Ivor Gurney’s Sleep.

BBC-2 showed two bio-docs last night.

The first covered the life and works of the conductor Bernard Haitink, the second illuminated the life and death of the fashion designer Alexander McQueen.

I have no interest whatsoever in fashion yet I was gripped by McQueen’s dramatic genius, his lurid tastes and lifelong torments, his loves and hates, none of which were concealed in this masterful act of storytelling.

I have a primary interest in conducting yet I was bored for much of Haitink’s story in which he was extolled by musicians without a single questioning voice. Hatink’s life, we know, never ran smooth, but the documentary depicted it as an inexorable progress in which talent would aways triumph. If you ever wonder why people switch off on classical music it is because it has forgotten how to tell a human story.

McQueen, on being hired by Givenchy, insisted on meeting the expert sewing staff and, to snob horror, lunching in their canteen. Direcots told him that the artistic director is a king. He does not mingle with his subjects. McQueen, a cab-driver’s son, stuffed that.

Classical music still treats its maestros as monarchs. Haitink is a decent man who has achieved great things but almost every interesting aspect of his life in music was glossed over in this act of hagiolatry.

The Romanian soprano Lucia Stănescu has died in Livorno, where she had lived and taught for the past 50 years.

She was a leading Butterfly in her day.

During 1970 to 1974 she was intendant of Cluj Romanian Opera

Esther Abrami, a London-based French violinist has to keep her cat in a pouch while she plays.

She explains: This kitten was abandoned but thankfully rescued by the cat shelter Association Féli-Cité. As a host family I took care of her for the past week.

When she arrived she was less than 400 grams, scared and had breathing issues from having stayed outside for several days.

I’m happy to say that after 7 days of milk bottles and constant cuddles Rémila has now become one of the friendliest cats I’ve ever seen. She follows me absolutely everywhere around the house and refuses to be left alone on the floor. She is always either on my lap or in her little bag around my waist!

Watch here.

Once again, the internal emphasis in Gelb’s presentation differs significantly from what he told the media this week.

In a carefully lawyered video address, replete with several stumblings and slips of tongue, Gelb tells Metropolitan Opera staff to give up hardwon and well-deserved union gains in order to gain the confidence of ‘major donors’ who will keep the Met alive.

It’s that simple. Take pay cuts and we’ll find a way of paying you something now. Refuse, and we’re all screwed.

Watch the non-shareable video here.