John Abbott
@sfjohna.bsky.social
Classical music researcher, technology analyst from the UK. Wikipedia contributor on obscure composers. Walking Berkshire and beyond with my son.
https://atuneadayblogdotcom.wordpress.com/
https://atuneadayblogdotcom.wordpress.com/
The next Clarion Trio concerts are fast approaching, with six exciting original compositions now in the repertoire: on Friday 14th at Chawton House in Alton, 1pm. chawtonhouse.org/whats-on/mus...
@chawtonhouse.bsky.social
@chawtonhouse.bsky.social
Music at One: The Clarion Trio - Chawton House
Chawton House is delighted to announce the launch of its brand-new "Music at One" concert series, an exciting initiative dedicated to showcasing exceptional emerging musical talent from Hampshire and ...
chawtonhouse.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
The next Clarion Trio concerts are fast approaching, with six exciting original compositions now in the repertoire: on Friday 14th at Chawton House in Alton, 1pm. chawtonhouse.org/whats-on/mus...
@chawtonhouse.bsky.social
@chawtonhouse.bsky.social
Excellent podcast series, The House at Number 48, involves this painting, Eisenwalzwerk by Hans Baluschek, stolen during WW2. www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/feature/hous...
November 7, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Excellent podcast series, The House at Number 48, involves this painting, Eisenwalzwerk by Hans Baluschek, stolen during WW2. www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/feature/hous...
I asked ChatGPT to pull together a list of references to novels with characters based on real composers. Of the 30 it came up with at least three were fake and 15 or so were tentative (to put it kindly) or just wrong. Here are the three fake ones I looked at more closely...
October 31, 2025 at 12:23 PM
I asked ChatGPT to pull together a list of references to novels with characters based on real composers. Of the 30 it came up with at least three were fake and 15 or so were tentative (to put it kindly) or just wrong. Here are the three fake ones I looked at more closely...
Lots written on Grokipedia's right-wing focus and obvious misinformation. But just as worrying is its auto-generated content-free fill-in text, like these three scattered paras in the Tony Britten article, trying to justify an alleged "progression" in his early career as West End theatre director
October 28, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Lots written on Grokipedia's right-wing focus and obvious misinformation. But just as worrying is its auto-generated content-free fill-in text, like these three scattered paras in the Tony Britten article, trying to justify an alleged "progression" in his early career as West End theatre director
Reposted by John Abbott
New on the Eye blog, review of The AI Con by @johnlw
‘The ouroboros of hype’,
www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/th...
‘The ouroboros of hype’,
www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/th...
October 17, 2025 at 1:56 PM
New on the Eye blog, review of The AI Con by @johnlw
‘The ouroboros of hype’,
www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/th...
‘The ouroboros of hype’,
www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/th...
Hilda Gaunt, rehearsal pianist with The Royal Ballet for over 40 years, was (said Frederick Ashton) "a tremendous drinker. She'd always be on tap." She died on 10 October 1975. That's her in the hat in 1939. I pieced together this short Wikipedia entry for her. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_G...
October 10, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Hilda Gaunt, rehearsal pianist with The Royal Ballet for over 40 years, was (said Frederick Ashton) "a tremendous drinker. She'd always be on tap." She died on 10 October 1975. That's her in the hat in 1939. I pieced together this short Wikipedia entry for her. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_G...
Great photo of record exec John Boyden and singer Belle Gonzalez in 1957, probably in Richmond, just before they married. They met in Singapore. Sadly the marriage was dissolved in the mid-1960s. Belle now has a Wikipedia page www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_G...
Music executive John Boyden smiling while embracing his fiancée,...
Music executive John Boyden smiling while embracing his fiancée, singer Isabella Gonzalez, April 22nd 1957.
www.gettyimages.co.uk
October 9, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Great photo of record exec John Boyden and singer Belle Gonzalez in 1957, probably in Richmond, just before they married. They met in Singapore. Sadly the marriage was dissolved in the mid-1960s. Belle now has a Wikipedia page www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_G...
Innocently listening to the 1967 Joe Harriott and John Mayer album Indo-Jazz Fusions this afternoon, and on comes the theme tune to Ask The Family (aka Acka Rag). Re-entering my brain after nearly 50 years as if it's never been away! www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4ZL...
