Hearing it like it is At the Wigmore Hall, London, personalities have been introducing music of special appeal to them, while the Cadogan Hall has been hosting authentically reproduced jazz. Barry Fox takes notes...

摘要

The 552-seat Wigmore Hall in London has a fine acoustic. Indeed, the hall's publicity describes it as 'crystalline'. So it's is a good place to remind our ears what live music sounds like, and how close a modern hi-fi comes to replicating it. Usually a good place - but not always. Wigmore Hall has been running an interesting series of 'My Music' lunchtime concerts, at which the smallish Orchestra of St Johns, Smith Square, under John Lubbock plays the favourite music of famous people who chat about why they chose it. Sir Vince Cable, Lord Archer, Mary Archer and Stanley Johnson have all regaled us with tales. Sir Trevor McDonald obviously has eclectic tastes, choosing songs by Ella Fitzgerald and Leonard Cohen along with pieces by Puccini, Tchaikovsky and Samuel Barber. 'I discovered music at school in Trinidad because at morning assembly they played us music instead of making speeches,' he told us.