By appointment

Following Portuguese Chopin at St. Luke's on the Thursday (reference 1), there was English Chopin at St. John's on the Friday, with my second concert from the Mailley-Smith series (see reference 2 for the first). With Mailley-Smith turning out to be favoured by extensive custom from our Royal Family; not obvious what it is that caught their eye.

On this occasion, solved the question of access by using a Bullingdon, picking one up from a near full stand at Vauxhall Cross and dropping it at a near empty stand at Smith Square. Maybe 10 minutes from platform of the station to basement of the church, with the only tricky bit being the right turn at the north end of the bridge.

I was slightly alarmed when I first arrived that it would be a thin audience, which would have left St. John's looking a bit cold & cavernous, but in the event it was more or less full. Including at least one baby and one enthusiast who had brought the score, not something one sees very often at concerts these days. Furthermore, it was a very proper score, the edition edited by Paderewski, of which I have some myself. Perhaps I shall take the préludes along to the next concert, a volume which is all the better for having been copyrighted by the Chopin Institute of Warsaw in the year of my birth.

The concert was opened by a performance of a mazurka which was taken from an opera about a haunted manor house house and which was given by the Mazury Dance Conpany, also, as it happens, known to our Royal Family. A dozen enthusuastic dancers, all in full costume, mostly of middle age and accompanied by loud speakers rather than by the piano. Perhaps there was not enough room for both on the stage. An interesting, but slightly odd opening to a piano concert, one result of which was that by the end of the evening, having heard 5 of Chopin's mazurkas, I still did not feel I knew what a mazurka was, despite Cortana telling me that it was all to do with the special beat. I can only suppose I have no ear for such things; the chap who once tried to teach me to play the clarinet certainly thought so.

That being as it may be, I rather liked the mazurkas, which reminded me, for some reason, of Mozart piano sonatas. Something, for me anyway, of the same grace and limpidity. The second book of Études, Op.25 were rather good too, which both pleased and surprised me, having a rather fixed aversion to what I call clever-cloggs piano music. This did not, in the event, qualify as such.

The programme talked of Chopin's 'trademark cantabile melodic line against a sensitive left hand accompaniment', talk which perhaps goes to the same place as the Pires remarks about lateralisation (see reference 1). It was also rather enthusiastic about Op. 17 No.4, aka No.13. See reference 3.

The basement being a bit cramped, I had thought to bring a quarter Grouse to warm up the interval, by which time it was raining and there were no Bullingdons left on the Smith Square stand.

The young lady next to me, an amateur with a Yamaha, was another enthusiast, who will be coming to the whole series, while we are only managing the half.

At the end, still no Bullingdons so I had to set off on foot, in the light rain, past the security service where, despite recent events, there were no guards to be seen, armed or otherwise. Perhaps they were on a break. No Bullingdons at Millbank Tower either, and I was not suited until I got to Vauxhall Bridge, where there were a few. At which point I discovered the new fine new cycle path across the southbound side of the bridge. All very fine, but suffering from the same problems as all such lanes, bolted onto a motor transport system, around which they have to keep ducking and diving, which can be a bit tricky on a cycle first time around.

Entrained for Epsom, opposite another young lady, vaguely Spanish in appearance, oddly attractive without being pretty. I wondered whether it was proper for me to take another swig of Grouse with her opposite, but it soon became clear that she was busting for a fag, so I decided that she would not mind the Grouse, Perhaps I should have offered her a swig while she waited.

All in all, a good evening. With Bullingdon clearly the way to Smith Square when travelling light.

PS: as it happens I had just given the Bullingdons a very satisfied rating in some online survey - just before, for once in a while, I fail at two stands. Perhaps the next survey will be better timed.

Reference 1: http://www.psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/portuguese-connection.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/chopin-as-in-shopping-1.html.

Reference 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPUDeuRnak0 rather good this morning too. Helped along by it putting up up the score.