György Kurtág

On Saturday just past, off to a cheap concert at the Wigmore Hall, cheap because the artistes were up and coming but not actually come, in this case the Cuarteto Quiroga, to be found (via Facebook on this occasion) at http://cuartetoquiroga.com/, from which I learn that they were recently appointed quartet-in-residence in charge of the Royal Collection of decorated Stradivarius at Madrid’s Royal Palace. Very much a Spanish custom, a term used at our Treasury for out of the way, antiquated or otherwise peculiar business practices in departments of which one did not approve. While Cibrán Sierra plays the Nicola Amati 'Arnold Rosé' violin (Cremona, 1682) thanks to the generous loan of Paola Modiano’s heirs. From which we deduce that Nicola is the Italian version of Nicolas, despite its apparently feminine ending.

Back on the way the Wigmore, the first item of note was the east wall of Debenhams, shimmering in the winter afternoon light as we walked along Henrietta Place. At first we thought the shimmering was the reflection of clouds being blown about in the sky, but, there being no clouds to be seen, we decided that it must be some sort of installation. Marked down for a closer inspection next time we are in the area.

Second item, a visit to Bell & Croyden in search of gadgets to deal with elderly toenails, where, in the knowledge that decent scissors and such like can cost a great deal of money, I adopted the purchasing style of explaining to various assistants that the gadgets that I could see were not expensive enough. But I ended up with some mid-range clippers, top-of-the-range being missing, which are at least rather better than the wire cutters (themselves not cheap) which I had been using. Made in Germany, another reminder of the demise of our once proud small engineering in Birmingham and elsewhere.

The quartet were very good, so not altogether clear why they needed an ECMA masterclass, although a perk of the class was an outing at the Wigmore Hall, which they told us that they regarded as a great honour. The most famous venue for chamber music in the world. The Haydn String Quartet Op. 20 No. 1 was excellent. The Kurtág was not without interest, but I rather think that he is a composer of more interest to fellow musicians than us lay people (last recorded hearing by us being provided by the Elias Quartet on or about April 21st 2011. See the other place). He certainly rated an extended note in the programme. Once again, I found it hard to get back into gear for Mozart's K428, but got there in the end. The encore was a tribute to Kurtág in the shape of a short piece by Webern. So another good concert.

I note in passing the unusually large format scores that the quartet used, presumably large to reduce the need for page turning. It was also odd how much score the Kurtág seemed to need, despite not all that much music getting out to us. I imagine it must be very hard to play well, not that we are any judge.

For supper off to the Fishcoteque (http://www.fishcotheque.co.uk/) at Waterloo Road, where we had excellent cod, chips and mushy peas, with tea and water, for around £25. Very good value. We even had a couple of properly accented Londoner ladies sitting a few places away.

Entertained on the way to the fish and chips by a young Japanese lady working away on her mobile phone, possibly a Samsung. The thing included a stylus (plus a slot to put it away in) and she was writing away freehand with it. No need to hit keys at all and very much like writing with a fine felt tip pen. The software included a rubbing out option which was rather good. Click on the eraser icon and run the stylus around the offending scrawl and away it went. Click another icon and the thing closed ranks, leaving one with just the scrawl one wanted to keep, less blanks. Very clever. Possibly better for my note taking purposes than OneNote (see 12th January) which requires relatively slow and clumsy keyboard action. Although, thinking about it, it does have the important plus of legibility after the event. Writing freehand so little these days, I often find that what is perfectly legible & sensible at the time is not so the morning after.

Entertained at home by a mixture of Jägermeister (see 2nd and 13th January) and Evening Standard. The former turned out to be a mixture of whisky, aniseed and cough medicine, surprisingly dark in colour and which tasted quite good considering. The bottle gave no indication of what it was actually made of, beyond 35% alcohol by volume. From the latter we learned of reports that there is a lady who, while taking coffee with a man she did not fancy for bedroom purposes, had her legs patted. Not sure about whether it was in a public place or not or whether the bit of leg involved was naked or not, but it was no less than 10 years ago and the lady is now getting around to complaining. The Westminster Branch of Wimmins' Lib. is making itself a bit ridiculous.