Following our return to the QEH reported on 22nd November, back yesterday for another dose of Schubert, in the slightly odd form of the Octet followed by a selection of songs for soprano.
I was first introduced to the Octet about thirty years ago in the form of the Melos (vinyl) recording, a work which captivated me at the time. Eventually got around to hearing it live in Dorking in 2010 (see April 11th in the other place) which was great, the only catch being that it left the Melos recording sounding a bit dull. Then a little disappointed by a performance in the QEH (see March 28th 2011 in the other place), after which the whole thing seemed to have gone off the boil. Put into the shade by the Beethoven Septet.
But last night's performance by Spira Mirabilis put some of the magic back. I have not quite recovered my initial enthusiasm, or that of the 2010 performance, but I am getting there. Maybe we were sitting a bit nearer (row K), although being on the right hand side of the hall meant that for me, the wind was a bit more dominant than it should have been until the ears adjusted. And I had forgotten that the clarinetist has to change clarinets several times, a proceeding which involves changing the business end, holding the reed, from one clarinet to the other and she also changed the reed itself at least once. All looked a bit risky to me, but it came off OK.
After the interval was all a bit new. I have only very rarely, if ever, heard a female singer. Which meant for me that while the gross format of the songs with their substantial piano accompaniment was the same as that of the songs for a male singer, with which I am at least a bit familiar, the experience was completely different. Including the rather more serious approach to dressing for the occasion taken by the female. It would have helped had the programme included parallel text of the words, my having decided that knowing what it being sung about does, after all, have some bearing on the experience. The price of these programmes seems to be out of all proportion to the cost of printing the things as it is, so I can't see that including a few pages of words needed to affect the price much. Let SBC absorb the increase like the rest of us have to in other contexts.
All in all a good evening, helped along by some luck on the transport front. The light dusting of snow in the Southwest Trains area seemed to have thrown the whole network into confusion, so we thought it prudent to catch the train to Chessington South which left shortly after we got to Waterloo. And a pleasant young lady thought to offer me her seat. I like to think that I was looking very grand & vippish and thus deserving of a seat but it may have been that I was looking a touch decrepit: either way, a far cry from the days when old gentlemen used to offer pleasant young ladies a seat in order to get a smile and maybe a bit of banter. I declined on the grounds that I had already been sitting down for a good part of the evening.
But then what to do? Change at Wimbledon where there might be some information? Change at Motspur Park which is the dividing of the ways? Take a chance on there being a taxi at Chessington North, Chessington South being believed to be a bit of a wash out in the taxi department? After much sucking of teeth, we settled on this last option and were rewarded by there being a taxi for us at Chessington North. It's only something over an hour's walk but it was a bit late and it was a bit cold for us pensioners. Long time since I have hoofed it from either Chessington North or Surbiton.
PS1: not impressed to read of Balls banging on about how awful the Autumn Statement was, Balls being, as far as I can make out, entirely unapologetic for having been a leading member of the team on the bridge when we got ourselves into the mess we are in now. Nor is it clear to me anyway what he would do different to get us out of the mess. What the Labour Party think they are at by retaining him I cannot imagine; it certainly does not increase their small chance of getting my old lefty vote.
PS2: not impressed either to read of the lack of maganimity in victory of the fag haters in Australia. They have kicked the smokers into touch (a proceeding the propriety of which is at least worth a discussion) but cannot let go (no new cause perhaps?) and now propose that the die hard faggers are going to have the packets of their favoured fag decorated with pictures of decaying hearts and lungs. All seems a bit mean to me: they have won the point of substance, let it go there. There are more important things to get in a lather about - like the presently miserable fate of many of our fellow citizens afflicted with dementia.
I wonder who the 'they' are. Who is it that can't let go? Presumably various committees of medical and other people charged with eradicating the menace. Can't see too many regular citizens thinking it a cause still worth pushing on with.
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