Acka Raga
YouTube video by John Mayer - Topic
www.youtube.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Innocently listening to the 1967 Joe Harriott and John Mayer album Indo-Jazz Fusions this afternoon, and on comes the theme tune to Ask The Family (aka Acka Rag). Re-entering my brain after nearly 50 years as if it's never been away! www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4ZL...
I'm late with this even though I knew it was coming: a new biography of Bill Haley by Chris Gardner and David Lee Joyner. I worked with Chris for several years at PRS, he knows about all sorts of music. His father was composer John Gardner and he played piano with the Stargazers in the 80s. Ordered
October 2, 2025 at 9:46 AM
I'm late with this even though I knew it was coming: a new biography of Bill Haley by Chris Gardner and David Lee Joyner. I worked with Chris for several years at PRS, he knows about all sorts of music. His father was composer John Gardner and he played piano with the Stargazers in the 80s. Ordered
Two eclectic and lively books that fill out some significant gaps in the history of light music. Kenneth Young's "Music's Great Days In The Spas And Watering-Places", focusing on the UK, came out in 1968. Ian Bradley's broader (ie Europe and North America) "Water Music" is from 2010.
October 1, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Two eclectic and lively books that fill out some significant gaps in the history of light music. Kenneth Young's "Music's Great Days In The Spas And Watering-Places", focusing on the UK, came out in 1968. Ian Bradley's broader (ie Europe and North America) "Water Music" is from 2010.
After years of on-off research I at last have enough information to create a Wikipedia page for the amateur song composer Wallace Southam (1900-1990). Wilfrid Mellers and Colin Wilson both thought highly of him. Even found a picture, from a 1954 film he appeared in! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace...
September 5, 2025 at 9:34 AM
After years of on-off research I at last have enough information to create a Wikipedia page for the amateur song composer Wallace Southam (1900-1990). Wilfrid Mellers and Colin Wilson both thought highly of him. Even found a picture, from a 1954 film he appeared in! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace...
I've now written over 230 original Wikipedia articles, mostly on music, some long, some short, some just sections of longer pieces. Mainly for my own benefit I plan over time to revisit each of them here, in alphabetical order, attempting to explain why I wrote them in the first place. #jawiki
August 24, 2025 at 6:42 AM
I've now written over 230 original Wikipedia articles, mostly on music, some long, some short, some just sections of longer pieces. Mainly for my own benefit I plan over time to revisit each of them here, in alphabetical order, attempting to explain why I wrote them in the first place. #jawiki
Many thanks to the @londonsymphony
for the LSO Discovery showcase at the Barbican last night - so much going on, it was really vibrant - and thanks for supporting a Clarion Trio performance (Ali, Georgina and my son Oscar). They had a brilliant time... clariontrio.co.uk
for the LSO Discovery showcase at the Barbican last night - so much going on, it was really vibrant - and thanks for supporting a Clarion Trio performance (Ali, Georgina and my son Oscar). They had a brilliant time... clariontrio.co.uk
June 27, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Many thanks to the @londonsymphony
for the LSO Discovery showcase at the Barbican last night - so much going on, it was really vibrant - and thanks for supporting a Clarion Trio performance (Ali, Georgina and my son Oscar). They had a brilliant time... clariontrio.co.uk
for the LSO Discovery showcase at the Barbican last night - so much going on, it was really vibrant - and thanks for supporting a Clarion Trio performance (Ali, Georgina and my son Oscar). They had a brilliant time... clariontrio.co.uk
Just finished this beautifully written biography of Edgar Wallace (1938), really a study of what overwork can do to you. Lit crit doesn't really come into it: Wallace had a writing process, a bit like Dick Francis but less consistent. At the time Lane was married to Wallace's son Bryan Wallace
June 16, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Just finished this beautifully written biography of Edgar Wallace (1938), really a study of what overwork can do to you. Lit crit doesn't really come into it: Wallace had a writing process, a bit like Dick Francis but less consistent. At the time Lane was married to Wallace's son Bryan Wallace
Jack Westrup's "wretched" 1962 revision of Eric Blom's Everyman's Dictionary of Music is blasted by Andrew Porter in the Musical Times, November 1962
June 2, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Jack Westrup's "wretched" 1962 revision of Eric Blom's Everyman's Dictionary of Music is blasted by Andrew Porter in the Musical Times, November 1962
As for using AI, not to rule the world but to carry out humble and obscure music research (especially subjects where data is not obviously to hand on the open Internet), I'm not yet fully convinced
June 2, 2025 at 11:14 AM
As for using AI, not to rule the world but to carry out humble and obscure music research (especially subjects where data is not obviously to hand on the open Internet), I'm not yet fully convinced
The Wall Street Journal reports that 1) AI will never achieve artificial general intelligence, and also that 2) it already has, at least in respect of resisting all human attempts to turn it off
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-... www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-i...
