seattle symphony

i had excellent- if i may say so- concerts with douglas boyd, who had a refreshingly lovely, expressive and fluid approach to the mozart major concerto; one with which i was in great sympathy.
our efforts were well received in packed houses. ( a review). (and another)

i ventured to licorous - sister restaurant to lark a couple of times, and the pork cheek with polenta was worth having twice, and the cured salmon carpaccio was simply delicious.
all over seattle i found the drink lists and beverage knowledge to be excellent. i never had to define a negroni and it was never defiled.
in addition< my favorite gins junipero, and old raj were in plentiful supply.
i also recommend cafe presse, zigzag and my old favorite haunt cafe campagne, ( though the service at the latter suffered on this visit.) my friend david butler's novel "cassius and claudius" will soon be published, joining the brilliant "slavonic dances of josef vidich" in his published oeuvre.
the 'string quartet' "under a sun of lead" is finished and he tells me the next will be piano 4 hands.....
i'll save the restaurant gourmand in ballard where he is the sommelier for the next visit.
i also had the opportunity to re-connect with gerry schwarz the maestro in seattle, and we made excellent use of both my one free day and the sunny weather, on the tennis court.

i also on that day had the opportunity to visit the seattle art museum.
i was not very happy with the collections, dribs of this, drabs of that.
i did enjoy seeing some of the aboriginal art - works of gloria and kathleen petyarre in particular.

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[Manchester Camerata]

Douglas Boyd is also Music Director of Manchester Camerata in the UK. You can get a free download of him conducting Beethoven Symphony no.4 at www.manchestercamerata.com and hear an interview with him about their recent Mozart recording in the 'recordings' section.