Tiberghien

Chopin preludes came around earlier in the week. Plus the Op.18 Arabeske and the Op.17 Fantasie from Schumann. Plus a romance from Schumann's wife by way of an encore.

For starter looked in the Wigmore and in the Langham, both places usually quiet enough at lunch time, but both busy enough early Monday evening. So I passed on them and settled for half price at the Cock and Lion up the road. Passing, on the way, a clutch of bicycles, complete with smart wicker baskets, stood outside the Langham for the use of their guests.

Interested by a young lady in the Cock who was sharing her time between her three gentlemen friends, her burger and chips, her mobile phone and news on the telly on the wall about the recently arrived royal baby. A very busy young lady.

Hall about two thirds full, including what looked like an older chap a few rows in front of me who had what used to be called curtained hair: cut very short at the sides but left longer on the top. The only catch being that the once black hair was now largely grey. Slightly puzzled when I caught a glimpse from the side to find that the chap in question was not that old at all. Flowers very good and fresh looking, mixed pink, including some strelitzia, with a solid background of green.

The nearly-new-to-me Cédric Tiberghien did very well indeed on the Chopin preludes, my only comment being that he maybe needed to work on his pedal action, with dying notes at the end of passages sometimes seeming wrong and intrusive. Last heard nearly three years ago and noticed at reference 4.

An occasion for a third spot of counting (for the second see reference 2), getting to 25 preludes by the end for the 24 that were actually there. Usually clear enough when there is change of prelude - perhaps because there is a switch between major and minor key - so I guess I just lost the count at some point. No pack drill with memory aids on this occasion; rather low key counting altogether. But once again, helpful in that it seemed to help keep one on the music, rather than drifting off somewhere else.

According to the programme, the sequence was organised by relatives for minors and fifths for majors, perfectly clear and tidy, but different from the organising principle of, for example, Bach in the well tempered clavier, where he simply goes up the scale with pairs of majors and minors. So C major, C minor, C sharp major and so on rather than Chopin's C major, A minor, G major and so on.

At the interval, I thought to use the Cock and Lion again, but this was busy with football, so tried the cocktail bar 'Be At One', which used to be the Pelican Bar, in Wimpole Street. Nice enough young lady, I think from the US, but she had great trouble understanding that I just wanted a double shot of 'Monkey Shoulder' without ice, rather than some complicated cocktail made with same. No less than two false starts, by which time the interval was more or less spent. As it happens, it looks as if the first time I used the Pelican Bar was nearly eleven years ago, once again after hearing the preludes, once again with pedal trouble. See reference 3.

The Schumann was new to me and would, I think, repay trying again, despite tendencies towards the complicated piano music which had come in by the end of the nineteenth century and which I do not care for at all.

There were some dropouts, that is to say people who only turned out for the Chopin, but the remainder more than made up for their absence when it came to clapping and cheering. With one young lady in his claque being both dressed very loud and just being very loud.

Just missed the connection to Epsom at Vauxhall, so I had, the first time for while, ten minutes or so at the aeroplane game at Earlsfield. Good sight line to the west, fairly good to the east. A couple of quick twos and closed with a probable three, with the third aeroplane in question swinging round sharply from the north, somewhere over south London.

Reference 1: https://twitter.com/TiberghienC. There does not appear to be a regular website, just one of these. From which I learn that he knows someone who knows Gevrey-Chambertin, so he can't be all bad. The stuff for those of us who can't afford the real thing, as drunk by the great Napoléon, even on his retreat from Moscow. See references 5 and 6 for notices.

Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/winterreise.html.

Reference 3: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=goose+paste.

Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/violin-sonatas.html.

Reference 5: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=gevrey+virginia.

Reference 6: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/rambaud-concluded.html.