More bad news in that I am en-route to an ear syringing, which meant that I had little hearing in one ear. Not fatal to concert going, but certainly not helpful. The sound was not the same and I had to work harder at hearing. Or at least, that was how it seemed.
On the other hand we did remember where the combined forces programme from April (see reference 4) had been put and we did remember to take it along, thus saving us the £4 or so we might have otherwise paid for a second copy.
The programme was Bach (Partita No.6), then Chopin (Mazurkas, plus one Nocturne, which last, to my surprise, I barely recognised), then Beethoven (Sonatas Op.101 and Op.110).
Arrived to find the place seeming oddly shabby, not helped by all the squatters, cyber and otherwise. Particularly from where we were sat for our picnic, where half the floor was battered stone and half battered wood, presumably some left over from the refurbishment before last. Not impressed that the shop had taken to selling Lego. Even the hall itself seemed a bit tired. But I think my ears must have been pulling me down, as I am sure that none of this had got any worse since our last visit.
It was the same with the concert. I liked most of the music, particularly the Bach, but it took me a while to adjust first to the Chopin and then to the Beethoven. Lots of brilliant passages, but it was all a little flat, at least for me. Good choice of encore, a short, light piece, which Goode may have said was by Messiaen, in any event a nice contrast to the grandstanding (if I may put it like that) of Beethoven. But maybe it wasn't just me, as quite a lot of people seemed to have left during the interval, passing up on the Beethoven which for me was the main reason for going.
Following reference 2, more wondering about where page turners come from. Does the RFH run a casual register, casuals who can be called up when needed? Do pianists have a page turner or two in their team? Inquiry of google suggests that this particular page turner was the wife of the pianist. Mention this to BH who says of course it was, you could tell from their body language. I told you so at the time. Of which I have no more memory than I had had of hearing Goode before. Illustration turned up by google too. I also wondered about the repeats. The page turner would have to know the score well enough to know where they were and where they started, and to confer with the pianist about which repeats he was going to do and which he was going to skip. It would not be good enough just to sight read the thing, which was what I had rather vaguely thought was what happened.
Bit of a rush, but we just caught the 2154, which was good. Half an hour when already tired can seem a long time these days.
PS: with apologies to Yuja Wang for spelling her Wuja Yang at reference 3. Perhaps I can put that down to finger trouble rather than memory trouble.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/mainly-schubert-1.html.
Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/boxed-set.html.
Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/wuja.html.
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