#slipped-disc — Public Fediverse posts

Suffering with a slipped disc? Fix your back pain.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHU76n84QBkTKnihFUyz7jg

Have you being diagnosed with a slipped disc? Sometimes this term is used incorrectly.....how do you know if you have a disc issue in your back? In this video, Tommy lists the symptoms and risk factors you need to be aware of and how to deal with this diagnosis the right way. #slippeddisc #backpain #backinjury from Pain & Performance Clinic

https://painperformanceclinic.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/suffering-with-a-slipped-disc-fix-your-back-pain-https-www-youtube-com-channel-uchu76n84qbktknihfuyz7jg/

The Replacements, Let It Be, 1984 on Twin/Tone

Third full length album for The Replacements, following Hootenanny. Recorded at Blackberry Way after using a warehouse in Brooklyn Center for that record. Produced by Steve Fjelstad, Peter Jesperson, and Paul Westerberg.

Definitely one of my favorites – with the sublime (“Androgynous,” “Unsatisfied”) and the ridiculous (“Gary’s Got a Boner”) and a cover of Kiss’ “Black Diamond” for good measure. Peter Buck guests on “I Will Dare” and Chan Poling on “Sixteen Blue.”

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA—is the 2016 reissue by Rhino on Twin/Tone labels.

#1980s #1984 #2016 #BobStinson #ChanPoling #ChrisMars #LowellMA #MillNo5 #PaulWesterberg #PeterBuck #PeterJesperson #Reissue #Rhino #SlippedDisc #SteveFjelstad #TheReplacements #TommyStinson #TwinTone #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

The Replacements, Hootenanny, 1983 on Twin/Tone

Sophomore album from Minneapolis favorite sons The Replacements. A wonderfully messy record that’s sort of all over the place (rockabilly, blues, country and punk) but still works.

The transition from the wistful “Within Your Reach” ( “I can’t live without your touch / die within your reach”) to the surf-punk of “Buck Hill” sort of embodies the mixing that made The Replacements great. (I skied quite a bit at Buck Hill)- check out the trail map).

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA—is part of the 2016 Rhino reissue series, and sounds great.

#1980s #1983 #BobStinson #ChrisMars #LowellMA #MillNo5 #MinneapolisMN #PaulStark #PaulWesterberg #PeterJesperson #SlippedDisc #SteveFjelstad #TheReplacements #TommyStinson #TwinTone #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

The English Beat, What is Beat?, 1983 on I.R.S. Records

This is the North American version of this release (as evidenced by the “English”) which collected a number of singles, remixes, and live tracks as well as a number of tracks from the first three English Beat albums, serving as a kind of “best of” in the US.

There’s a 2xLP version with a different cover, attributed to The Beat, which was available in Europe. Still looking for a copy of that one.

As though IRS Records could get any cooler in the early 80s. Andy Cox, David Steele, Dave Wakeling, Ranking Roger, Dave Blockhead, Saxa, and Wesley Magoogan make up the band across the tracks, and producers include Bob Sargeant, David Peters, Mike Hedges, and The Beat.

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA—is a 1983 pressing from RCA’s Indianapolis plant, with

#1980s #1983 #AndyCox #BobSargeant #DaveBlockhead #DaveWakeling #DavidPeters #DavidSteele #IRSRecords #LowellMA #MikeHedges #MillNo5 #RankingRoger #Saxa #ska #SlippedDisc #TheEnglishBeat #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds #WesleyMagoogan

The Waterboys, This is the Sea, 1985 on Ensign / Chrysalis

This was the third studio album from The Waterboys, produced by Mike Scott and Karl Wallinger with John Brand and Mick Glossop. Includes one of my favorite Waterboys songs “The Whole of the Moon” but the entire album is wonderful.

It’s a bit hard to see in the photos but the Waterboys emblem / logo is imprinted on the cover as kind of glossy mask.

My copy is a 1986 reissue on Chrysalis labels – in the UK it came out on Ensign, which was sold to Chrysalis in 1984 – but it was also released in 1985 in the US on Island Records labels. Via Slipped Disc at a Mill No. 5 record fair.

