My first film review of 2026, and devoted to an ambitious work by one of the most well-regarded international auteurs of the current moment. I saw this at the Cambridge Light Cinema. No Other Choice - dir. Park Chan-Wook I have not read Donald Westlake's 1997 novel, The Ax, widely acclaimed as it's prolific author's masterpiece, nor seen Costa-Gavras' 2005 film version, Le Couperet, which transposed the action to millennial France and (despite scant distribution in the UK)

It has been a wet, drab and chaotic year for me so far, but what better to brighten things up than the launching of a new trail within Typee Valley - Typee Film . In the early days of this bloging enterprise, just as pandemic lock-down was easing, I included a handful of film reviews amongst my posts. For the last couple of years, I have been somewhat preoccupied with my ongoing Symphony Project (the first tranche of which is nearly done) but now feel it is well past time I

Giovanni Sgambati (1841- 1914) Symphony no. 2 in Eb major (1885) There are exceptions to every rule, even the rule that Nineteenth Century Italians didn't write symphonies. Arrigo Boito (best known as Verdi's late-period librettist) composed a single work in the form of which there appears to be no recording, and two unexceptional efforts by Giuseppe Martucci (1856 - 1909) were inexplicably championed by Toscanini. Unfortunately, the great conductor was backing the wrong h

Antonin Dvorak (1841- 1904) Symphony No. 1 in C minor (The Bells of Zlonice) op. 3 Back in the time of pandemic, when I first embarked...

Ernst Rudorff (1840-1916) Symphony no. 3 in B minor (1910) As we all know, there are some strange things floating around on Youtube....

Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901) Symphony no. 1 in D minor, Opus 10 "Wallenstein" (1866) According to the Oxford Dictionary of Music, the...

Victorin de Joncie`res (1839-1903) Symphonie Romantique (1873) "The history of the symphony in France is quickly told, for there are...

Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916) Symphony no. 3 in C minor (Miriam) Op. 54 (1887) During his lifetime, and for about twenty years...

Théodore Dubois (1837-1924) - Symphony No. 1 ( Symphonie Française) (1908) Clément François Théodore Dubois was one of the great...

Mily Balakirev (1837-1910) Symphony no. 2 in D minor (1908) In his personally guarded but often shrewdly observant memoir, My Musical...

Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) Symphony in A major (c.1850) & Symphony no. 1 in Eb major (1853) I do know those who profess to find...

Felix Draeseke (1835-1913) Symphony no. 4 in G major ("Sinfonia Comica") (1912) If Robert Radecke, the composer of last week's symphony,...

Robert Radecke (1839-1911) Symphony in F Major, Op.50 (1877) What little I have been able to glean about the life of the German/Silesian...

Karoly (Karl) Goldmark (1830 - 1915) Symphony no.1 ("Rustic Wedding") Op. 26 (1875) This week, something wonderful. Of all the...

First, some news, Typee Valley has been listed by https://blog.feedspot.com/classical_music_blogs as one of the top blogs for writing on...

I have work to do. As anyone following this blog - and, amazingly, there do still appear to be people following it - will realise, I have...

PART I PARADOS In 2013, the 79 year-old Harrison Birtwistle gave a brief introductory interview before the British premiere of The Moth...

This is the first of what is aiming to be an occasional series of shortish posts appearing on both this blog and on the site of the Ely...

According to my guide book, the onward route from The Barge Inn towards Marden begins by breaking into what appears to be a private yard...

Sunday, October 3rd. 9am. For the 22 year old John Aubrey, stumbling across them on a mid-winter rabbit hunt in 1649, they "[did] as much...