Highlights of the Cardiff Festival (so far, anyway)

That is, musical highlights! Firstly, M and I went promenading at 2 Welsh Proms concerts. The first, on Monday 20th July, was the Revolutionaries Prom. Most obvious revolutionary - Beethoven (the concert featured his 'Overture, Les Franc Juges' and the Third Symphony (Eroica), famously almost dedicated to Napoleon. Those pieces were appreciated, & well played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, although we were bored by the other work, Berlioz' suite of songs 'Les Nuits d'ete'. Maybe this piece was the reason why the Revolutionaries Prom had not sold that well - plenty of empty seats. A much better atmosphere, and indeed, interesting set of works, on Friday 24th for the Romantic Prom. The Philharmonia this time, playing Beethoven's 'Overture No 3 Leonora', Dvořák's Cello Concerto and Sibelius' Symphony No 5. The Cello Concerto was excellent (reminiscent of a previous Welsh Proms cello performance -Saint-Saëns' Concerto No 1), featuring soloist Thomas Carroll. The Beethoven was, well, Beethoven, but we were slightly underwhelmed by the symphony. All in all, still worth the £5.50 tickets. Looking forward to our next visit to St Davids Hall on 11th August, we're trying out the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. Programme looks good -more here.

Onto perhaps more familiar territory, we ventured to the last evening of this year's Cardiff Big Weekend to see headliners The Zutons - 4th time for me and 3rd for M at last counting. They were good, well received, but we were definitely unimpressed by songs played from their latest album You Can Do Anything. I remember not buying it, listening online giving me the impression it wasn't as good and I think I was right. The newer material seems to feature less sax, more guitar and makes The Zutons more like the average indie band, which they were not origially. Still, it was fun, and the fireworks were good.

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Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Lang Lang: a little bit of stardust in Southam Hall

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed

Guitar week: Gitarrissima and Sean Shibe

Almost at the Christmas break and hectic as ever! This last week was a two-concerts week (with a Christmas party in the middle) and it was guitars all round. First up, on 11th December, were Gitarrissima of Vienna at Skipton Music . The quintet (reduced to a quartet on Tuesday due to illness) performed A Christmas Celebration - seasonal music and a very jolly evening all round. The group perform on a mixture of concert guitars, an octave guitar and an acoustic bass guitar and the sound is remarkably rounded, not necessarily to be expected for reductions of orchestral pieces. Each set of pieces was introduced by a different member of the group. In a lot of ways, Gitarrissima reminded me of Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain with their clever arrangements of well-known pieces as well as musical excellence. The programme included excerpts (arranged by the group) of Bizet's Carmen , Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, all of which were performed very well but som

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