The Edinburgh Reporter April 2020

18
Lockdown listening
Keeping the mind occupied and
boredom at bay will be a challenge
for all households as the lockdown
bites.
The Edinburgh Reporter has
picked out a few BBC podcasts
which will help while away a few
hours. All are available on BBC
Sounds or on the BBC website.
Grayson Perry portrait © Katie Hyams
The Coronavirus Newscast is
a daily offering featuring well
esablished BBC journalists Adam
Fleming, Political Editor Laura
Kuenssberg, Fergus Walsh and
Chris Mason - the same group who
brought us Brexitcast throughout
last year with its every twist and
turn of the Brexit drama.
The Quaich Project
podcast now online
The Edinburgh Reporter recently
sat down with David Ellis, the
Managing Director of The Ross
Development Trust, and Cliff
Hague Chair of the Cockburn
Association.
The vexed question of what kind
of development is appropriate for
West Princes Street Gardens will
have to wait until the city recovers
from the many challenges of
coronavirus.
But now that we have a captive
audience, we are releasing our
podcast on anchor.fm (see
P2) about the proposals. The
Quaich Project is a public private
partnership between The Ross
Development Trust, a charity,
and The City of Edinburgh
Council to design, fund and build
improvements in West Princes
Street Gardens. It surprised us
that there were not daggers drawn
over the need for the project. It
is of course in the execution that
opposing parties have different
views. And the devil is in the detail.
Cliff Hague said: "The difficulties
for us are really two or three
concerns and they're all interrelated.
One is the the scale of the
new performance area arena. My
understanding is that it will more
or less double the capacity of the
existing Ross Bandstand.
"Linked to that is the intervention
beneath Princes Street to create
what's been called the Welcome
Centre. So together, we think
there's pretty major interventions,
and they're intrinsically disruptive.
They're going to take quite a long
time to construct when there will
be a mess. They're high end items
that will require a lot of money
and a lot of risk. Our concern is
that this then leads you into an
overly commercialised solution,
when what we think is that a
pragmatic set of relatively small
scale interventions could actually
deliver an outcome that more or
less everybody in the city would be
supportive of."
David Ellis countered: "When this
project started. When Norman
Springford and I first sat down and
looked at how we were going to go
about this and what we were trying
to provide as a replacement for the
Ross Bandstand, there were only
two large events a year - one was
the Festival fireworks and one was
Hogmanay. So when this project
first started, these are the calendar
of events that are causing all
the controversy at the moment.
They weren't even in the gardens.
Now, the bandstand that we're
providing is focused on being a
space for small community, mainly
unamplified performances. That's
what it's always been about."
Listen on anchor.fm
The Edinburgh Reporter
A charge that has been levelled
at some of the Covid-19 coverage
in newspapers and online is that
we should leave coverage of the
coronavirus pandemic to health
and science correspondents
who can bring their expertise to
bear on answer-shy politicians.
Coronavirus Newscast does
feature political journalists
but based on the success of
Brexitcast it is worth a listen.
OPERA
New York's Met Opera is
internationally recognised as one
of the world's best performing arts
centres.
It is temporarily closed but it
is offering free streaming of its
past performances featuring
famous divas and tenors who
have graced the Met stage.To view
the schedule of performances,
just head to their website. www.
metopera.org
The Opéra National de Paris
also has some opera and ballet
on video which can be watchd for
free. www.operadeparis.fr
COMEDY
The Stand Edinburgh streamed
some live comedy (without an
audience) on their YouTube
channel, although it is not clear
whether that can continue. Keep
an eye on their website for any
information www.thestand.co.uk
MUSIC TO YOUR EARS
The Rotterdam Philharmonic
has recorded Beethoven’s 9th
Symphony (Ode to Joy) and
broadcast it on their YouTube
channel. It looks as though they
used Zoom - which is everyone’s
new favourite app - and it is just
brilliant. Well worth a listen. We
do hope that the RSNO rise to the
challenge.
www.youtube/3eXT60rbBVk
13 Minutes to the Moon is
especially interesting. The
programme is in two series on
BBC News World Service and
there is also a six episode podcast
about the doomed Apollo 13 space
mission. There is one episode
featuring German composer Hans
Zimmer explaining how he created
the theme music. There is video
content for you to enjoy too.
“Houston we’ve had a problem.”
The Mirror and the Light by
Hilary Mantel may be the end
of the Thomas Cromwell series
but it could be a good way of
introducing yourself to her weighty
tomes if you haven’t already
ventured there. Anton Lesser reads
the finale to her Booker-winning
trilogy which includes Wolf Hall
and Bring Up The Bodies. Abridged
by Katrin Williams.