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-... www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-i...
We Now Know How AI ‘Thinks’—and It’s Barely Thinking at All
The vast ‘brains’ of artificial intelligence models can memorize endless lists of rules. That’s useful, but not how humans solve problems.
www.wsj.com
June 2, 2025 at 11:05 AM
The Wall Street Journal reports that 1) AI will never achieve artificial general intelligence, and also that 2) it already has, at least in respect of resisting all human attempts to turn it off
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-... www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-i...
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-... www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-i...
Pianist Ambrose Coviello respected the playing and teaching of his famous Royal Academy of Music colleague Tobias Matthay, but didn't think much of his writing. In 1948 (three years after Matthay's death) he wrote this highly critical "translation" of his ideas en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose...
May 17, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Pianist Ambrose Coviello respected the playing and teaching of his famous Royal Academy of Music colleague Tobias Matthay, but didn't think much of his writing. In 1948 (three years after Matthay's death) he wrote this highly critical "translation" of his ideas en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose...
Joan Mary Last (1908-2002) appears to have been an unassuming music teacher from Littlehampton. But her graded piano pieces for children made her famous, and in the 1960s she embarked on a worldwide tour as a lecturer. Her pieces are still frequently performed today en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Ma...
May 17, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Joan Mary Last (1908-2002) appears to have been an unassuming music teacher from Littlehampton. But her graded piano pieces for children made her famous, and in the 1960s she embarked on a worldwide tour as a lecturer. Her pieces are still frequently performed today en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Ma...
The concert in Poole last week by the National Open Youth Orchestra was the best yet - now looking forward to tomorrow's concert at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff. My son Oscar playing piano and tuned percussion www.bbc.co.uk/events/evdrn3
National Open Youth Orchestra
For the first time in Cardiff, experience the emotionally charged performances of one of the most exciting youth orchestras in the world. Sixteen brilliant young disabled and non-disabled musicians wi...
www.bbc.co.uk
May 16, 2025 at 12:41 PM
The concert in Poole last week by the National Open Youth Orchestra was the best yet - now looking forward to tomorrow's concert at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff. My son Oscar playing piano and tuned percussion www.bbc.co.uk/events/evdrn3
Just filling in the gaps - one obscure Wikipedia entry on British music - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_T... - leads to another en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ar...
Frank Tapp - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
May 13, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Just filling in the gaps - one obscure Wikipedia entry on British music - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_T... - leads to another en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ar...
Hard not to share our Heathrow horror stories today, so here's mine. At least it's sunny in Burlingame this morning
March 21, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Hard not to share our Heathrow horror stories today, so here's mine. At least it's sunny in Burlingame this morning
Looking forward to reading this, but the conclusions are likely to be grim. "What makes culture less interesting for listeners is also what makes it less sustainable for artists....Spotify benefits when we stream content that's cheaper to provide". But - why is there no index?
March 13, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Looking forward to reading this, but the conclusions are likely to be grim. "What makes culture less interesting for listeners is also what makes it less sustainable for artists....Spotify benefits when we stream content that's cheaper to provide". But - why is there no index?
Composer Kalitha Dorothy Fox: Wikipedia entry before and after. There's usually more to find out if you look....
March 12, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Composer Kalitha Dorothy Fox: Wikipedia entry before and after. There's usually more to find out if you look....
Fuga Duodecima by Hindemith (No 24 from Ludus Tonalis). "The most beautiful fugue ever written" said John McCabe. musicwebinternational.com/2025/03/so-w...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=imUe...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=imUe...
Hindemith: Ludus Tonalis: XXIV. Fuga Duodecima in F-Sharp. Very Quiet
YouTube video by John McCabe - Topic
www.youtube.com
March 11, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Fuga Duodecima by Hindemith (No 24 from Ludus Tonalis). "The most beautiful fugue ever written" said John McCabe. musicwebinternational.com/2025/03/so-w...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=imUe...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=imUe...