Welcome

Working on this month’s issue involved a visit to the back of the garage to hunt through my dusty old vinyls. Lurking(see p26), played by pianists John Ogdon and Brenda Lucas with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Louis Frémaux. I don’t suppose my six-year-old self spotted how various rogue beasts had randomly sauntered onto the album cover – there are no rhinos, tigers or cows in the – though I’m sure I must have giggled at the apt name of the writer of the sleeve notes: Leonard Duck. What I do recall is that I played it obsessively again and again, particularly the Fossils. Sitting forlornly on the other side of the disc, Fauré’s Ballade and Litolff’s Scherzo never got a look-in.