Ten days ago to the Wigmore Hall to hear the Cuarteto Casals give us Haydn Op.20 No.4 and the Brahms Piano Quintet, Op.34. The former from the peak of the Classical wave, the latter, composed ninety years later, from the peak of the Romantic.
An overcast day, but warm enough, and the hollyhocks in Meadway were in fine form. And some other stuff. Clearly the work of a serious gardener who is happy to share with passers by.
Pleased to find that the travellers on Fair Green, first noticed at reference 3, had packed up and gone. Leaving no traces - in the form of their usual piles of rubbish - that we could see from the other side of the road at all. Things are looking up.
The council don't seem to be able to decide what to do with this bank, planting it from time to time but never sustaining the effort and they might now have given up, pending deciding what to do about the block to the right, having rejected a scheme to put a residential tower block there. In the meantime, teasels have taken up residence, left of centre. All in all, a good year for teasels, with them popping up all over the place.
Around the corner, the regular indigent was up bright and early and had already taken up station outside the station, already taking the odd pull on a tin of something alcoholic.
It being a Sunday, a short train, rather full, in part because of people going to the tennis at Wimbledon. Some fancy dress, but not in the same league as on the way to a horse racing track.
Crane action opposite All Bar One in Regent Street, with this substantial mobile crane appearing to be doing its exercises before attempting the big lift for which it had been summoned. Sadly we forgot to go and take a look after the concert, so we never got to know what the big lift was.
The floral displays in the hall were themed green, yellow and blue. Rather fetching, although maybe the yellow spikes were sticking a bit too far out of the top of them.
The first and second violins swapped between the first and second piece, with the lady taking first violin for the Brahms. Some compensation for taking second for the Haydn in the form of a big entry. Much eye contact between the two of them, while the other two kept themselves to themselves, with the cello just stealing a glance at the pianist from time to time.
The male violinist had a convex bow, with a big gap between wood and horsehair, while the other three were more regular. Two of the four used electrical scores.
All very good. We are getting quite keen on this sort of programme: a Haydn quartet to start, followed by something a bit heavier, a bit more substantial. With BH being rather taken with the emotional roller coaster offered by Brahms.
On exit, a first in that I took both a light sherry and a dark sherry. But they were quite small, maybe 25ml, the same as a shot in a public house. Not many takers for the dark sherry, so who knows whether they chuck the left overs or whether the staff take them for their lunch.
Onto Ponti's for lunch, taking in a new format trolley in Cavendish Square on the way. Non capture was over-determined in that I did not know where it came from and in that I am not allowed to capture trolleys when out with BH.
In the past, we have taken our winter evening sandwiches on the bench visible to the right, with the square proper having been closed at dusk.
As it turned out, a substantial lunch. We started with mixed starters, involving various kinds of sliced sausage, cheese, olives, salad and so forth. The centre piece looked very much like a Scotch egg but was actually something foreign. Rather good though. I followed this with a variety of pizza which came in Cornish pasty format. Good, but substantial and I had to pass on dessert. While BH was pleased with her risotto, just visible back left.
The entirely satisfactory Sauvignon Blanc was from Forchir of Friuli. To judge from reference 4, a substantial, modern operation. Nothing farmer Giles about it at all. And the grappa which followed was brown rather than the usual white or yellow.
Back to Oxford Circus and the rather hot Victoria Line. Wouldn't care to get stuck on it. Quite a lot of strays from Gay Pride events knocking about.
Just caught the 15:06 from Vauxhall. Altogether, a very satisfactory outing.
PS 1: the Windows software on my laptop was upgraded last night, with one effect being that when you rotate a snap in Photos it seems to go small on you. But back to big if you close Photos and reopen the file holding the snap. All very tiresome. Perhaps it will go away again.
PS 2: some days later: I wonder what the Victoria Line is like now, having seemed rather hot for some weeks now, at least when we use it on Sundays. Is it hotter or colder underground than it is overground?
References
Reference 1: https://www.cuartetocasals.com/.
Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/07/mainly-beethoven.html. The last time we had heard them. There had been an attempt in 2019, but sickness in the quartet gave us a later cancellation instead. Consolation in the nearby Devonshire Arms, staffed up, on that occasion by Bulgarians.
Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/07/odds-and-ends.html.
Reference 4: https://www.forchir.it/en/. The manufacturer.
Reference 5: https://www.forchir.it/en/portfolio_page/sauvignon-soresere/. The wine. 8.80 Euros if you go mail order. But there might be a spot of postage and packing to add to that. Probably near enough the usual rule of three for wine in a restaurant.
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