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DariusB

@dariusbat.bsky.social

193 followers 221 following 184 posts

Leeds City organist, professor of organ and improvisation at Royal Academy of Music, organ/piano for Halle, BBC Phil & others, arranging, silent film improvisation, director Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus. www.dariusbattiwalla.com

Posts Replies Media

DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

If you’re an octopus enthusiast you’ve probably got this already, but if you haven’t, it’s brilliant! Loads of amazing stuff in here

The cover of ‘other minds’ by Peter Godfrey smith

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Even the BBC managed to do better

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Beethoven would like a word with you

Extract from a Beethoven violin sonata slow movt with lots of 32nd notes and smaller

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Picked up piano parts for playing in orchestra later this week; this sign-off from the copyist at the end of John Adams Short Ride made me smile

End of a hand-written orchestral piano part, signed off "David Ocker, tired music copyist"

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

The right time of year for the satisfyingly cynical 'Spring' by Edna St Vincent Millay (1892-1950). I discovered it thanks to the wonderful @kukukadoo.bsky.social who posted it on X (but sadly doesn't seem to post on here).

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

In a change to the schedule, our final concert of the current organ recital series this Monday lunchtime at Leeds Cathedral will be a tribute to Simon Lindley. I'll be joined by David Greed, violin, to perform pieces he regularly played with Simon, as well as some of SGL's favourite organ pieces.

Obituary for Simon Lindley on the homepage of the Leeds International Concert Season

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Two new concerts from Leeds online - Tom Winpenny's fantastic recital from February, and mine for International Women's Day - here's a taster from that of Rachel Laurin's spectacular Toccata - a lot of work but worth the effort! www.leedsconcertseason.co.uk/watch-online/

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

A suitable epitaph for a musician? ‘A life devoted to the study of musical science, and shortened by unremitting application and anxiety in attainment of its object’. Stephen Storace, aged 36, English composer and brother of Nancy (who was the first Susanna in Marriage of Figaro).

Memorial wall plaque in Marylebone Parish Church

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Any organ music enthusiasts in Central London this Saturday, it would be great to see you at Bloomsbury Baptist church at 4pm - I’ll be playing Demessieux, Bach, Saint-Saens, Mendelssohn, Franck, Coates and Lemare.

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Just finished this, and can’t recommend it highly enough. So moving and beautifully written.

Cover of ‘time’s echo’ by Jeremy Eichler - Music, Memory and the Second World War

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Youngest gave me a John Cooper Clarke collection. Think this is my favourite. Brutal but true

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Today in Liverpool.

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

The amazing Robert and Debra have completed the Leeds Town Hall facade pipe restoration! Have a look for the video on FB from the Upright Gilders (I can’t make the link work here, so here are a couple of pictures.)

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Was recently entertained to learn that Herbert Howells used to call his ABRSM examining duties 'ass-boarding'. I hope he would have enjoyed my examining room this week, complete with bar and slowly rotating glitter-ball, as much as I did.

A small theatre-type room with a piano, ornate table lamp, and glitter ball and stage lights

A bar illuminated in red with beer taps and wooden counter, optics behind

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DariusB @dariusbat.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

I can’t believe that a year ago I didn’t know this piece, and now I’ve played the organ for it 3 times, with 3 choirs, 2 conductors, and directed many choir rehearsals. I still find more in it every time, the beauty, intensity and total mastery of harmony and orchestration. It’s just extraordinary.

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