Last week I went to see Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Barbican with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. It’s a wonderful production, beautifully staged, superbly well acted, a great experience. This must be the most enduring and masterful of Shakespeare’s plays, for so many of the lines have passed into our everyday language. We saying.. read more →

The last Lambent Letter was about practice and what it can make you. Better than you were, no doubt, but not perfect. How much better depends on the quality of the practice. It reminds me of a story that I used to tell my guitar students. It is probably true, or if not, it deserves.. read more →

When I began as a classical guitar concert player and teacher, I used to tell my students ‘Practice makes perfect’, so often that their eyes glazed over. It’s a cliché, so no one paid any attention to it. They ‘knew’ it was true, practised when they felt like it, berated themselves when they did not… read more →

What does ‘Ozymandias’ mean to you? You may know it as the title of the 60th episode of the great TV series ‘Breaking Bad’, called by many one of the greatest TV drama episodes ever made. It had action, drama, pathos, emotion, the tangled webs of each character came together in a defining moment. But.. read more →