Sunday 11 July

~  At last the rain, soft warm drizzle for all the morning, and the smell of it on the road and last night's harvest dust.

~  This afternoon's Early Music Show, (the link is to listen to the programme, it is an hour long but very well worth hearing) with the Tallis Scholars, once again confirming that no one does it like they do. Their director spoke of how the surface texture of the music must be flawless and beautiful, with no conflict between any of the voices, as they are quite a small group.  As well as their usual Renaissance repertoire, some familiar, some not, there are two new pieces by very young composers, winners of a competition run by the National Centre for Early Music ( that link contains audio of both pieces, as well as the runners up) in York. Settings of a George Herbert poem and a Latin liturgical text and conceived for performance by the Tallis Scholars, they are not pastiches of Renaissance music, but create a unique musical space in the same way, and are remarkable and beautiful works.

~ Hot flowers.