Tippett

More Tippett at St. Luke's last week. Two Tippetts and one Beethoven, this last serving to pull people like me who will turn out for Beethoven, but not normally for Tippett. Tippett piano sonatas 1 and 2, Beethoven Op.101. The latter certainly heard at the concert noticed at reference 1 and possibly heard as part of the series noticed at reference 2, this last also at St. Luke's, in the days when they went in for more ambitious programmes than they do now. One supposes the necessary subsidies (aka hand-outs) got lost to our age of austerity.

The programme

But first the getting there.

A mild, damp morning, with some action on the bird feeder now hanging off garage fascia boards.

Field systems

The dew brought up the old rose beds on the Meadway roundabout, with grass left and bed right in the snap above, this being some years after the rose beds were grassed over. A reminder that old land use can survive in new appearances.

Progress on the West Hill gas works, with holes starting to be made good, although the eastbound lane is still closed to make a car park for the various gasman vans. Hopefully not many days to go now.

Excitable puff

I was amused by the rather excitable puff on the platform at Epsom for the exhibition noticed at reference 4. Hadn't these people heard of the likes of Gainsborough, Constable, Millais and Turner? Just to mention a few. Perhaps the Tate Britain would have known better.

Some children on the train playing a game which involved player 1 nominating a pair of station on the London Connections map and player 2 having to work out how to get from one to the other. This involving, in the first instance, find the two stations. Then it was player 2's turn to nominate. A rather noisy game which had become rather tiresome by the time that we got to Waterloo.

Although I did doze off at one point, to be woken at another point by a young lady poking her nose through the gap between the two seats in front of me, wanting to know if the train did indeed go to Waterloo. I was intrigued by the length of time it took me from first being aware of her nose to be able to answer her question.

The two Bullingdon's of the day

The journey to St. Luke's took slightly longer than it ought because of a couple of young people - man on proper bicycle, lady on another Bullingdon - cycling just ahead of me up Farringdon Road, but paying much more attention to each other than getting on. Or thinking about the route that they needed. I had neither the speed nor the space needed to overtake them, and I did not lose them until somewhere along Clerkenwell Road. Otherwise, plenty of cycling contraventions, mainly ignoring traffic lights.

Bacon sandwich in Whitecross Street on form, even if they did forget the 'crusty bread' part of my order.

In St. Luke's to find six microphones, including two in the piano, which they don't usually do at the Wigmore Hall. Fiona still missing, but it turned out that Donohoe could talk, so he took up the slack. Including a little story about the time he took lunch with Tippett in the margins of performing one of his sonatas. Did they talk about the performance or was there a gentlemen's agreement not to talk shop? Donohoe did learn that Tippett as well as having been a commie and having been jailed (in the second war) for pacifism, was also something of a man of the people, being a great fan of 'Eastenders'. With Wikipedia reminding me this morning that his various faults being overlooked to the extent of his being made OM, CH, CBE and a knight of the realm.

While I had found the Tippett sonatas rather noisy and not really my thing, although I thought I detected echoes of Shostakovich's preludes, which are my thing, plausible for the second sonata but not for the first. Beethoven much better although I found its performance a bit loud. Bit too much pedal. Rather an arty audience, with one gentleman in particular sitting at the front paying avid attention to the Tippett, not so much to the Beethoven. He looked, from where I was sitting, as if he was taking notes about the Tippett, so perhaps he was a lecturer from the (Guildhall) school of music just up the road from the church.

The wine

Pulled my second Bullingdon to take me to William IV Street, where I was pleased to get a slot on the stand. And so pulled into Terroirs to take lunch. Brisket a bit overpriced and the accompaniments too soft and soggy; probably too much butter. But bread good and Schlossberger cheese (from Switzerland) good. This last seeming from Bing to be a generic name like Cheddar, with the stuff being made all over the place, despite probably originating in Switzerland. Started the liquids with a spot of an orange wine, nothing to do with oranges, rather to do with an orangey tint from doing something with the macerated skins. Then moved on, and forced to move on a long way, as the Pierre Précieuse had come to an end. All the way to Quartz Cailloux du Paradis, which turned out to be just as good. Plus a spot of their cheapest Calvados, quite good enough for me these days. Plus new table dressing, new crockery and new cards (see below) to go with the updated wine list. Long may they last: one of only three places that I both know of and can occasionally afford that carries a good range of wine.

Old Stanford's

Quite late by the time we had finished, but I still thought to work my way north to stock up on Poacher at Shorts Gardens, taking in the abandoned Stanford's on the way. Once a fine shop, but I don't suppose they are doing very well at their new site. A mere shadow of their glory days, when explorers went to there just before the off to pick the latest maps of the north west frontier or of darkest Africa.

I learned in the cheese shop that their Montgomery Cheddar, as usual piled up next to their Poacher, was nothing to do with Montgomery in Wales, the place which used to be home to the ancient hardware store from which I bought my best felling axe, rather the name of a cheese making family from Somerset. While the shop girl and the customer next to me got to know about the castle, of which they had never heard.

The cards

The arty not-for-sales

Nearly next door to the cheese ship, we had a pop-up Lego shop (complete with queue management, not really necessary when I visited) where they were promoting the sale of wooden models of a standard Lego man, perhaps six times life size, with the yellow hands being the only moving parts. No bending at the waist, flapping of the arms or rotation of the head. Around £200 a pop, to which you had to add the necessary paint, brushes and so on. As a come on, they displayed a dozen or so of these models which they had had decorated by wannabee artists, arty models which were not for sale. Plenty of marketing types about to explain the new concept, some of them attractive. But I thought that £200 for a bit of plain carved wood a bit strong. £50 and my credit card might have flickered, possibly to the point of purchase.

Tube hot and crowded. Checkout area at Smiths at Waterloo crowded, but somehow I managed to jump the queue to reach, more or less immediately, a very cheerful checkout person. Train hot and crowded. Taxi spots at Epsom station blocked by suburban types waiting to pick up partners. All most irregular.

Back home, sufficiently energised by all the depressing home news to make a donation to the Labour Party - although I was slightly put off by the aggressive tone of the donate part of their website. Needs must I suppose.

PS: my Travelcard had failed to work in ticket machines more or less the whole day. A problem that I seem have with cards issued at Epsom - but on this occasion at least, a ticket person was always at hand to wave me through.

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/06/goode.html.

Reference 2: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/search?q=barry+douglas. Quite possible that I heard the Beethoven as part of the series noticed here, a few years ago now.

Reference 3: https://www.peter-donohoe.com/en. A seemingly respectable pianist whom I have not come across before. No memory and no mention in any of the blogs. And a distinctive sort of chap, whom one would certainly remember when one saw him again.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/10/beethoven-failed.html.

Reference 5: https://www.cavepurjus.com/en/loire/quartz-2017-etienne-courtois.html. 'A nose redolent of citrus, flowers, stone, hay and pear. The palate is dense and mineral, with notes of citrus and pear. A long, saline finish. This is sharp, ultra mineralesque juice'.