The Listening Atlas

Welcome!


The Listening Atlas is a blog site that explores the world of Rock, Blues, Acoustic, Jazz and Classical music. There will also be musically related travel stories, with the first post describing a Bach ‘pilgrimage’, following in the great man’s footsteps from Eisenach to Leipzig.

A Bach Pilgrimage

This tour has been on my bucket list since the time that I first started listening to the music of J.S. Bach. I finally got to make the trip in 2023. I thought it may be helpful to share the details of this journey as a guide for those contemplating a similar trip, or for those just interested in reading about the journey of his life, travelling through the German states of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony.

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Posts

A Listening Life

I have come to the sad realisation that I will never get that call from Michael Berkeley at BBC Radio 3 to appear on ‘Private Passions’. I have had many happy daydreams imagining the music I would choose and discuss.

Of course, an hour is not enough time to cover all the music I would like to enthuse about. Alexis Korner was a broadcaster and musician who presented a long running Radio 1 show from 1977 to 1982. He played a wide range of his favourite blues, jazz, soul, funk and folk music. For a teenager from a small town in the English Midlands, this was all entirely new and exciting, and it would go on to have a profound influence on my future musical interests.

And then-admittedly a bit late-I ‘discovered’ the world of classical music. This was around the same time that Simon Rattle took over the reins of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (in 1980). I spent many happy evenings sitting in the ‘cheap’ seats behind the orchestra at the Birmingham Town Hall, being entranced and educated by Mr Rattle and the CBSO.

In posts over the coming months I will Share my favourite music from a range of genres, which I hope may be of interest to other music lovers.