One medium (Op.95), one stocking filler and one very heavy (Op.130 rounded off with Op.133). The quartet are clearly into the business of commissioning new music, with the short stocking filler being the fourth quartet from their Catalonian compatriot, Casablancas. With thoughts on stocking fillers playing into the confusion of thoughts in the second half of the post at reference 3. So if one is a modern, classical composer, struggling to compose something, struggling to be heard, how does one feel about being offered as a snack, as it were, to go with the Beethoven of gigantic production and gigantic performance? Presumably the bottom line is that you would rather be heard than not heard.
Entertainment at Epsom station in the form of two young ladies, barely adults, both gothic in flavour, one very thin and very white, one rather plumper and with her lower half encased in shiny black plastic. Clearly out on a beano somewhere, possibly students from our art college.
Out at Vauxhall to find a police presence in the tunnel visible below as one comes down one of the flights of stairs, a presence which included a black arch. We thought that maybe the idea was that everybody walked through the arch and that anything unpleasant like a knife set it off. A rather less invasive way of screening crowds of young men than frisking them. Perhaps crowds of young men going to something at the nearby Oval, perhaps the cricket.
Out at Oxford Circus to make our way to Cavendish Square for our picnic, to find that the Morrisson's trolley noticed on at least two occasions, had gone missing (see reference 2). But there was entertainment in the form of what looked like a party of Middle Easterns, perhaps Kurds, also taking a picnic. Maybe a dozen men, one lady, some booze and one accordion (sadly silent). Perhaps they fancied an outing from whatever accommodation we had managed to organise for them, perhaps in some not particularly attractive part of east London.
The Wigmore flowers were compositions in pinks and mauves against a strong green background. With middle sized anthuriumns doing the mauves. Reasonably strong audience, with a conspicuous sprinkling of what we took to be members of the Rubinstein Circle, the sponsors of the concert. Lots of fancy summer clothes. Slightly spoiled by a lady programme fidget right and a lady head fidget ahead, a lady who might have been out with her toy boy.
The quartet were as good as we have come to expect and the programme was just about spot on for us. Lot to be said for hearing substantial works that one knows reasonably well, with not too much to take in at one go. The lady led and the cello sat second from right rather than the more usual far right. Lots of eye contact between the four of them. First violin and cello used large format scores, with what appeared to be four A4 pages to one of their pages, perhaps assembled from a couple of regular scores with a view to cutting down the amount of page turning needed. Rather large for the music stands, but no accidents on this occasion. The other two used computers.
Rain on exit, with quite a lot of summer dressed ladies being caught out without coats or umbrellas. Just missed the 2143 from Vauxhall, so we changed at Raynes Park to inspect the platform library, where the only item of interest was a Turkish translation of a book by A.J.P Taylor, the historian said to have been denied rank in the academic world because he wrote books that sold and did well on the box. Both near-capital crimes at the high table of his day. Probably not any more.
PS: odd how blue the illustration looks, having started off in real life as, in the jargon of paint suppliers, a silk finish white.
Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/10/casals-quartets.html.
Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/06/trios.html.
Reference 3: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/07/padella.html.
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