Cries & Whispers in New York

WINTERTIME, and the flying is easy. You can get a return ticket to New York at the moment for pounds 270, including insurance, at a week's notice. It's more than I would normally pay to go and see an exhibition, but Henri Matisse: A Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art is more than a normal exhibition.

It takes some getting into. At 11am on a wintry Monday, there's a queue outside (150-200 deep). There's a queue to dump your coat (20 deep). The old woman in front of me dumps her shoes too, and slips into trainers; she's been here before. There's a queue for the escalator (20 deep, rising to 100 by lunch). There's a queue for a headset (25 deep). There's a queue for the cafe (too deep to count). There's a queue for the ladies' (too polite to count). There's a queue to get your coat back (20 deep). There's a queue in the special souvenir shop (15 deep). But there are no queues in the galleries.

What you find instead are clusters. In each room, there is one corner where people are pressed uncomfortably close, standing gawping under their headphones. Elbowing my way in, I find what they are looking at: the poster-sized blurb which tells them, in a few bold strokes, what's going on in the room.

There are more people than is ideal. The scene is like an old-time dance - everyone saying 'excuse me' all the time. But it's worth it. I'm usually more impressed than moved by the visual arts, but the sight of Harmony in Red, filling a wall and glowing magenta, touched me as much as any piece of music. Music and dance: these were Matisse's true media. The show is big (400 works), but not too big: the scope, the sense of a trip through art history, is part of the thrill. As travel insurance for pictures becomes more expensive, shows like this are going out of fashion. It's on for another five weeks (to 12 Jan; tickets bookable at Ticketmaster, 010-1-212-307-4545). And the Matisse shopping bags make a great stocking filler.

ON A visit to Masterdisk, the recording studio where the stars get their master tapes cut, I met Bob Ludwig, a jolly man in jeans and sneakers whose name appears in the credits of more great records than anyone else in the world. What Ludwig doesn't know about recorded sound is not worth knowing. So I asked him which of the new music formats is better, digital compact cassette (DCC) or Minidisc (MD). It turned out that he'd been the first person to have both - the manufacturers sent them round to get his opinion. The verdict: 'DCC is better at the moment. MD is rather brittle. But CD was brittle at first. What happens is they refine the sound as they go along. In a year's time you won't be able to tell the difference.' But, as of now, DCC is the best? 'Well actually, no. DAT (digital audio tape, the one that came and went a couple of years ago) is better, but it's only used in the trade.'

WHEN in New York, do as the New Yorkers do - buy some CDs at reasonable prices. The exchange rate is not on our side at the moment, but even so there are bargains to be had, especially if you are plugging gaps in your collection. I went to Tower Records and picked up eight discs - compilations mostly, Patsy Cline, Otis Redding, Fontella Bass, early Roy Orbison, late Stones - for dollars 84 (about pounds 60). Meanwhile, at home, the chainstores continue to get the message. A healthy battle has arisen between Virgin and HMV to see who can offer bigger discounts on an admittedly small batch of Christmas best-sellers. All the more reason not to pay full price if you can help it.