#1980s #1985 #Chrysalis #Ensign #IslandRecords #KarlWallinger #LowellMA #MikeScott #MillNo5 #Reissue #SlippedDisc #TheWaterboys #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Talking Heads, Speaking in Tongues, 1983 on Sire

This was the fifth Talking Heads LP, produced by Talking Heads themselves rather than Brian Eno. It was the tour for this album which became Stop Making Sense, including their only US top 10 hit “Burning Down The House.”

What a killer album. In addition to “Burning Down The House” you’ve got “Making Flippy Floppy,” “Girlfriend is Better,” “Slipper People,” and “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody).” The band is joined by Steve Scales, Bernie Worrell, Nona Hendry and Dolette McDonald, Alex Weir, Wally Badarou, Raphael Dejeesus and others.

My copy is a 2013 Rhino reissue – it is difficult to find original pressings of Talking Heads LPs in the wild that are reasonable and in good shape. But I think this reissue series is great in terms of consistency and quality – not necessarily advertised as “audiophile” but sounds great to me.

Via Slipped Disc at a Mill No. 5 record fair.

#1980s #1983 #BernieWorrell #ChrisFrantz #DavidByrne #DoletteMcDonald #JerryHarrison #LowellMA #MillNo5 #NonaHendryx #Reissue #Rhino #Sire #SlippedDisc #TalkingHeads #TinaWeymouth #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Bauhaus, In The Flat Field, 1980 on 4AD

Debut album from Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David Jay, and Kevin Haskins aka Bauhaus. Bauhaus and its many spinoffs (Tones on Tail, Love and Rockets, Dali’s Car) are among my favorite musical lineages.

They’d released “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” as a single in 1979 on Small Wonder records, but this debut came out on 4AD which itself was new in 1980 under the Beggars Banquet umbrella.

The cover is a photograph called Homage to Purvis de Chavannes by American photographer Duane Michals – hopefully it doesn’t get my account flagged as naughty.

My copy – as so many in the last few weeks via Slipped Disc at a Mill No 5 record fair – is a 2013 reissue.

#1980 #1980s #4AD #Bauhaus #DanielAsh #DavidJay #Goth #KevinHaskins #LowellMA #MillNo5 #PeterMurphy #SlippedDisc #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Bauhaus, In The Flat Field, 1980 on 4AD

Debut album from Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David Jay, and Kevin Haskins aka Bauhaus. Bauhaus and its many spinoffs (Tones on Tail, Love and Rockets, Dali’s Car) are among my favorite musical lineages.

They’d released “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” as a single in 1979 on Small Wonder records, but this debut came out on 4AD which itself was new in 1980 under the Beggars Banquet umbrella.

The cover is a photograph called Homage to Purvis de Chavannes by American photographer Duane Michals – hopefully it doesn’t get my account flagged as naughty.

My copy – as so many in the last few weeks via Slipped Disc at a Mill No 5 record fair – is a 2013 reissue.

#1980 #1980s #4AD #Bauhaus #DanielAsh #DavidJay #Goth #KevinHaskins #LowellMA #MillNo5 #PeterMurphy #SlippedDisc #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Bauhaus, In The Flat Field, 1980 on 4AD

Debut album from Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David Jay, and Kevin Haskins aka Bauhaus. Bauhaus and its many spinoffs (Tones on Tail, Love and Rockets, Dali’s Car) are among my favorite musical lineages.

They’d released “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” as a single in 1979 on Small Wonder records, but this debut came out on 4AD which itself was new in 1980 under the Beggars Banquet umbrella.

The cover is a photograph called Homage to Purvis de Chavannes by American photographer Duane Michals – hopefully it doesn’t get my account flagged as naughty.

My copy – as so many in the last few weeks via Slipped Disc at a Mill No 5 record fair – is a 2013 reissue.

#1980 #1980s #4AD #Bauhaus #DanielAsh #DavidJay #Goth #KevinHaskins #LowellMA #MillNo5 #PeterMurphy #SlippedDisc #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

The Replacements, Tim, 1985 on Sire

This was The Replacements’ fourth studio LP and their first on major label Sire as opposed to Twin/Tone. It was also the last with Bob Stinson.

It’s one of my favorite albums of all time: “Kiss Me On The Bus,” “Waitress in the Sky,” “Bastards of Young,” “Swingin Party,” and “Here Comes a Regular” are all just perfect. It’s the right mix of Paul Westerberg’s mournful / wistful pop sensibility and punk ethos.

