Early Morning Music and Elgar's 'Dream of Gerontius'.

I was alerted to the fact that jet lag hasn't quite resolved itself, when I was woken at 5.30 this morning by the distant sound of music.
As I slowly 'came to', I realised it wasn't a dream, and that half of the bed was empty.
Drifting up from the music room was a beautifully performed version of 'Passage to New York', freshly composed on Robin's last visit there, only a few weeks ago.
It's a good job it is such a nice piece, otherwise, I may not have been quite so understanding. Especially as a sleepy son number one, appeared by my bed, and decided he may as well keep me company. Son number two sleeps through anything.
We did both get back to sleep, and Robin was still playing his guitar when I was awoken again at 7am, by the much more distressing sound of the alarm clock.

Continuing 'Elgar week' in The Daily Telegraph, there's a lovely article in which the mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker recalls singing the role of the Angel in Elgar's 'Dream of Gerontius'.
Again, this is an edited extract from, 'Elgar: An Anniversary Portrait', published by Continuum on May 28th.