Rachmaninov Vespers in Portsmouth

It was an honour and privilege to do the review, such as I am able, of the Portsmouth Choral Union and the Renaissance Choir's Rachmaninov Vespers on Saturday. A bit like what is said about teachers, 'those who can, do, and those who can't only write about it'. Critics have not always been the darlings of the cultural world, trying to make their secondary points on the back of the work of genuine artists but I hope that's not me. I go to enjoy and celebrate the occasion rather than find fault, which I'd rarely be able to do anyway. 

I'm not a 'critic', which sounds like it implies 'criticism' in its negative sense any more than I'm a 'poet' which sounds like it implies I'm somebody dreamy and somehow apart from the everyday world like Keats. I just like writing about things I like.

Rachmaninov Vespers review at Music in Portsmouth 

I think that's the 28th 'classical' concert I've been to this year out of what might be 33 in the end. In December, once the busy schedule is over, for my purposes at least, we might have a Review of the Year and at least a shortlist, if not daring to nominate an actual winner, for Event of the Year. I can't imagine the Portsmouth Choral Union and the Renaissance Choir not making the shortlist.