Known for his remarkable technique, expressiveness and beautiful rich tone, Kreisler came to be the dominant violinist of his day. Elgar wrote his violin concerto for him, he toured extensively and performed with many famous musicians including Enrico Caruso, Pablo Casals and Rachmaninoff. He is thought to be the first person to record an entire violin concerto, and was famous for his interpretation of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in particular.

He collected rare musical manuscripts, although some of these turned out to have been written by himself, but passed off as works by famous composers. This eventual revelation outraged the critics, but the public didn’t care. In fact some of these beautiful compositions are still considered part of the core repertoire for the violin today.

Part of the explanation for this curious behaviour rests in Kreisler’s unassuming character. Harriet Kreisler’s strong presence in her husband’s career  is said to have saved it. Left to himself Kreisler had surprisingly little confidence. The humility went with a kind heart and according to one of the entries for him in Biography in Context

During World War I, he assumed financial responsibility for the children of many soldiers who died in battle–not only the children of other Austrian soldiers like himself, but also the children of Russian and Serbian soldiers who died in the field hospital where his wife Harriet was a volunteer.

Naxos Music and Music Online both have many lovely recordings of his compositions and some of Kreisler himself playing. Try him playing the Beethoven violin concerto or his own short composition Liebesfreud (from Music Online.)

• This album (and over 65,000 more) is available online for free from anywhere with your library card number and PIN.
• Listen to free online music from Naxos Music Library and the Source.

Every year I only seem to see a fraction of what I want and in particular there is one event I just miss every year! The Chinese Lantern Festival is something that I have tried to go to for years and years, ever since they started having one. I imagine that it will remind me of the time I spent living in Hong Kong, not only the lanterns, but the food. For too many years, even if I put in on my calendar, I forget until the week after, and last year, earthquakes conspired to prevent it even happening. I also forget the Kite Day, most of The Breeze Lazy Sunday Concerts and I must have not only been under a rock but a large pile of sand to have missed the Sandcastles this year!

This week’s goal is to get to at least some of the Busker’s Festival. I’m keen to go inside the Le Tigre Bleu tent and see what lurks.

Shakespeare’s As You Like It at Mona Vale is a must see for me, as is The Anthony Harper Summer Series of The Complete History of Christchurch – Abridged by The Outwits. This is the last Abridged show this talented group is performing. This is one event I have been to regularly most years. We take the folding chairs, food and a little bubbly and we laugh ourselves silly.

So I challenge you all, do a better job of living in this wonderful city than I seem to, and avail yourselves of all the amazing Summertimes and other entertainment on offer until well into March.

• View images of Sumner and New Brighton from our collection
• Our Flickr page has photos of summer and the beach
• More local images on the blog
• Browse our image collection

Barrington Big Fun offers a very entertaining day for the whole family. In years past, more than 50 local musicians, entertainers, cultural groups, sports teams, crafts people, local businesses and non-profit organisations have pooled together with great community spirit. Christchurch City Libraries will be there running a story time session and displaying information on our fantastic services. The mix includes live performance, activities, information stalls, and of course yummy food!

Stage Line up!
It is great to see a community event drawing on local talent and offering something for everyone, a lot of different acts has been packed into the 3 hour duration of the event. Everything from classical, band music, clowns, martial arts, Irish, swing and zumba dancing; rock music and more.

FREE ‘Have-A-Go’ Activities
I still get excited at the thought of trains, kites, bouncy castles and the like. Activities include: Lil’ Puff Train, Climbing Tower, Skytes Kites, Pony Parties rides, Bouncy Castle, Face Painting, TumbleTimes (Council Gymnastics) and StoryTimes (Christchurch City Libraries).

Food
Barrington Big Fun Day offers a good mix of healthy and local produce along with the regular treats one would expect to see at such an event: hot dogs, kebabs, cakes and candy floss. The information tent will also have free water and fruit.

Find out about more local community events in the Summertimes  Family Fun programme and their events page.

