A Long Journey Begins
8 March

There is, perhaps, an age-old human enjoyment with extended narratives.

Series and serials have long been a staple. Dickens' novels were published in serial form long before the extended soap operas of our own day.

I've recorded a number of instances in this Journal. For example...

• Alexander McCall Smith's series of novels set in Botswana which has brought delight on an annual basis from The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency on through In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Blue Shoes and Happiness, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive and The Miracle at Speedy Motors
• J K Rowling's Harry Potter novels which I began reading in the summer of 2000 and finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in July 2007
• the Harry Potter films which Ross and I have followed from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to the first part of the final film last year with the grand climax to come this summer
• the filmed adaptations of J R R Tolkein's Lord of the Rings with The Two Towers and The Return of the King
• a number of factual series on Radio 4 from the epic This Sceptered Isle in the 1990s and including James Naughtie's series on The Making of Music, Heather Cooper on astronomy in Cosmic Quest, Andrew Cunningham on The Making of Modern Medicine, Michael Morpurgo on The Invention of Childhood, David Reynolds' history of the United States of America entitled Empire of Liberty to the recent A History of the World in 100 Objects hosted by Neil MacGregor
• Radio 4's adaptations of John LeCarré's spy novels featuring George Smiley which ran from May 2009 to May 2010
• a cycle of Beethoven's first, second, third, fourth and fifth piano concertoes given by Paul Lewis and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko during Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture

Radio Four has just started another extended run of adaptations with Toby Stephens starring as Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe. So far they are very enjoyable and the atmosphere of film noir Los Angeles has been caught to perfection in the soundtrack.

Last autumn, I began my first traversal of Wagner's Ring Cycle since I saw it complete at Bayreuth in 1984. The October telecast of Das Rheingold from the Metropolitan Opera in New York will be followed this May by Die Walküre and, next season, by Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.

Now, I am back in the company of Paul Lewis who has begun a cycle of Schubert piano music for the Rodewald Society.

The first concert included the Piano Sonata No15 in C major Reliquie, Three Piano Pieces D946 and the Piano Sonata No17 in D major.

It was excellent. I'm tempted to go even further but, with seven more concerts to go, I'm giving myself room to go even higher in my praise should the occasion demand.