Richard Baker
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rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Richard Baker
@rchrdbkr.bsky.social
2.2K followers 1.6K following 1K posts
Composer based in Ceredigion, Wales, UK. Research Fellow at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London. Own views here. Weithiau yn Gymraeg.

Profile photo: Claire Shovelton

Artist website: https://rchrdbkr.com/
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rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Here's a conundrum #poetrysky - I was just looking for Thom Gunn's 'Lines for a book' online, and came across this 1955 publication in Poetry - without the famous couplet about Stephen Spender's rough boys. Was this an early draft? Censored by the editor?

Anyone know?
LINES FOR A BOOK I think of all the toughs through history And thank heaven they lived, continually. Their pride exalted some, some overthrew, But was not vanity at last: they knew That though the mind has also got a place It's not in marvelling at its mirrored face And evident sensibility. It's better To go and see your friend than write a letter; To be a soldier than to be a cripple; To take an early weaning from the nipple Than think your mother is the only girl; To be insensitive, to steel the will, Than sit irresolute all day at stool Inside the heart; and to despise the fool, Who may not help himself and may not choose, Than give him pity which he cannot use. I think of those exclusive by their action, For whom mere thought could be no satisfaction- The athletes lying under tons of dirt Or standing gelded so they cannot hurt The pale curators and the families By calling up disturbing images. I think of all the toughs through history And thank heaven they lived, continually.
October 29, 2025 at 4:04 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Common/Wealth’s Manifesto is also extremely good, and timely:
COMMON/WEALTH MANIFESTO → Fuck capitalism. Fuck theatre. Do it yourself. → Make shows unlike anything anyone has seen before. Experiment and play with form. → Don't be afraid of being political. Respond to the here and now. Charge the work with emotion. → Work with people who have direct experience of the territories you're exploring. They are the creators and editors. Include people new to theatre. There is wealth in your experience, your history, your knowledge, where you come from, the stories you get told, stories you pass on. → Process is as important as form. • Be an internationalist. Listen and speak beyond borders. → Get out of theatre buildings. Sites offer so much - they put you in direct conversation with people you wouldn't otherwise meet. Work with what you have. Build on what is already there. Don't wait for permission. DO IT YOURSELF!
October 9, 2025 at 11:16 AM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Gosh, if only we had a ‘system’ that exhibited such valuable qualities:
September 2, 2025 at 9:07 AM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
So this was nice: thirteen years after relocating to Wales, the Welsh Music Guild presented me with its Sir Geraint Evans Award for a significant contribution to Welsh music’. A very touching honour for this poor Saes.
A bald man with facial hair presenting another bald man with facial hair with a framed certificate in a handsome Edwardian dining room.
June 3, 2025 at 10:25 AM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Gosh, I wonder what might explain the lower than expected rebound in Self-Assessment receipts? I’m told the Treasury believes the arts and culture industries are comprised solely of entitled and loud middle class people addicted to state handouts. Could it be that they are wrong about this economy?
The OBR said a strong rebound in self-assessment receipts, which declined during the coronavirus pandemic, failed to materialise, leaving the Treasury with only a modest gain. Income from corporation tax and capitals gains tax was also below its own predictions.
February 21, 2025 at 12:58 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
See also:
January 19, 2025 at 11:28 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
ART
January 19, 2025 at 6:19 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Image for reference
Cartoon by Steve Bell depicting former British Prime Minister David, Lord Cameron. In Bell’s caricature, Cameron’s head resembles an inflated condom
December 14, 2024 at 11:37 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Oleana Tyrrell ‘I want her to know it was me’ GIF
December 13, 2024 at 7:15 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Cymry Llundain ym Mricston
Photo of floodlit Frank Matcham-designed Ritzy Cinema in Brixton, London, UK. Nighttime. Hoarding cleared of usual movie listings, replaced with single line of text in Welsh, which translates as ‘Babs, will you marry me?’
December 12, 2024 at 6:47 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
www.autostraddle.com/for-justin-v...
David Wojnarowicz said many years ago — I’m paraphrasing — that part of why people and artists struggled so much during the AIDS years was to get past the hatred, the horrors of the world, to go back to what we do best and love doing, which is creating beauty and creating joy. You can’t take creating beauty and joy for granted. There is so much ugliness in the world. So many people threatened by beauty and joy can’t create either. The easiest, cheapest way to feel powerful is to destroy, which is the perfect example of Trump and his cadre of fascists. That’s the only way they have power–the only thing they can do is to tear things down because they’re incapable of making anything beautiful, of having ideas that elevate anybody. Our job is to resist that by constantly doing what we do, which is fighting our way to beauty.
November 27, 2024 at 5:04 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
It was quite close!
Spreadsheet detailing the ranked choice voting in the final round of the Oxford Chancellorship Election, showing William Hague beating Elish Angiolini by under 1000 votes
November 27, 2024 at 1:11 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Post you from a different era. Oxford, sometime in 1993, on a Section 28 Demo.
Good to revisit as I’m back in the same street today, some 31 years later
Photo of me with big hair and Arran sweater beneath leather jacket, on good tempered demonstration with other Oxford students, against Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act which penalised the ‘promotion of homosexuality’. A cheery Balliol JCR banner in the background
November 21, 2024 at 2:29 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
En route from Aberystwyth to Oxford (not one of the *great* journeys!) to talk to student composers at New College about my work, thanks to colleague Luke Lewis.
E-flyer advertising seminar series entitled ‘All New Music’ including talks by composers Lisa Illean and me
November 21, 2024 at 10:41 AM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Timeline cleanse - view from my window just now:
View from a cottage ground floor window of a sheep grazing in an adjacent field about a metre away, next to a wooden garden bird table
November 20, 2024 at 4:12 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Obligatory timeline cleanse. This is Begw, our standard dachshund. Named after the narrator of Kate Roberts’ ‘Tê yn y Grug’. Had she been a boy, she was going to be called Raymond Williams.
Shiny Black and Tan Standard dachshund with yellow nylon bone in her mouth
November 17, 2024 at 10:57 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Lovely Welsh language article by Pwyll ap Siôn in the latest issue of ‘O’r Pedwar Gwynt’ on music, politics and disco, including my new album ‘The Tyranny of Fun’

