He's at it again, the wise guy

on ABC Classic FM: an Overture

of Veracini's is music played

‘at the point of a sword’;

he just loves it ‘when Schumann

lets his horns out to graze.’

Now he wants to put some

‘steroids’ into the broadcast

with Rachmaninov's Second

Symphony.

You'd be at home

with such irreverence.

Grainger's

Molly on the Shore ‘sounds like

she's driving towards a village

in a tank’; Schubert's Ninth

is ‘the Big One, that'll take up

the lunch hour!’ And, wait for it,

‘this is J. S. Bach placing

your wake-up call’ with Wachet Auf.

There are things I'm trying not to miss.

It's one of the raining days …

cars more urgent on King's Bridge,

as if home's the best place now.

The South Esk River's lost its sheen …

except there, in the shelter of the arch,

one perfect stroke of gloss.