It did take me some time to gather and read all the Maigret novels but it was worth it.

I think what No More Marking is using with AI has great value as it privileges the teacher's feedback.

Neil Almond @mralmonded.bsky.social shared this water resistance simulator he created with Claude (prompt attached). claude.ai/public/artif...

I think this might also have value at some point.

So many wonderful recordings. I just wish Abbado had made his first recording with the LSO rather than the VPO - the concurrent live performance was supreme.

It was with the LSO in the 90s; Mozart's final three symphonies were on the rest of the programs. They recorded all 5 with the VPO around the same time.

I have a soft spot for Brendel's later Brahms PCs with Abbado/BPO. The D minor is a wonderful performance, closer to being symphonic.

I really hope somebody translates this book because I might have to learn French. What was it that George Eliot wrote?

"Character is a process and an unfolding"

Oh, that's exciting. There's No Home was one of the best novels I read last year.

Mark Elder's Elgar with the Halle has been a modern miracle. In The South is a spectacular accompaniment to the No.1. Del Mar's Enigma is also very special. And nothing quite matches Kennedy's first VC. Downes is criminally underrated.

Are there any inferior recordings of this wonderful concerto? Here are three others I enjoy. I am still hoping that one day Viktoria Mullova set it down. I have a feeling it would be extraordinary.

I remember discovering the Octet and later op.118, both very special.

All of the above are great, so I chose two more unsung recordings. Late Mackerras is always wonderful and the Chung disc comes from a period where I though he would become a recording star, such was the quality of his music making. Such a pity he didn't get a chance with the Concertgebouw...

I can only narrow it to four recordings:

I will always have the biggest crush on the Abbado/VPO set as it was my first. I could have included Jarvi but wanted to give to Immerseel and Schmidt-Isserstedt's wonderfully old school set.

That Brendel/Abbado recording is to my ears special, austere enough to be sublime like a gothic cathedral that is both majestic and granite cold.

I love the Zimerman/Bernstein recording, weird and slow as it is. Also Vogt, Buchbinder/Harnoncourt and Melnikov/Bolton. And the 4-hand version is fun.

Why is it that I see this and just get very excited? Any new recording from Krystian Zimerman is cause for celebration.

Hard to pick. Decided to avoid Beethoven. Really wanted to include Pollini's Schoenberg, but here we go. I think the Brendel/Abbado Brahms 1 is seriously underrated.

#FavouriteDiscs Not all of these were released in 2024 but I found each of these compelling from the first play. The Brautigam was my personal disc of the year - bias plays a part though as I find him compelling in everything he does.