Then and Now

 A piece in Apollo magazine recalls the great unbroken series of wartime concerts given in the Barry Rooms of the National Gallery, and advertises four videos of recent concerts in the same venue by musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Unlike the performances given by Myra Hess and others every day, regardless of all the perils of war – including falling and unexploded bombs – the LPO's recitals were played to an empty room. What the Blitz couldn't do, Covid has achieved.   
Here is Dame Myra playing her wonderful arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring – and a fine bit of Scarlatti...