Entertained on the way in by an Afro lady with a very flashy purple Afro hair do. Altogether very handsome. And then when she got off there was some compensation in the form of a loud and rather odd rustling noise behind us, which turned out to be a lady stripping the enthusiastic plastic wrapping off her fire surround - the sort of thing you might screw to the wall in your flat, around your electric fire, to give that cottage feel to the place. But it was a very odd noise until one turned around to see what it was.Then more flashy dress to be seen at Vauxhall, this despite it being Sunday. Clearly the youth of today have time and money to burn.
All Bar One was busy, so no smarties. And no seats in the downstairs bar at the Wigmore. But we did wind up next to another flashily dressed young lady, the flashiest dressing I recall seeing in the place. Among her entourage there was an older man and a young boy, less than 10 I should think, with the older man explaining that, as he had made a good sale that morning, he was going to buy the boy a baby grand. This being the sort of boy that tucked his electric piano under his arm to go visiting elderly lady relatives. At least that is what it sounded like, with me facing the other way while BH was off collecting the water needed to wash down the warfarin. Odd, given how many of us must be on the stuff, how few of us seem to pop it in public.
Levit was very good indeed, and got off to a good start by wearing a sober black suit. Proper respect for the occasion, whatever Rosen might have said about the concert comfort of comfortable clothes.Inter alia, a very good job on the first movement of the Moonlight sonata (Op.27 No.2) - which might look easy enough on the page, but here it was in the hands of a master.
A master whom I suspect may have back problems as he gets older, the way he hunches over the keyboard.
I think also I am warming to the left hand aisle seats. Diagonal view makes view blocking less likely and short row makes fast exit more likely, should that be what one wants. That said, on this occasion I was partially blocked by a head in front while fast exit was blocked by a chap who was or who had been a senior surgeon and who thought it a swizz that the pianist got clapped while he, who had probably put more time and more years into his trade than the pianist had his, got none. Clearly good for a discussion over something wet, but we thought that it was late enough and headed for the tube.
Getting home included a stop at Raynes Park where, for once, there were plenty of books on the Epsom platform waiting room, waiting to be taken away, but the waiting room was locked. A place which has given me a surprising number of interesting books, turned up from among the Mills & Boon.
PS: checked the record at home, to be rather put out to find that we have heard Levit at least twice in the last five years, hearings of which neither of us had any memory of at all, despite their being very good stuff at the time.
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