m glad that the writers fully committed to the “power corrupts” motto that has been driving GoT since day one, I am really disappointed by Dany’s plot arc from flawed hero to war criminal in the space of a couple of episodes. Sure,... Continue Reading →
**SPOILERS** Well. ‘The Last of the Starks’ certainly puts Game of Thrones back in the heartlands of what it does best — betrayal, misery, and ruthless murder. With all attention focused on the Night King in the first three episodes of season 8, Cersei’s really been in the background so far. But she’s now made... Continue Reading →
**MAJOR SPOILERS** Sound & Music in Part One There is a LOT to talk about musically/sonically in this episode. Given that ‘The Long Night’ is pretty much the length of a feature film, this is gonna be a long one! If you’re here for an analysis of just ‘The Night King’, then scroll down because... Continue Reading →
I'm delighted to be giving some Proms pre-concert talks this year. I'm doing two talks, on the 3rd and 4th August, so please come and join me for a whole weekend on Nordic goodness! On the 3rd I'll be talking about the first version of Sibelius's 5th symphony, penned in 1915. On the 4th I'm... Continue Reading →
Shakespeare has long been a source of musical inspiration. From Mendelssohn to Macmillan, countless composers have written incidental music for Shakespeare’s plays or set Shakespeare’s words to music. Seeing as it’s (probably) Shakespeare’s birthday, here’s a playlist of 15 pieces inspired by Shakespeare. 1. Wilhelm Stenhammar As You Like It. Stenhammar penned this music in 1920... Continue Reading →
NB: Spoilers! ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ is one of the most reflective GoT episodes yet. This is the calm-before-the-storm episode, bringing the most important players together to Winterfell to fight the Night King. It’s full of reunions, a few fan-pleasing moments (Gendry and Arya FINALLY), and is generally gearing up the emotional tension.... Continue Reading →
The Proms have announced their 2019 season, and as usual both programme and opinions on it are varied. Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood is alongside cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Edward Elgar beside Nina Simone. There are themed concerts ranging from sci-fi film music to Queen Victoria’s piano, to a concert based on best-selling book The Lost Words.... Continue Reading →
So the final season of Game of Thrones is off to a flying start, with more intrigue than you can shake a stick at in the first episode, ‘Winterfell’. As the final season airs I’m going to try and keep up with a musical analysis of each episode as we go along. Not just because... Continue Reading →
As with very many (perhaps too many) things in my life, it all began with Sibelius. During my undergraduate degree I had discovered Sibelius’s symphonies and, after some soul-searching, decided that I loved this music enough to pursue a Masters on Sibelius, and try to build an academic career studying Nordic music. I threw myself... Continue Reading →