Not sure what format I had this on in the 80s, but my current vinyl copy—via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No 5 in Lowell – is the 2017 Rhino reissue, which sounds great – I never see originals of this out in the wild.

#1980s #1985 #BobStinson #ChrisMars #LowellMA #MillNo5 #PaulWesterberg #Sire #SlippedDisc #TheReplacements #TommyStinson #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

The English Beat, Special Beat Service, 1982 on IRS

On this release the spine uses the name “The Beat” but uses “The English Beat” on the cover and labels so as not to conflict with Paul Collin’s The Beat. This was their third LP and last under the original configuration – they’d show up later as The Beat featuring Ranking Roger and then The Beat starring Dave Wakeling.

Love all three of these original LPs – this one has “I Confess,” “Save it for Later,” and “Spar Wid Me.” In the UK they were on Go-Feet Records but in the US this one was on IRS

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No. 5—is a goldisc pressing from 1982 with the original custom inner.

#1980s #1982 #AndyCox #DaveBlockhead #DaveWakeling #DavidSteele #EverettMorton #IRSRecords #LowellMA #MillNo5 #RankingRoger #Saxa #SlippedDisc #TheEnglishBeat #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds #WesleyMagoogan

The Replacements, “Stink”, 1982 on Twin/Tone

This EP aka The Replacements – Stink (“Kids Don’t Follow” Plus Seven) came out in 1982, following the release of Sorry Ma. I always thought it was their first release. Opens with the infamous “This is the Minneapolis Police, the party’s over . . . if you all just grab your stuff and leave there won’t be any hassle.” megaphone announcement which segues right into “Kids Don’t Follow.”

Recorded at Blackberry Way in March of 1982 and produced by Peter Jesperson, Steve Fjelstad and the Replacements. Great early energetic ‘mats but already showing some of the more wistful Westerberg to come in a song like “Go.”

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No 5 in Lowell—is a fourth pressing circa 1986.

#1980s #1982 #BobStinson #ChrisMars #LowellMA #MillNo5 #PaulWesterberg #PeterJesperson #SlippedDisc #SteveFjelstad #TheReplacements #TommyStinson #TwinTone #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Billy Bragg, Help Save The Youth of America (Live and Dubious), 1988 on Elektra

Billy Bragg live six song EP released to encourage US youth to vote in the 1988 presidential election. Includes “Chile, Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto” (written by Bernice Johnson Reagon of Sweet Honey in the Rock) and “There is Power In a Union.”

Remember, when you elect a President, you are electing President for all of us. Please be more careful this time.

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA—is a US pressing on Elektra which is in great shape but is missing the original custom inner with info on voter registration.

#1980s #1988 #BillyBragg #Election #Elektra #Live #LowellMA #MillNo5 #Politics #SlippedDisc #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

The Special AKA, In The Studio, 1984 on Chrysalis / 2 Tone

This was the third album from The Specials, and the only LP under the name Special AKA (early on the band had used The Special A.K.A. as well). The lineup changed quite a bit from the original Specials, after the departure of Neville Staple, Terry Hall, and Lynval Golding (who would form Fun Boy Three).

Some great tracks here including of course “Nelson Mandela” but also “Racist Friend” (not to be confused with the They Might Be Giants song “Your Racist Friend”).

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a vinyl fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA—is a US 1984 pressing on Chrysalis labels, with the original inner liner and a hype sticker for “Free Nelson Mandela.”

#LowellMA #MillNo5 #SlippedDisc #TheSpecialAKA #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

The Special AKA, In The Studio, 1984 on Chrysalis / 2 Tone

This was the third album from The Specials, and the only LP under the name Special AKA (early on the band had used The Special A.K.A. as well). The lineup changed quite a bit from the original Specials, after the departure of Neville Staple, Terry Hall, and Lynval Golding (who would form Fun Boy Three).

Some great tracks here including of course “Nelson Mandela” but also “Racist Friend” (not to be confused with the They Might Be Giants song “Your Racist Friend”).

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a vinyl fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA—is a US 1984 pressing on Chrysalis labels, with the original inner liner and a hype sticker for “Free Nelson Mandela.”