The all-time favourite for many
has to be Desert Island Discs.
Here is the well-established
pattern of suggesting to someone
who is otherwise quite sane that
you are going to cast them away
to a desert island. With them they
can only take music and a never
ending supply of something they
cannot live without. At the present
time a desert island sounds like
the perfect retreat from reality.
There are endless episodes here
(well 2,251) dating from the days
when Roy Plomley first hosted
the programme in the 1940s. The
MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES
There are 2,500 museums which
you can visit without leaving
home. The virtual tours will no
doubt be a welcome alternative to
flipping through the TV channels
(although we have some ideas on
that too).
artsandculture.google.com is the
web address you need to access
these delights across the world.
We have three suggestions for
you:
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
in Santa Fé is one of my absolute
favourites. She is one of the most
important 20th century artists
with the dramatic flowers and
New Mexico landscapes featuring
alongside images of bones and
skulls against the desert sky.
O’Keeffe married her art dealer,
Alfred Stieglitz, who was also a
renowned photographer. They
left the skyscrapers of New York
behind (which she also painted) to
live in New Mexico where she died
aged 98 in 1986.
National Palace Museum Taipei
allows you to ‘walk’ through their
vast collection. Find the Jadeite
Cabbage which is one of their
most important exhibits as well
as the meat-shaped stone (yes
honestly it looks like a piece of
meat!)
“At first glance, the meat-shaped
piece of stone looks like a
Guardian has a spreadsheet with
data listing every DID guest and
what they chose as their luxury
and the name of the book which
accompanied them. The late
Labour Party leader, the Rt Hon
John Smith, chose an Anthology of
Poems and a case of champagne.
His favourite track was Mozart's
The Marriage of Figaro - Final Aria,
which is well worth a delve into
from time to time.
The Reith Lectures is a series
which has run from 1948. Far
from the high brow reputation of
old, the series hopes to give some
time and space to discussing
topics in detail with ‘brilliant and
entertaining’ people. They are a
little bit longer than a TED talk
followed by a Q & A. The four
recommended lectures are those
by artist Grayson Perry, (pictured
left) author Hilary Mantel (yes her
again!), former doctor and surgeon
Atul Gawande and conductor and
pianist Daniel Barenboim.
Grayson Perry was the subject
of an exhibition at the Dovecot
last year during the Edinburgh Art
Festival. His groundbreaking work
was the focus of a solo exhibition:
Julie Cope's Grand Tour: The Story
of Life by Grayson Perry. It was the
first solo exhibition in Scotland of
the celebrated Turner Prize winner
and self-titled 'unapologetic
fetishist'.
Speaking of TED Talks, there is
a daily podcast with every subject
under the sun covered. You can
task Alexa to find it for you. “Alexa,
ask TED Talks for the latest talk.”
Armchair culture for all tastes
luscious, mouth-watering piece of
Dongpo pork. Made from banded
jasper, it is a naturally occurring
stone that accumulates in layers
over many years.” Also do explore
the Ju Ware - ceramic bowls and
cups which date from the Northern
Song dynasty in the late 11th
century.
The Scottish National Portrait
Gallery is also online for you
to enjoy. There is a wonderful
photograph of skating on
Duddingston Loch by John Patrick
dating from 1900. And of course
there are several photographs
by pioneers David Octavius Hill
and Robert Adamson from 1845.
Funnily enough little has changed
at The Scott Monument since
then.
The National Museum of
Scotland
At NMS they have a selection
of online games to entertain
children and a playlist from their
YouTube channel which features
stories from their collection. They
suggest taking a look at their blog
where the curators (who really do
know everything) and collection
services teams write about the
exhibitions and objects on display
in Chambers Street.
nms.ac.uk
We can only imagine that by this
time the Tyrannosaurs are actually
ruling the roost at the museum . . .
PRINCIPAL FUNDING PARTNERS
Investment managers
SUPPORTED BY
MAJOR FUNDING PARTNERS
THE
BOSHIER-HINTON
FOUNDATION
FUNDING PARTNERs
DIGITAL WORLD
SHAPE IT
THE
RUSSELL
TRUST
Edinburgh Science Festival, scheduled for
4–19 April 2020, was cancelled due to the
global spread of COVID-19. Although the
event won’t go ahead as planned we will be
launching a digital #EdSciFest in April. Keep
your eyes peeled for online entertainment,
curated articles, and downloadable resources
covering all your Science Festival favourites.
We are incredibly grateful to all
of our sponsors for their continued support
during this challenging time.
sciencefestival.co.uk
#edscifest