As advertised at reference 3, started the day by trying to keep the red flag flying, but with Labour kept down in our Epsom Ward by the Conservative (first) and Liberal Democrats (second). But a respectable performance by the Labour candidate, despite the intemperate remarks in her promotional leaflet about the performance of Southwest Trains, which I think is fine.
Pulled a Bullingdon at Waterloo and off to Silk Street, to find that Chimes could not sell me the score of Schubert's Schwanengesang. Perhaps the Germans who do the scores don't count it as a real work, despite Padmore's remarks on the subject. See reference 4.
From there to the Market Café, being entertained on the way by a lady walking up Whitecross Street who was so fat that she had dewlaps hanging around her knees - not to mention a skirt short enough for them to be seen. No waitresses, but the proprietor of the café recognised me, despite my two months absence, and nearly got my order right, with my getting a bacon and egg sandwich on thick white bread, rather than a bacon sandwich. But the egg had been lightly cooked on both sides and it was really very good. Perhaps I shall have another one next time.
The charity shop - the source in 2011 of the book about the water wars in the western parts of the US by Marc Reisner, as well as sundry DVDs since - appeared to have shut down.
St. Luke's pretty full for this last concert of the season. Eight microphones for the two instruments, four of them in the central cluster. A noisy special upstairs, but his handler got him calmed down for the second of the two pieces.
The two sonatas, both, I think, new to me, were both very good, with the Beethoven one very Beethoven and the Shostakovich one very Shostakovich. Two very moving slow movements, both of which might do well for the end of funerals at crematoriums. We got an encore, rather fun, but opinion was divided as to whether it was a good idea after the Shostakovich. It may have been one of the movements from Joaquin Nin's 'Spanish Serenade', but for once google failed on the clue that I offered about a compliment by a gentleman to a lady to the effect that if she cooked as well as she looked, he would eat the lot. Apparently the cellist learned about this after a performance of the same encore somewhere in Central America. He was also a good talker, doing much better than average - with Fiona T. perhaps not bringing out the best in people.
A feature of the concert for me was the amount of attention the two performers - Alban Gerhardt and Steven Osborne paid each other. Much more concerned with that than with reading the score. Gerhardt was a first, but I think we have heard Osborne several times, most recently towards the end of March this year, but search was confused by the blog having lots of references to either the politician (now translated to the Standard) or to the house (on the Isle of Wight).
Back to Trafalgar Square, down a very full Strand. I earned a bellow from a taxi driver when I clipped his wing mirror - barely enough to move it, never mind damage it. On to the last slot at Cockspur Street. Strolled back to a lunch at the new-to-me Viennese flavoured snack bar, 'The Delaunay'. Nice drop of Grüner Veltliner 2015, a chicken soup and a couple of fine apple & cinnamon strudels. Pouring cream rather than ice cream or froth exactly right. The restaurant is said to be good and the wine list looks good - so we shall be back to eat properly at some point. See reference 5.
For once in a while paid a visit to LSE, the scene of my undergraduate endeavours. Got through the electrical doors without problem. Old Theatre still present and correct, but it had been given a paint job and it was to hard to cast my mind back the 50 years to when I had seen 'Zulu' from the dress circle - trying very hard, as was the game of the day, not to pay. Most of the students around the place seemed to be foreign, either African or Oriental. The lady porter that I spoke to said that the smart purple uniform coats, rather like forces' great coats, were long gone and she was having to wear her own clothes until she had served out her probationary period. But at least she was an employee of the school rather than of some security or facilities management operation. Back outside, what used to be called the new building, or perhaps the St. Clement's Building, was a hole in the ground. A Chinese couple were having wedding photographs taken in front of the hoarding - and, given what she was wearing, the bride must have been rather cold. The good news is that the red and white LSE logo that I have been seeing all over the place, is this LSE, not London Southbank something, as I had thought. Presumably they have lots of halls of residence dotted about the place.
Bus back to Waterloo and so to Epsom.
PS: this afternoon I find that I have a record of the Shostakovich, recorded in 1973 in Finland and complete with a reproduction of a congratulatory letter from the composer, presumably penned not long before he died in 1975, forty years after the sonata was written. Looks as if I bought it second hand from somewhere for £5.30 but I don't think I had played it. Disc mint condition, even if the sleeve was a bit tired, but didn't sound much like what I heard last week at all - perhaps I have been spoiled by the acoustics of places like St. Luke's.
Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/cellos.html.
Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/st-lukes.html.
Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/well-keep-red-flag-flying-here.html.
Reference 4: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/back-at-court.html.
Reference 5: https://www.thedelaunay.com/.
Group search key: slc.
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