#LowellMA #MillNo5 #SlippedDisc #TheSpecialAKA #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980 on A&M

Third album in the brilliant opening set of LPs from Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers. Side one opens with “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” “Driven To Tears,” and “When The World is Running Down, You Make The Best of What’s Still Around” – what a sequence!

There’s such a tight and interesting rhythm to these early Police albums – obviously a trio of brilliant musicians taking basic rock structures and expanding on them in interesting and challenging ways.

Before I starting bringing discogs (on my phone) when record shopping, I bought 2 or 3 copies of each of the first 5 Police LPs – now I know better and only pick one up if it is an upgrade of quality.

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a vinyl fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA—looks to be a 1981 pressing from Pittman, perhaps with stampers from Terre Haute.

#1980 #1980s #AM #AnySummers #LowellMA #MillNo5 #SlippedDisc #StewartCopeland #ThePolice #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980 on A&M

Third album in the brilliant opening set of LPs from Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers. Side one opens with “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” “Driven To Tears,” and “When The World is Running Down, You Make The Best of What’s Still Around” – what a sequence!

There’s such a tight and interesting rhythm to these early Police albums – obviously a trio of brilliant musicians taking basic rock structures and expanding on them in interesting and challenging ways.

Before I starting bringing discogs (on my phone) when record shopping, I bought 2 or 3 copies of each of the first 5 Police LPs – now I know better and only pick one up if it is an upgrade of quality.

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a vinyl fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA—looks to be a 1981 pressing from Pittman, perhaps with stampers from Terre Haute.

#1980 #1980s #AM #AnySummers #LowellMA #MillNo5 #SlippedDisc #StewartCopeland #ThePolice #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Los Lobos, By the Light of the Moon, 1987 on Slash Records

Los Lobos’ follow on record to How Will The Wolf Survive?. which was produced by T-Bone Burnett.

I love the Slash! records catalog from the 80s – great Americana tinged but contemporary music – and this is no exception.

My copy—via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No. 5—is an Allied pressing from the late 80s – in great shape with the original inner liner and hype sticker.

#1980s #1987 #LosLobos #LowellMA #MillNo5 #SlashRecords #SlippedDisc #TBoneBurnett #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Sade, Stronger Than Pride, 1988 on Epic

Third studio LP from the group Sade, named after singer Sade Adu and including (on this LP) Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale, and Paul Denman. What a fantastic run they had in the 80s and early 90s: Diamond LIfe, Promise, Stronger Than Pride, and Love Deluxe are all fantastic. I could just put “Turn My Back On You” itself on repeat for hours.

While all of Sade’s albums have been reissued, including in a six album box set – my copy (via Slipped Disc during a record fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell MA) is a Columbia Carrollton pressing from 1988. Exciting to find one still with the custom inner sleeve.

#1980s #AndrewHale #Epic #LowellMA #MillNo5 #Sade #SadeAdu #SlippedDisc #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Nick Lowe, Labour of Lust, 1979 on Columbia

Second album released under the Nick Lowe name, recorded with the same personnel from Rockpile and in the same year as Dave Edmunds’ Repeat When Necessary. The US and UK versions have different track list – this is the US version, including “American Squirm” as track A4.

This has “Cruel To Be Kind” which became Lowe’s biggest hit in the US, and was co-written by Lowe and Ian Gromm as part of Brinsley Schwarz.

My copy via Slipped Disc during a record show at Mill No. 5, with the original colored inner sleeve.

#1970s #1979 #BrinsleySchwarz #Columbia #IanGromm #LowellMA #MillNo5 #NickLowe #RecordFair #SlippedDisc #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Tom Waits, Closing Time, 1973 on Asylum

Tom Waits’ debut album, after David Geffen met him performing at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. Amazing how fully-formed Waits is here, kicking off his debut album with “Ol’ 55” and “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You” – all originals.

Tom Waits always feels to me like he could have come from any time – this could come out in 2025 and feel fresh. He’s just in something of a genre all his own.

My copy – via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No. 5 – is a 2018 reissue on Anti-, pressed by Independent Record Pressing (IRP) in New Jersey – original pressings in good shape are nearly impossible to find.

