Hammerklavier

Otherwise, according to Wikipedia at reference 1, a grand sonata for the fortepiano. Known by me to be famous and probably heard half a dozen times, but I don't remember a hammer piano being what most people call a forte piano.

The archive admits three hearings, references 2, 3 and 4, plus evidence that back in 2018 I did know about hammer pianos. So much for memory. But maybe I should look out for a period piano performance. On this occasion to hear Marc-André Hamelin do it on a Steinway concert grand, a chap I seem to have heard twice before, once in 2009 and again in 2014. For the man himself see reference 5.

But to start at the beginning, this Monday was a cold day, with some wind and more than a hint of rain, so I cracked out the winter woolly, scarf and gloves - which had been put away just a few days previously. Train very quiet, with Waterloo more or less empty when I arrived just before noon. Furthermore, there was a Bullingdon in the pole position at the top of the ramp so I didn't even have to walk down.

Lots of traffic jamming up the roads in and around Oxford Street and Wigmore Street, but on a bicycle one can usually get through, as I did on this occasion. To find that the stand outside the Portuguese Consulate in Portland Place was, for once, full - and I had to make my way to the stand by Manchester Square, home to the Wallace Collection. Which was full when I pulled up, but luckily someone was just pulling out. Bullingdon management slipping a bit. Maybe they can't get the staff either. Interestingly, I did not get the £2 surcharge for exceeding the 30 minute limit: maybe that only clicks in when the minutes tick past 30 to 31, rather than their watching the second hand. In this case, I could have put my key into the full stand at Portland Place and got an extra 15 minutes grace, but I haven't got familiar enough with that process to want to bother with it. Chicken and egg problem. Or perhaps a Catch 22.

Quick visit to the Cock & Lion and on into a fairly full hall, where I took my now traditional seat I5. Near, but not too near the front, on the left hand end of the centre block, good for a quick getaway should that be desirable.

I thought an excellent performance, all the better for me in that Hamelin is not a florid performer. Restrained, without the exuberant body language favoured by some executants. A justly famous work. And with the Bach Württemberg sonata doing well as a warm-up number. Notwithstanding which, Hamelin still earned a rather catty comment from some member of the chattering classes on the way out about how nervous he had been. Which he may have been, but I had not noticed and it did not seem quite the right moment to say such a thing.

Out to take lunch at 2 Veneti, just a few doors up. I took mixed bread, crisp bread, calf's liver and tiramisu. Plus a white wine from the Alto Adige, an area I find reliable in these matters. A 2018 'Isidor, Mazoni bianco.Vigneti delle Dolomiti. Fanti' to be found at reference 7. With a distinctive brown logo on the front of the bottle. Taken at least once before and noticed, for example, at reference 10, the day of the Florentine steak (in this restaurant branded as Venetian).

Rounded off with some fine, yellow grappa for some and some coffee for others. Out of a square bottle, opened for the occasion, and into a very proper glass.

I did not take it, not being sure how filling the liver would be, but I learned about a fine starter made with salt cod whipped up with something. 'Baccala’ mantecato con polenta alla griglia' for those with the lingo. As it turned out, the portion for one was substantial, so taking a whole portion would have been a mistake.

Out to investigate the goings on in Cavendish Square, seemingly taken over for the summer by a collection of sheds. Not very busy at half past four on a Monday afternoon. Cornish Gin was off, but I did manage a Bell's, from a slightly suspect bottle, suspect in that the label was not quite the same as that you would get on a bottle from Sainsbury's. Tasted OK.

Almost fell for a cigar from the cigar joint across the way, a joint complete with a sampling lounge, that odd loophole in the otherwise very carefully worded law banning tobacco in many public places. Didn't look busy but perhaps it will still be there if I ever fall off my no-smoking perch. Pay double the regular price for the privilege? Maybe the owner of this Lamborghini 'Aventador' was inside with a bit of decorative fluff? Do they do private rooms? For which see reference 8.

Bus to Vauxhall, taking in something called a Tootbus in Parliament Square. Looks a bit dear to me.

At Vauxhall, I was greeted by a small band. Then onto a train together with four or five members of a Territorial Support Unit, all tooled up. The people in the news with their tasers this morning, people whom one is apt to come across in the margins of demonstrations. They got out at Clapham Junction, while I proceeded to Earlfield.

To be entertained downstairs in the Half Way House by mums, dads and infants. All very cute. And  their piano was still to be found upstairs, if not exactly in all its brown wood glory. A piano from Bord of Paris, said by Bing to have been a big manufacturer in his day. A piano which I feel sure than I have previously scored, but I cannot presently turn up the post. One might have thought that 'piano paris' would do the trick, but no. And searching the archive for 'piano paris bord earlsfield' returns far to many hits to bother with. A task for later.

And so home to Epsom. I very much doubt if I walked up the hill.

PS: a little later: decided to look a little further back, in psmv3, to find that this piano was Piano No.1, scored at reference 9. But still need to work out what search key would have done the business in the archive.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_No._29_(Beethoven).

Reference 2: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2011/11/hammer-piano.html. Douglas.

Reference 3: http://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/04/messrs-b-p.html. Pollini.

Reference 4: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/03/hammerklavier.html. Madžar.

Reference 5: https://www.marcandrehamelin.com/.

Reference 6: http://www.2veneti.com/.

Reference 7: https://www.vignaiolofanti.it/it/vini/isidor.

Reference 8: https://www.no6cavendish.com/.

Reference 9: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/10/piano-1.html.

Reference 10: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/08/to-london-town.html.