Just back from Edinburgh. We were playing in a venue with a glass roof on a sunny day - not the best way to keep baroque instruments in tune - and there wasn't time to tune the harpsichord before the soundcheck, so that was a bit of a waste of time.  Still, at times like this you grit your teeth and get on with it: it's useful to mark out the physical and musical space, even if the horrific intonation makes you sound like a toddlers' youth orchestra trying to tune up.  

The broadcast was to start at 5, with our slot at 5.35, so after a relaxing ice cream with Liz, Adrian and Mhairi, I got back to the greenhouse-cum-venue at 4.50.  Someone else's soundcheck had over-run hugely and the harpsichord still hadn't been tuned - what's more, Roy was now busy tuning for the BT Scottish Ensemble who were going on first.  Memories of our Rome experience from March [see the diary archive for an account of that nightmare] came back to haunt me, so I suggested we abandon ship and get them to play the CD instead - there's no point in sounding awful on the radio.  Then a solution presented itself, which was to get the harpsichord out of there in the few remaining minutes, stick it on some chairs, and then Roy could tune it in the foyer while the BTs did their stuff. So it all went OK in the end.  I didn't get to say 'arse' on air, but Sean the presenter did a little bit later, so I don't really mind.  Forgot to plug the CD though - too busy thinking about the tuning.  

The piece appeared in the Scotsman today - only a couple of niggly factual errors of a historical nature, which isn't bad going: here it is. You'll have to find a copy of the paper to see the photo.