#1970s #1973 #anti_ #Asylum #DavidGeffen #MillNo5 #SlippedDisc #TomWaits #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

Nick Lowe, Pure Pop for Now People, 1978 on Columbia

Issued as Jesus of Cool in the UK and elsewhere, but as Pure Pop for Now People in the US and Canada. this was NIck Lowe’s solo debut. The track list also differs between the North American and European releases.

Yep Rock put out an expanded reissue in the US in 2008 under the name Jesus of Cool including both versions of the tracklist and seven bonus tracks, but I was happy to find this early pressing (actually looks to be an early 80s pressing in the “Nice Price” series).

Via Slipped Disc at a record fair at Mill No. 5 in Lowell.

#1970s #1978 #Columbia #JesusOfCool #LowellMA #MillNo5 #NicePrice #NickLowe #Pop #SlippedDisc #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds

I had a nerve block five weeks ago, but it made very little difference to my pain. Looks like I'm going to be having spinal surgery #sciatica #slippeddisc

I had a nerve block five weeks ago, but it made very little difference to my pain. Looks like I'm going to be having spinal surgery #sciatica #slippeddisc

The 20 ‘most painful' health conditions, according to the NHS
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/medical/the-20-most-painful-health-conditions-according-to-the-nhs/ar-AA1kSjMR?cvid=0891b67d26254255841cf61460de207b&ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&ei=7

#Pain
#NHS
#Endometriosis
#SlippedDisc
#Appendicitis
#BrokenBones
#Shingles
#FrozenShoulder
#ClusterHeadaches
#ComplexRegionalPainSyndrome
#CRPS
#HeartAttack
#KidneyStones
#Arthritis
#Gout
#SickleCellDisease
#SickelCell
#Fibromyalgia
#Migraine
#Sciatica
#TrigeminalNeuralgia
#AcutePancreatitus
#StomachUlcer
#PáinAfterSurgery

The 20 ‘most painful' health conditions, according to the NHS
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/medical/the-20-most-painful-health-conditions-according-to-the-nhs/ar-AA1kSjMR?cvid=0891b67d26254255841cf61460de207b&ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&ei=7

#Pain
#NHS
#Endometriosis
#SlippedDisc
#Appendicitis
#BrokenBones
#Shingles
#FrozenShoulder
#ClusterHeadaches
#ComplexRegionalPainSyndrome
#CRPS
#HeartAttack
#KidneyStones
#Arthritis
#Gout
#SickleCellDisease
#SickelCell
#Fibromyalgia
#Migraine
#Sciatica
#TrigeminalNeuralgia
#AcutePancreatitus
#StomachUlcer
#PáinAfterSurgery

The 20 ‘most painful' health conditions, according to the NHS
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/medical/the-20-most-painful-health-conditions-according-to-the-nhs/ar-AA1kSjMR?cvid=0891b67d26254255841cf61460de207b&ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&ei=7

#Pain
#NHS
#Endometriosis
#SlippedDisc
#Appendicitis
#BrokenBones
#Shingles
#FrozenShoulder
#ClusterHeadaches
#ComplexRegionalPainSyndrome
#CRPS
#HeartAttack
#KidneyStones
#Arthritis
#Gout
#SickleCellDisease
#SickelCell
#Fibromyalgia
#Migraine
#Sciatica
#TrigeminalNeuralgia
#AcutePancreatitus
#StomachUlcer
#PáinAfterSurgery

The 20 ‘most painful' health conditions, according to the NHS
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/medical/the-20-most-painful-health-conditions-according-to-the-nhs/ar-AA1kSjMR?cvid=0891b67d26254255841cf61460de207b&ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&ei=7

#Pain
#NHS
#Endometriosis
#SlippedDisc
#Appendicitis
#BrokenBones
#Shingles
#FrozenShoulder
#ClusterHeadaches
#ComplexRegionalPainSyndrome
#CRPS
#HeartAttack
#KidneyStones
#Arthritis
#Gout
#SickleCellDisease
#SickelCell
#Fibromyalgia
#Migraine
#Sciatica
#TrigeminalNeuralgia
#AcutePancreatitus
#StomachUlcer
#PáinAfterSurgery

Robert Adlington on Reinbert de Leeuw: ‘His “canon” was quite unlike anyone else’s’

Grave of Reinbert de Leeuw on Zorgvliet, 21 February 2020

Reinbert de Leeuw died on 14 February 2020, and was buried in Amsterdam exactly a week later, after a worthy tribute in  Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. He had chosen the music for his farewell himself, with Asko|Schönberg performing Berceuse élégiaque by Ferruccio Busoni and the Netherlands Chamber Choir singing Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen by Anton Webern.

