I knew that I had heard Haas on a number of occasions, but Kozhukhin I had to check, with two hearings turning up, both at St. Luke's. Completely forgotten. See references 4 and 5.
Lots of people down from the Oaks in and around the station. Including a pair of smartly dressed young ladies walking out of Station Approach, carrying their shoes. Presumably they had done both their feet and their money - otherwise they would have got a taxi. I only thought to offer them the taxi fare - which would have been good for a bit of fun - when it was too late. And including a lot of people who were have great trouble with the ticket machines. And an older lady, old enough to know better, who had manged to burn her upper arms but not her face. Perhaps she had had a large hat on.
What I thought was a more or less mint condition FT on the train, but which turned out to include a carefully place gobbet of chewing gum, which was not going to come off without tearing the page. I associated to the pin-striped DT readers who used to tear their papers in half before putting them, otherwise neatly folded, in the litter bins, in the Strand, as it happened. The idea of someone getting a free read was clearly too much for them.
Pulled a Bullingdon at Kennington Lane Rail Bridge for the five minute journey to Smith Square. Which got me there a bit early, so I went for a little spin around Westminster and Victoria, which was fine, but which left me a bit hot and bothered for the rather warm bar in the basement of St. John's.
But a pleasant young couple there, with whom I discussed the merits of flapjacks, and a pleasant older couple in the reasonably full upstairs, from Minnesota. Retired and who take a flat in London for a couple of weeks each spring. Inter alia, they told me about the people from Winnipeg who wintered in Minneapolis to get away from the harsh Canadian winters. It also sounded as if Minnesota did more culture than not-so-far-away Ottawa, despite this last being a very substantial city and the federal capital.
The Haas Quartet seemed to be on very good form. And while they played there seemed to be a lot of visual contact, not necessarily eye contact, between the players. And not all that much eye contact with the scripts. They even managed to give the impression that they enjoyed their work. The pony-tailed pianist also made a bit of a show of turning his pages at very high speed - while, really, he could have done with a page turner, as there was a draught behind the piano which kept blowing up the carelessly turned pages. But maybe that was all part of the act. And, unusually, the first violin was wearing high heels.
They said something about how many times they had played the quintet, a national treasure for Czechs, a bit like Bostridge and the Winterreise (see, for example, reference 1), to the point where they repeated some of it by way of an encore.
All in all, two favourites which worked on this occasion, which came up to the mark, this despite still being only around 67%, that is to say two thirds full, in the ear department. Dvořák rather better than on its last outing, I think around six months ago and noticed at reference 2. While the last outing for the Beethoven seems to have been more than two years ago and noticed at reference 3.
There were a few Bullingdons on the stand outside the church, so I was able to pull one for the return journey from Smith Square to Kennington Lane Rail Bridge, although this last was very nearly full. For once a symmetrical journey. And I managed to miss all the rain.
Back at Epsom, there were still some people knocking around after the Oaks, somewhat the worse for wear. The taxi driver told me that there was a queue out into the High Street from the bigger of our two clubs. Hopefully they had hired adequate protection for the evening. Where do all these security chaps come from for these high days and holidays? What do they do for the rest of the week?
Something called the EU information office, in a corner of the square, seemed a fitting illustration. Presumably the Union Jack will be struck at some point in the next couple of years. Perhaps the place gets upgraded to an embassy, along with those of other foreign powers. And despite what I thought it said on the brass plate, google says 'Representation of the European Commission in the UK, Europe House'. Always did like to be a bit verbose, these Europeans. Probably part of why we are chucking them.
Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/winterreises-old-and-new.html.
Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/st-john.html.
Reference 3: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/an-outing-for-puccini.html.
Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/first-luke.html.
Reference 5: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/carducci.html.
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