pedwargwynt.cymru/rhifyn-print...
Photo of double page spread in Welsh language literary magazine O’r Pedwar Gwynt Photo of double page spread in Welsh language literary magazine O’r Pedwar Gwynt
November 12, 2024 at 11:33 AM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Erthygl hyfyd gan Pwyll ap Siôn yn y rhifyn cyfredol o ‘O’r Pedwar Gwynt’ yn sôn am gerddoriaeth, gwleidyddiaeth a disco (gan gynnwys adolygiad fy albwm newydd)

pedwargwynt.cymru/rhifyn-print...
November 12, 2024 at 11:19 AM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Northern Lights in mid Wales tonight
Pink and green-hued northern lights with silhouetted trees Pink and green-hued northern lights with silhouetted trees
October 10, 2024 at 11:50 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
One of the only times in my life I’ve been an ‘early adopter’
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #514,117!
September 18, 2024 at 10:11 AM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Oooh good thinking - I'll join you!
Composer pornstache making its debut earlier today
May 11, 2024 at 7:20 PM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
Having just read some very self-satisfied nonsense by a soi-disant 'experimental composer', I remembered this, from Lawrence Dunn. Nobody in theatre would unironically describe themselves as making 'experimental' work. Why do we tolerate it, still, in music? It's meaningless and should be retired.
Highlighted text from doctoral thesis by Lawrence Dunn, quote 'There is a sense that, applied now, the term 'experimental music' might have become a meaningless catchall; or worse, a tribal signifier.'
May 8, 2024 at 11:44 AM
rchrdbkr.bsky.social
All wonderful. Nothing quite beats this, from Kingsley Amis in 'Lucky Jim' (1954), often hailed as the greatest description of a hangover in English literature:
Dixon was alive again. Consciousness was upon him before he could get out of the way; not for him the slow, gracious wandering from the halls of sleep, but a summary, forcible ejection. He lay sprawled, too wicked to move, spewed up like a broken spider-crab on the tarry shingle of morning. The light did him harm, but not as much as looking at things did; he resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again. A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse. His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum. During the night, too, he'd somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by secret police. He felt bad.
January 1, 2024 at 5:11 PM