Oxford Music Online has been a stalwart part of our collection for some time. Containing the venerable Grove Music, The  Oxford Companion to Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, it is a pretty comprehensive reference source just on its own.

However, when you are studying you need more than reference books, so we’ve supplemented it with the Fine arts and music collection which contains a wide range journal articles in the music field.

Now we have added the Oxford History of Western Music by musicologist Richard Taruskin, which is considered a landmark study on western music.

Then there’s Naxos Music Library which, although primarily about listening online, also provides study resources designed for both school students and children.

To supplement these specialised resources students, could also try some of  our more general online resources, as these also include music journals. Try:

• Proquest Megasearch
• Ebsco Megasearch
• findNZarticles

You love me, but love Lee Child even more ...

Here’s Christchurch City Libraries’ top 100 items from last year for adults.

Factoids and observations:

• Road Code – number 1. Essential stuff.
• Wow -  check out the number of James Patterson titles in the list (7?)
• Passion for Scandinavian crime is so not melting away
• Oldies like Wilbur Smith can still cut it with the new fellas
• Looks like people do want to know about Paul Henry, as his memoir What was I thinking is the top NZ book (after the Road Code) … but closely on its tail is The Conductor by Sarah Quigley
• About 15 out of the 100 are New Zealand books

Any observations or surprises?

Twenty five years of gardening on sand in Sumner have taught me a couple of things about dry gardens.

• Water less often but more deeply. This encourages the roots to go deeper and makes them more drought resistant. This really seems to work and I am preparing my garden by doing that now.
• Mulching really does work. I always put down dampened newspaper underneath to discourage weeds as well.
• Get the right plant in the right place – especially if it’s a difficult spot. I have always found Roy Lancaster’s books invaluable for help with this.

A friend in Ashburton, where they have regular watering bans came up with these:

• Attach a hose to your water outlet pipe. In true kiwi no. 8 wire fashion you can do this by using a funnel, that feeds into a hose, which feeds into a drum. My friend has bought a large water container with a tap on the side because this makes getting the water out again easier.
• The old “bury a plastic bottle beside drought prone plants” trick. You put holes in the bottle and keep it full of water. This makes very efficient use of your water, although I don’t know if this contravenes a watering ban. I’m hoping to use this to keep my lemon tree alive.

And from the Australians

• Apparently in Melbourne they take a bucket into the shower with them to collect excess water for the garden.

Of course we have lots of books in the library to consult on water wise gardening there are also some good water saving tips on our website. Maybe some of you have already done the research and have other ideas to contribute. If so I’d love to hear them.

Short Story Index allows you to search for short stories by author, subject or title of the story. It is a great little resource to track down worthy reading material in a time when our attention spans are not what they were.

Oh and the name of the story? Apparently it is called Lamb to the Slaughter and we  do have it in the library!

The point of this blog?

1) Read short stories
2) Search for them through Short Story Index
3) Although lamb is expensive it can be used for a multitude of sins apart from gluttony!

I am a fan of lanterns – Upper Riccarton Library is re-opening on Monday 23 January, and on their opening day they will have a Lantern Making workshop.

This year the Lantern Festival will be at the Carlton Corner end of North Hagley Park on 11 and 12 February 2012. Bring along your loved ones for a vibrant colourful spectacle with delicious aromas and exotic performances.

Learn more about Chinese New Year  and the history and cultural background of China and the Lantern Festival.

Do you have a burning desire to learn to speak Chinese or travel to China?

OverDrive has free  resources on these subjects available to download to your computer, CD, eBook reader, iPod and mp3 player.

If you already read in Chinese did you know we have resources in Chinese language and you can read 17 Chinese newspapers for free with your library card and PIN number through Press Display?

So let’s join in the Chinese New Year celebrations!

But this year I don’t need anything depressing, so have dropped the Dostoyevsky and gone nautical.

Yes, it’s Three men in a boat by Jerome K. Jerome:

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a ‘T’. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather-forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks – not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.’s small fox-terrier Montmorency.

What is your 2012 book resolution?