Iain Cameron's Diary
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2002-06-14 - 12:24 p.m.

Probably my last entrz from Prague - of course I am utterlz in love with the place. Last night I dropped in on a local book store which sells music and got a couple of very cheap flute editions - one of Renaissance Canons and one of Bach's French Suite - before going upstairs to the CD section. The assistant asked what music I had bought and then insisted I listen to Zelenka - a late Mass. Z is contemporary with Bach and on the basis of the item played displays a similar depth and intensity. Of course I bought it. Z's masses break up eg the Kyrie into several sctions each with different instrumentation and vocal disposition so there are 19 sections to the Mass. I have been doing some research since. The Masses are the masterworks although there are some orchestral pieces too - I glanced at a score in a shop this morning - too expensive to buy on spec. Instead I got the scores to both pf Smetana's S4tets and Dvoraks American.

I have tried some more flutes and found out more about the old-style instruments that seem to be around in several places - I have seen C and F piccolos in this format. Scandinavian folk bands use them it seems. I also looked at some interesting old lute like stringed instruments - quite good prices and a Cz made small size guitar. The Armstrong/Cz new flutes sstill strike me as pretty good - maybe I will regret not having made the leap.

I have bought James a couple of novels - one is a collection of stories by J Skvorecky about Lt Boruvka - a streetwise no nonsense tec tackling crime during the Prague Spring and subsequent repression. Plus Michal Viewegh , Bringing Up Girls in Bohemia - which is more pomo and post Velvet Rev. According to the back cover there are mafiosi with ex secret police bodyguards in a story where the author who is also an author tries to make sense of the suicide of one of his pupils - the daughter of one of the new millionaires.

Todaz is James first history A level exam of this bunch - I rang him this morning to wish him luck - he sounded quite kool.

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