Op.131

Last Sunday back to the Wigmore, the first visit for a while, to hear Haydn's Op.64 No.6 quartet and Beethoven's Op.131 from the Heath Quartet, of whom I can find no sign on either volume 1 or the present volume 2, so perhaps we have not heard them before. Furthermore, their web site is indexed but unavailable, at least presently.

Off to not a very good start when we went to get our coffee & smarties from the Regent Street 'All Bar One' (see reference 1). Which place, unusually for this time on a Sunday morning was fairly busy, mainly with what looked like foreigners on shopping expeditions, and could not cope. We waited for 15 minutes without being served after which we decamped to the Pret in Wigmore Street which was cramped and noisy, but at least we were cheerfully served, more or less instantly. A minor bonus was the new-to-me crane illustrated, a tall telescopic job, unusually, trailer mounted rather than self propelled. Not from Baldwins, which made a change, but made by Liebherr which did not. They seem to have got the construction crane market well sewn up - see reference 2 for the last occasion on which I noticed them.

Onto the full hall, but once again with a few no-shows in front of us which gave us a good view. Unusual line up in that, from left to right, we had first violin, cello, viola and lastly second violin. Odd seating notwithstanding, they did us very well with the masterly Op.131 nicely prefaced by the lighter, but still fine, Haydn.

For lunch we had thought to go to http://www.2veneti.com/ next door, but on trying to make a reservation I was told that on Sunday the staff pray and do not serve. I think this was an Italian joke. So instead, having sampled the quite decent liquid fare in the Cock & Lion, we repaired to http://caldesi.com/ in nearby Marylebone Lane, where we did very well. I was most impressed that they did no less than two sorts of Greco di Tufo, a white wine of which I have been fond since discovering it in the Neapolitan Kitchen in Ewell - and one of them, the one from Benito Ferrari, was in stock. Very nice it was too. Plus a very decent lentil soup followed (in my case) by a rather spectacular breaded veal chop, this last being a little dry but this dryness was amply compensated for by the spectacular appearance, rather like a very thin shoulder of lamb, complete with the small leg sticking out of one corner. Slightly let down by their mixed bread, adequate but nothing special - but there were nice hard biscuits to go with the Marsala (to be precise, the Targa Riserva Marsala Superiore).

Along the way we learned something of the rather oddly named outfit, the Corporate Executive Board, but according to their web site, the world’s leading member-based advisory company. We are now a little less vague on what one of those might be. See reference 3.

Leaving, we stumbled across a haberdasher in Marylebone Lane who, in festive spirit, had covered the outside of his shop front in what looked like cotton balls, fresh off the plant. Or maybe they were something confected from wool. Maybe one would get this effect by simply pulling a fleece apart. In any event, very striking if not very arty.

Then we were further entertained by the fine display of penguins, dressed and undressed, in John Lewis. Perhaps they need to be told that there are no penguins where Father Christmas comes from, their being a speciality of the south pole rather than of the north pole. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to move some up north? Or would the eco-people freak out over the resulting obesity crisis in what is left of the polar bear population?

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/kreutzer.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/baldwins.html.

Reference 3: http://www.executiveboard.com/.