2008 Review of the Year

Reading back over a year's worth of journalising is always illuminating.

Some years feel full of incident but then have little that has been recorded. Some years feel that little has happened and yet have been written up in many postings. Some years are more emotional than others. Some years record great changes.

I honestly don't know about this year at all. It certainly feels as though it records an increasingly uncertain world. And yet the changes seem to be few and far between. Maybe the resonances will be felt into the future.

One of the major innovations in the way that I have looked at things has been in the development of my rating system. This year has seen the introduction of half stars. The range is now as follows.

In previous years, I have limited myself to events rating four stars and above. With the new system, that would have left a very limited range of events to weigh in the balance. I suspect that the new system has made me more stringent in my judgements. To compensate, therefore, I've included events that I rated with three and a half stars or more (ie to be at least very good).

So, on with the motley.

The Arts

Ranging through the various categories, I have to say that there were a few that would have had no entry at all if I had stuck to to must have four stars notion of previous years.

Best Film

The first of these would have been the film category, which is an enormous surprise. In fact, even with the extended range, only two films fell out of the pile. Well, we have watched fewer DVDs of late and have not been to the cinema that often. But, even so, only two films of quality out of a whole year seems feeble by comparison with the tally in previous reviews. Both happen to star James McAvoy, hem, studmuffin of the moment.

The nominations are

And the award goes to

The Last King of Scotland

which contained a stonking central performance from Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy's bouncing buttocks. So, something there for everyone then. Which make it two years running for James McAvoy as he was in last year's winner, Atonement

Best Theatrical Event

No theatre event caught my attention this year.

Best Media Programme

However, my license fee was put to good use by the BBC across the broad spectrum of its television and radio services.

The nominations are

And, from out of that completely disparate list, the award goes to

BBC4's The Choral Tradition

for its intelligent traversal of subject about which I knew little beforehand and about which knew a lot more afterwards.

Best Book

There was only one book of note in the non-fiction category which I rated highly and so the award goes to

The Last Revolution
by Patrick Dillon

because the coup d'état of 1688 and the events which surround it fascinate me.

There were a few more books in the fiction category to assess.

And, with a little hesitation, the award goes to

Passing On
by Penelope Lively

because she was a new voice to me, because she made me laugh out loud at the foibles of her characters, because I was moved to tears on a couple of occasions.

Best Operatic Event

There's been a big change in my operatic attendances this year with the introduction of live broadcasts of opera to cinemas.

In fact, you can sort the performances attended into three more or less equally sized groups - live performances by major companies (Opera North, Welsh National Opera and the Royal Opera), live performances by medium scale operations (English Touring Opera, Buxton Festival and Holland Park Opera) and concerts, broadcasts, webcasts and the rest.

This is a great change from my days in London when over 80% of all performances that I attended took place in either the Royal Opera House or the London Coliseum.

And so, to the nominations, which cover large, medium and small scale presentations and live cinema broadcasts.

However, there could only be one winner because it had five star status back in February. And it is

Peter Grimes

which is quite remarkable because it was the second time that I had seen this show and it won best opera performance back in 2006 as well. If anything, it was even better second time around.

Best Dance Event

I very much enjoyed attending the inaugural performance of Ben Wright's company at The Place back in May and it was the only dance event which I rated at all and so the award goes to

bgroup

for an excellent evening of three short works.

Best Music Event

I guess that the main thing to note here is the renaissance of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko. Time was under Gerard Schwarz when I was deliberately avoiding the chief conductor's concerts and looking out for the guest spots. Now, there are a fair number of concerts from the RLPO represented below that rated a very good or more - all of them were conducted by Mr Petrenko.

So, this is one of the most difficult categories to decide on this year. As I said at the time, I've waited nearly half a lifetime to hear Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time in a live performance. In any other year, it would probably have carried away the laurels with no difficulty. However, the award goes to

Shostakovich's Symphony No5

for being a once in a lifetime's experience. Again, as I said at the time, I rarely stand up at the end of any performance. I believe that you save such gestures for very special occasions. I stood that night. It was that good.

Best Recording

I've decided to introduce this new category this year. I regularly comment on new records that I have bought so I thought that I should gather them together. One thing stands out immediately and that is that it has been a bumper year for recordings by Sir Charles Mackerras.

