Opening the fridge door

When there’s a crisis in the UK the BBC sends out its doleful news-reader, Huw Edwards, in his suit, to add gravitas.

Gravitas (“solemnity of  manner”) is something Huw has lots of.

Huw is older now. Outside 10 Downing Street recently he was lit by BBC lights and, unfortunately for him, adjacent lights illuminating a reporter from another TV channel. This gave him a greenish pallor down one side, like a haddock left too long in the fridge. I think he uses Brylcreem.

I’ve posted a lot about Huw because he depresses me. But my eloquence is outshone by The Crow, a regular US commenter to Tone Deaf and its predecessor, Works Well, now quieter because of Trumpism. Here’s an apercu dating back to October 5, 20ll:

Huw... looks like Sam the Eagle from the Muppet Show - heavy browed scowl insinuating overweening sense of self-importance, which probably means he actually has low self-esteem, but puts on a good face.

Excellent! But this one, six days later, is not only funny but brilliantly observed:

His voice is like pablum, bland yet vaguely comforting. His body language is confusing, especially when he looks like he's having to hold the desk in place, leaning on it with one forearm while keeping it steady with the other outstretched arm, palm down. He did that for so many of the (YouTube) clips that I thought he must have a boil in his armpit and couldn’t keep his arm close to his torso.

If I have grossly insulted a beloved British icon... I apologize (for causing) you or your fellow citizens any anguish. I wouldn’t hurt any of you for all the pablum in the world.

No anguish whatsoever! Full marks for pablum!

Come back Crow, Tone Deaf needs you.

Too much of a good thing

Repetition, unacceptable in fiction, is vital to much music. But it doesn’t always work. It does in the Hallelujah chorus but not in Ravel’s Bolero. (Or perhaps it works rather too well, which adds up to the same thing.) For me repetition turns Hey Jude into sheer monotony and it doesn’t help the first movement of Schubert’s eighth symphony (Unfinished).

I’m in dangerous waters here. Mrs LdP disagrees about the Unfinished and millions support her. Even if you’ve never heard the symphony, ten-to-one you’ll love the waltz-time theme Schubert employs. And employs. And employs. Dah dah, di-dah di-dah… Until I for one start biting my nails. Beautifully orchestrated you understand.

Repetition in the Unfinished is integral and untouchable. Keyboard music is another matter. Bach’s Goldberg lasts about an hour; some pianists play all the repetitions, some are more selective though possible fatigue is rarely cited.

Songs – often four lines to a verse – are a form of repetition but only tend to be burdensome if the words are second-rate. Best to sing them in german when in England, and english when in Germany.

It’s no coincidence we limit ourselves to the first verse of the national anthem.