On this occasion, Haydn HXV:31, Dvořák Op.90 (aka Dumky) and Schubert D.929.
A mild evening, with in-train entertainment provided by a couple of young people, perhaps mid teens, who did tennis. The girl was full time at a tennis academy, probably the place advertised at reference 3, doing maybe a couple of regular lessons a day, while the boy was at a regular school but also managed a lot of tennis. They had both been playing that day, the Saturday immediately after Christmas. And they managed talking to pensioners OK. But it must be an odd sort of life, devoted to tennis from (say) 5 to 15, with the odds being against ultimate success. But as I was taught at school, it is the journey that counts, not the destination. Well, maybe.
The Morrisons trolley at Cavendish square had been upgrade to Sainsbury's. There was also a place to stack your no longer wanted Christmas tree. But no place to sit, as the one bench outside the perimeter, on the northwest corner, by the motorcycle stand, was occupied, and we were reduced to taking our sandwiches in the Beckstein Room. With our wine, naturally.
The hall was crowded, and I was pleased that all the fancy equipment of our last visit had been removed. Red and green themed flowers, plus large bow for Christmas, after the fashion of some high street florists. Slim line programme, free, like the ones dished out for lunch time concerts. We failed to spot the difference, to work out why we had a slim line rather than a regular programme, but we will succeed in finding out what happens going forward.
The first half of the concert was excellent, but it took me a little while to change gear for the Schubert in the second half. Maybe the whisky at the Cock & Lion was a mistake. Maybe it would have better to have played the trios in chronological order, although duration would have been a problem. While this morning, trying it out on YouTube with the Beaux Arts Trio, can no longer see what the problem might have been. A work of wonder.
The encore was the gipsy rondo from HXV:25. Dashing enough, but a little fast and furious for me. I was reminded of the last movement of Brahms' first piano quartet, written just about half a century later.
But overall, a great success and we shall look out for this (French) trio. Not only could they play, they also had good platform manners.
Also pleased to make the 21:58 from Vauxhall, despite the chap on the platform not having a clue where a four coacher would stop, which meant we were not quite first down the ramp at Epsom. Not a problem as it turned out there were a lot more taxis than customers.
Home to find that I could manage Schubert's first piano trio on vinyl, but not the second. The Oistrakh trio. Another fine work.
Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/11/trios.html.
Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoboken_catalogue. I now know that one Hoboken created the definitive catalogue of Haydn's many works. So H for Hoboken, XV for 15th category (out of 31 categories, one for each genre), 31st member thereof. Hoboken being a rich musicologist from the Netherlands, living through the end of the 19th and most of the 20th century.
Reference 3: http://www.tennisavenue.co.uk/. A curiously amateur website for an operation which looks very serious about turning talented children into tennis players. But it does include some sensible advice to parents.
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