Antheil, I went to a public lecture at the RCM last Thursday. Robert Worby was presenting his work on Cage's "Fontana Mix", (he has made two realisations of the piece). While discussing how Cage produced his tape version of the piece while working at Berio' s electronic music studio in Milan, he first mentioned how Cage famously won several million Lire on an Italian TV quiz show (part of which winnings he spent on a Steinway for his own use, and a minibus type vehicle for the Cunningham Dance troupe), he related how Stockhausen  once asked Cage whether he wrote for performers, or what he wanted the music to be, regardless of the performers. It appears that Cage always wrote for performers, while Stockhausen wrote the music he wanted, and the performers had to fit in with it. Cage composed a work titled "Aria" for Cathy Berberian using the same compositional tools as he did for Fontana Mix. Aria was performed frequently by her and remains very much in the repertoir of many singers today. Stockhausen also wrote a piece for Cathy Berbarian, which has not been performed and has very much fallen into obscurity. The score required the performer to whistle. Cathy Berberian could not whistle.

Bhut could Birt wistle?

Gosh!! Just been checking the canines.

                                     

Nope. They seem perfectly normal to me. That probably explains the passion for roast parsnips when there's a full moon then.



That is odd. English mother; father's family moved to Wales from England in late 19th century...  

Ouch! Blimey, you're right. Those canines are sharp.

This is the first mention I found regarding the blood-group and diet theory this morning:

http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/blood_group_diet.htm

Ron, having read that I think it's a load of nonsense, but it would be interesting to find out from the veggies amongst us what blood group they are, which I guess is impossible unless folks are blood donors and know.  On the subject of donors, I would urge people to put aside half an hour when the blood donation team is in town, you never know when you might need some.  And you get a cup of tea and bikkies afterwards!

Thanks for all the encouragements and messages.
Feeling a lot more grounded during the last two days though I'm still feeling a little hermetic.
I'm beginning to suspect that half of the problem might be that I'm unsure as to how much noise I can get away with in my flat, and hence I'm not listening to a lot of music (when I have my desk in my bedroom I'll feel happier having music on when working because there are two solid walls on either side, whereas in the lounge, where I have to do most of my work at the moment, there's a partition wall between me and my neighbour). Am I turning into The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat?

hh, I worry about my music impinging on my neighbours, which is why I have cordless headphones.  That may be an avenue to explore?