Down on your lock?

While still getting my head around what I want to write about and how, during this drought of live events, I've been immersing myself in music that gives me a combination of energy and beauty. Without necessarily looking for the relentlessly upbeat - although some of that is fine - what I'm seeking, of course, is an uplift of some kind. The more stuck in one place I am, the more the urge for movement. And quiet or loud, busy or sparse, there's plenty of that below. (Well, perhaps not in the photo, but in the tunes...)

I hope you enjoy the selection. I'm particularly pleased to include the incredible version of Thomas Tallis's 'Spem in Alium', recorded in isolation - yet still so powerfully and dynamically - by the brilliant choral ensemble Stile Antico. The music famously has 40 individual parts, and the video illustrates how they multiply themselves up from 12. Sublime.

Stay safe and well.

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Dr John - 'Locked Down'

R Strauss: 'Burlesque in D minor for Piano & Orchestra' - Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Herbert Blomstedt

The Bar-Kays - 'Holy Ghost'

Penguin Cafe Orchestra - 'Dirt'

Miles Davis - 'Spanish Key'

Michael Chapman - 'The Last Polish Breakfast'

Cymande - 'Dove'

John Adams: 'The Chairman Dances' - San Francisco Symphony, Edo de Waart

Cavern of Anti-Matter - 'traces'

Max Richter - 'November'

Booker T & the MGs - 'Melting Pot'

Stile Antico - Tallis: 'Spem in Alium'