Blogging, writing and peer review

My wife tells me that she doesn't read blogs because there is no editorial constraint - and to use the engineering analogy - no peer review. Not entirely true. The peers who review are the friends who comment for criticism or for encouragement. The record of correction is public.

We are back from NY. The work at St Thomas's 5th Avenue for the Girls choir course was brilliantly executed. The mass setting for Sunday was Kodaly Missa Brevis and the 40 young singers' sounds were like fine crystal, beautifully tuned. We also heard a superb performance of Beethoven's 7th and the quartets opus 135 and 132 - among my favorites. There was more colour in the 7th from the Bremen orchestra than I have ever heard (Rose Theatre, Columbus Square). The St Lawrence quartet played in an intimate penthouse - almost too much in one evening.

We stayed at the Helmsley Park Lane with a view over Central Park and we did all the touristy things - including the Cloisters where that 14th century Revelation manuscript is - the one with all the funny beasties in it, and the Frick - a jewell of a collection, and the Metropolitan where we bought a frieze for our own hallway. Lots of Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Vermeer.


There are webcasts here of the week's services