However, the award is going to go to the recording of music by

Leonin and Perotin

because BBC4's The Choral Tradition introduced me to this sound world and this CD has never been far from my turntable since. I think that Pérotin's Beata viscera is one of the most beautiful vocal tracks that I have ever heard.

Best Exhibition

There are fewer exhibitions to choose from this year.

I would love to give the palm to either of the two Liverpool-based exhibitions but award goes to

Radical Light

because this exhibition at the National Gallery was exciting, revelatory and superb.

Social

Last year was a year when I broke one of my cycles. I should have made a big change last year but I didn't. In retrospect, this year has been more about making small adjustments and dealing with external changes.

There were big changes on both sides of our house. We lost Spenser and Sue from No 4 and the house remains empty. Bev's departure was a bit of a relief, sad to say. However, the new neighbours in both basement and ground floor flats have been something of a mixed blessing.

I lost my yoga teacher Barbara and, though I found one replacement, I'm not sure that this is where I shall finally land. I also laid down my reiki sessions with Janet and took up Bowen technique sessions with Gail.

I put forward a number of job applications and was interviewed (unsuccessfully) for the posts of Web Content Editor at Liverpool Museum and HelpDesk Assistant at Liverpool University. I shall continue seeking for enhanced job satisfaction during 2009.

So, last year I broke one of my patterns of depression and/or crisis and/or revolutionary change which occur approximately every three to four years. So one of the seven year cycles was modified - and you know I have this thing about The Power of Seven.

Now, the last time that I was laid low by a bout of clinical depression was in December 2003. So, my next little seven year cycle comes into play in another two years time. However, I shall be approaching it from a different trajectory so we'll see what happens then.

Certainly this year has been somewhat up and down. For example, there have been two periods of not writing this year - firstly from 10 March to 15 May and then from 11 August to 10 October. That's not happened before.

Anyhow, let's look at some of the better aspects of the social calendar for the past year.

Best Peak Experience

There have been some lovely events and trips out and the best of these have been

And, from these, the unquestioned highlight was (and the award goes to)

watching the Parade of Sail

because it was a fine day in an otherwise patchy summer, it was shared with a loved one and a dear friend, it was a magnificent spectacle and it was free.

Best Thing Round the House

As I've already mentioned, it is a sad thing to say but one of the best things around the house was the departure of a neighbour. It meant that I spent a lot more time in the garden in February, March, April, May, May (again), July and August.

It is also good that Ross's smoking is now no longer a secret between us even if I really don't like the taste and smell of his habit.

So, what has gladdened my heart on the domestic front. The nominations are

And the winner is

curtains in the bedroom

because so much else has followed from the completion of our nest and our retreat from the world at large.

Best Nookie

I think that my focus and the focus of this journal have changed so much over its thirteen years that this award no longer has any special merit and so I am withdrawing it from circulation.

Best Meal

Only one meal was special enough to merit a mention here and so the award goes to

Ralph Osgerby's 80th Birthday celebration

for being a lovely, friendly, family affair - even if it wasn't my direct family.

Best New Friend

There's no-one I feel that I can mention here who I have met in the past twelve months. It's early days for including Gail, my Bowen therapist. So, I would be entirely justified in leaving this one blank for a year.

However, I'm going to bend the rules because I can do this and present the award to a friend of very long standing - over twenty years in fact.

I'm going to give the award to

Roland

because a background pulse to all of the events of the past year has been his presence. Whether visiting the Gustav Klimt exhibition with me in June or joining Ross and I to view the Parade of Sail in July or meeting up with Colin and I for Thaïs at FACT in December or simply the many Saturday afternoons we have spent being grumpy middle aged men together in the pub, he has simply been there.

Special Award

Normally, I offer this award to either a person or a domestic treasure that is close to me. This year, I'm going to break the mould.

Music plays a great part in my life. Vasily Petrenko's work with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has given me great joy this year. In Liverpool's Capital of Culture year, he has been an amazing ambassador for classical music by simply putting good and great performances out there.

However, he is a young man at the beginning of his career.

Ever since I went down to London as a student in 1973 and started attending performances conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, I have been in thrall to his music making. With any luck, I shall be hearing him conduct the RLPO in concert early in 2009. This year, I've attended a performance of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, watched an Internet broadcast of Mozart's Don Giovanni and bought recordings of works by Mozart, Humperdinck, Janacek and Strauss. The man is a living legend and so I'm delighted to give the special award to

Sir Charles Mackerras

for filling my life with music.