On film the packed hall witnessed an intense performance of the last movement of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps by the violinist Vera Beths with Reinbert himself at the piano. The memorial ceremony ended with Reinbert conducting the finale of Schönberg’s Gurrelieder, the close-up of his ecstatic abandon triggering a heartfelt standing ovation. – Reinbert’s last.

His demise did not go unnoticed internationally either. The British site Slipped Disc commemorated Reinbert on the day of his passing and the New York Times published an obituary on 21 February, the day of his burial.

The British musicologist Robert Adlington studied Dutch musical life intensely, dedicating two books to it. Louis Andriessen: De Staat (Landmarks in Music Since 1950) appeared in 2004. Nine years later, in 2013, he zoomed in on the ‘roaring sixties’ in Composing Dissent: Avant-garde Music in 1960s Amsterdam. Robert was kind enough to share his thoughts on Reinbert in a personal obituary, which I feel honoured to publicize on my blog. Thanks Robert!

‘RdL’

‘RdL’: this was my shorthand, peppering my note-taking as I immersed myself in the archives and literature on Dutch music of the ‘roerige jaren zestig’. These initials surfaced in a remarkable variety of contexts: RdL as pianist and conductor, for sure – playing keyboards in the ‘Politiek demonstratief experimenteel’ concert of May 1968; directing one of the ensembles in Reconstructie – but also RdL as critic (in De Gids and the crisply provocative Muzikale Anarchie), RdL as composer (his Hymns and Chorals perhaps the strongest of any of the works composed by the ‘Notenkrakers’ in 1970), and above all, RdL as lead strategist for the new ‘ensemblecultuur’.

Oddly, given the central role he played in my research, I never met RdL. We had arranged an interview, for which I made a special trip to Amsterdam, but his agent cancelled the same morning. I decided not to follow up; I knew already at this stage that my history would not be able to cast him in a uniformly positive light. And he undoubtedly had better things to do than to respond – yet again – to impertinent questions about an unhelpfully mythologised past.

But I vividly recall three landmark performances, landmarks for me anyway. My first RdL concert: Louis Andriessen’s De materie in London, 1994. Attending as a group with student friends, this performance symbolised the aching gap, as we then saw it, between new music performance culture in the Netherlands and the UK. The gap could be summed up in a single word – commitment – and it was underlined by RdL’s podium technique, utterly undemonstrative, yet eliciting playing (from the combined Asko and Schönberg forces) of quite fearsome power and accuracy. In the Netherlands, it seemed, new music was taken seriously.

Then: 2002 at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the most transcendently exquisite Ligeti I have ever heard. I had bought a ticket to hear De Staat, cancelled from 11 September the previous year. But marvellous though that was, it was Ligeti’s Double Concerto that sticks in the memory, each of the work’s gradated transitions and moments of quiet revelation realised with carefully weighted perfection. And another symbol of Dutch difference: refined Ligeti and rowdy Andriessen sitting side-by-side on a concert programme, disregarding perceptions of incongruity or ‘bad taste’. RdL certainly had blindspots of his own, but if he stood accused of exercising too much power over Dutch new music culture, his ‘canon’ was at least quite unlike anyone else’s.

And the last time I saw RdL, in Rotterdam in 2017, playing Liszt’s Via Crucis with the Nederlands Kamerkoor. I had never before heard the piece, though knew it had long been championed by RdL, and quickly came to realise that this was to be RdL’s Via Crucis as much as Liszt’s. Hunched low over the keys, as if exploring entirely new physical and psychological territory, this was less performance, more private confessional, to which the audience had unexpectedly been granted admission. It reminded me anew of how much RdL’s contribution – for good, and (it will be argued) for ill – arose from a complete devotion to the music in which he believed.

Nothing could ever be more important.

#AskoSchönberg #LouisAndriessen #NederlandsKamerkoor #ReinbertDeLeeuw #RobertAdlington #SlippedDisc #TheNewYorkTimes