The inhabitants of the flats above and below mine are away, so I can indulge in Bruckner and Wagner to my heart's delight at full volume. Spent a pleasant day with Handel's Resurrezione -- my third recording of this lovely work, with a fourth (Emannuele Haïm) on order and due any day now. This latest acquisition is a Dutch affair conducted by an Italian (Marco Vitale). It uses "Roman pitch" of A=392 Hz, and some of the tempi are somewhat stately, so it often sounds as if Handel is in murky Glasgow rather than sunny Rome. A pleasant performance and recording, though my hackles rise at the sound of the San Giovanni (Marcel Beekman). To me his voice sounds unctuous and oily, though his diction and Italian are exemplary.

I interspersed Handel with Schubert, and delved into the first of two recent CDs from Imogen Cooper. Nice playing and nice sound (and terrific music; late Schubert really is very special). But when I was learning music, andantino was not Italian for "at the pace of an elderly snail".