Observing all the repeats


Technology's relentless advance has finally invaded the timeless world of the cello, bassoon and other orchestral instruments, with the debut of the largest digital orchestra in the world. Fifty music students at York University staged a hi-tech twist on the traditional symphony last night by sitting on a concert hall floor and playing nothing but laptop computers - breathlessly reports today's Guardian. Now if the paper had read An Overgrown Path they would have known it has all been done before in the States.

Talking of which, in New York Simon Rattle used a handkerchief to demonstrate the correct way to muffle a cough. Something he obviously learnt from Maestro Haitink.
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