Quatuor Ébène

Last week to hear the Quatuor Ébène, for the first time since just about five years ago, noticed at reference 2. It seems that they did well on that occasion.

Bright cold evening, with the horns of the crescent moon pointing up and left to what I took to be Jupiter.

Stumbled on my way out of my seat at Oxford Circus to be steadied by a smart and solicitous young lady from Japan.

A rubbish filled trolley by the Cavendish Square bins, I thought Morrisons, but their store finder tells me of no store nearer than Chalk Farm Road, miles away. But there was a confirmed sighting in June, noticed at reference 3, so who knows.

There was a young couple, almost certainly foreign, sitting outside 2 Veniti, presumably for a smoke, but we thought it far too cold to picnic outside and settled for the back room at the Wigmore. Odd how we don't seem to get around to revisiting 2 Veniti ourselves, having had a couple of good meals there.

Stage flanking flower arrangments red and green, unusually unbalanced left and right. BH not impressed. While I was not impressed by a Japanese lady who seemed to be far more interested in her mobile phone that the concert: she did have it off during the proceedings, but she kept it going right up to the line and had it going again before the clapping stopped. Perhaps, being by herself, she needed some kind of a prop. There was also some heavy breathing somewhere behind, noticeable in the various quiet bits of the first half.

The hall was pretty full and very wired up, with the usual cluster of microphones hanging from the ceiling and all kinds of new-to-me stuff down the sides. We also had the director being interviewed in the corner. An usherette explained that the Wigmore was taking the plunge into video streaming, with the results to be seen at reference 5. From which we deduce that some of the new-to-me stuff must have involved cameras.

Beethoven Op.18 No.1 very good. Brahms Op.51 No.1 good from me, very good from BH. Beethoven Op.135 very good indeed. I was reminded how important both quiet bits and silences are. A quartet to be looked out for - except that Bachtrack only lists four forthcoming concerts, all in continental Europe, two right up my street. But it is a long way to go.

Having aisle seats, we were pushed out by an inside couple, and ended up missing the encore. Perhaps not such a bad thing after the Op.135. Outside, BH stopped outside John Lewis to admire the Christmas lights strung across Oxford Street.

We missed the 2213 from Vauxhall by a small number of minutes, so broke the journey at Earlsfield where we lost 73 seconds of the modest drinking time available while the nimble young barmaid nipped off somewhere to get a new bottle of whatever it was we were on, possibly Jameson.

Home to fancy some bread, butter and Marmite, for the first time in what seemed like months. A very occasional fancy, but it went down well on this occasion. While in fact, the last occasion recorded was only a little less than a month previous.

Turned the pages of a glossy magazine picked up somewhere along the way, the Marylebone Journal. Lots of stuff for foodies and for people who aspire to upward mobility in the housing market. Some stuff of real interest, including a piece on the refurbishment of the Old Town Hall, where sprog 1 tied the knot and where the deputy superintendent registrar glories in the name of Neil Paknadel-Glensman. Pleased also to see that David Mellor, whose shop I used to know in those far off days when I used to live near Sloane Square, is still alive and well. I think I may have bought something from him once, but no idea now what that might have been. I wonder if he could do me a kitchen timer to replace Salter, deceased?

PS: the moon this evening is near full, so I am reminded that the horns of the crescent moon point left when it is, indeed, crescendoing. See, for example, reference 6 for a sample of the genre.

Reference 1: https://www.quatuorebene.com/.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.com/2013/11/st-lukes.html.

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/06/trios.html.

Reference 4: http://www.2veneti.com/.

Reference 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=194&v=0Xv6shxLfsI. Not in the same league as the real thing. Plus, I think the hall have a bit to learn about how to do streaming. Plus, I have never been keen on all the fancy camera work which producers - or perhaps enthusiastic cameramen - seem to think necessary.

Reference 6: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2013/11/experiment.html.