Quartettsatz in C minor D703 as good as expected.
I liked the Britten Quartet No. 2 (Op. 36), which I do not think I had heard before and which I mistook for a Shostakovich quartet. Not a mistake given any support in the programme notes, despite the two composers having very nearly the same spans.
Shostakovich Piano Quintet as good as I remember it ever having been, perhaps having done it 4 or 5 times in the past, something of a favourite, not always good news as pieces that I know well sometimes disappoint. Most recently heard at St. Luke's (15th March 2012 in the other place) and the Wigmore Hall again (17th October 2011, also the other place). Piano and strings well balanced. The Fazioli piano did very well, imparting, together with the pianist, a slightly edgy, nervous flavour to the piece, which served it well. (The only other time recorded of having such a piano was when Nikolai Demidenko used one on Schubert Impromptus (see 25th January 2012). Perhaps these pianos are more widely used by Russians than by the rest of us).
One of the middle movements from the Dvořák Piano Quintet, another favourite, by way of an encore. Good stuff, but as so often with encores (for me anyway) sitting a little uncomfortably with what had gone before.
The pianist had, I thought, a rather self consciously mannered pose and haircut which reminded me of pictures of Chopin. Was that the idea? Then today, turning to Google, I find that while lots of pictures of Chopin have bushy, wavy hair some of them have something closer to the straight, lanky look offered on this occasion. I offer a sample. Then I think that maybe I have muddled up Chopin and Liszt, and a few clicks later I find that this is indeed the case, with some of the images now offered being much more Trifonov like.
We also had a senior luvvie and his family sitting immediately in front of us, recognised by BH as a luvvie, recognised by me as someone with a familiar face. On the way home we decided that he was a Midsomer occasional and I asked Google to find him without success while BH remembered that he was called (say) Christopher Foyle. Thus armed we find that this was indeed the chap, but who claims no Midsomer and just single episodes of each of Morse and Poirot. Odd that his face should be so familiar to me; it must be that he has the sort of distinctive face that one remembers.
In any event, memory getting a bit tricky. Clearly not as reliable now as I like to think that it was.
PS 1: with thanks for use of the image to http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/, from whom you can buy original reproductions in various sizes for prices ranging up to $3,695.24.
PS 2: in the course of investigating Christopher, I learn from a piece in the DT that the Midsomer people have a bible, in much the same way as the Star Trek people do, to keep productions on the straight and narrow. Need to keep the series clean and consistent against the eagle eyes of the fans. Perhaps making the occasional deliberate mistake to see how many letters are drawn down, a useful gauge of their attention.
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