Quintet

A fortnight ago now to the Wigmore Hall to hear the Piatti Quartet (plus Tim Lowe on the extra cello) do the Schubert string quintet, D956. Unusually, a Saturday afternoon and actually part of a day showcasing the work of one Joseph Phibbs, a composer who was present, getting on for fifty and comes from a London luvvie family. See references 1, 2 and 3. With the last outing for the quintet being briefly noticed at reference 4, the day after, as it happens, the death of our late Queen. Just about a year previously.

A bad start to this day in that we only realised at the last moment that BH's senior rail card had expired and we were obliged to pay full price - quite a lot more than the rail card price.

And then it was unpleasantly hot when we arrived at Oxford Circus, both below ground and at ground level. On the other hand, there were plenty of summer clothes about, plenty of them quite skimpy, it being by then around lunchtime. We took our customary break at All Bar One, supplemented on this occasion by a slice of yellow cake, quite possibly lemon drizzle cake, this to flesh out the snack in a bag which was to keep us going until after the concert which started at 14:00.

A new to me brand of bicycle, parked up in Cavendish Square. Leased by the month from Swapfiets, the people at reference 7 - not an arrangement that I have come across before. Probably the Power 1 model, less the battery. The sort of pricing which tells me how much I am getting off, but not how much I am paying. Must have a think about who might go for such an arrangement. Who might not mind carrying the battery about when the bicycle is parked.

The bench, just outside the perimeter of the square proper, which has served for light suppers before evening concerts in the past, in the days of winter evening concerts.

A non-scoring harpsichord at the back of the hall. I think the big piece at the back sits on top of the small piece at the front. With the lid included with the big piece. Hall maybe two thirds full at the off.

The concert started with two works by Phibbs, which I liked a good deal better than I had expected. See reference 5.

While the Schubert quintet seemed oddly muted on this occasion, almost a feeling of doom. In particular, a couple of places where the music seemed to be reaching for something, then drew back from making the final pitch to the summit. Was it me, the quartet or the music? If the latter, odd that I had not noticed it before. And my memory was of a generally happy piece.

Afterwards, we needed to get back to ground level to think about options, so we settled for a glass in the Be At One in Wimpole Street, a place which I first used when it was called the Pelican, of which brief notice from more than fifteen years ago to be found at reference 6. With the unusual arrangements in the basement snapped above.

BH had taken precautions and eating at home back at Epsom was an option. With proper vegetables and without goo. But our first thought was that it was time to visit Ponti's, just a few hundred yards away, again. We nearly set off, but second thought was that it might be better to getting nearer home before settling down. Maybe ASK at Epsom? In the end, by the time we had taken our wine and got ourself to Epsom, a taxi and consumption of precautions seemed like the way forward. We shall, no doubt, get to both Ponti's and ASK on some future occasions.

A bit of design, the shopping centre just outside Wimbledon station, which does not quite work. I had been wondering about it for years, but decided on this occasion that the problem was the (fake) flat arches. Together with the lorry ramp middle right and the trim below the windows left, they were too much and the design would have worked much better had there been a simple strip of white concrete. And maybe the ramp would have worked better had the wall been stepped rather than sloped.

PS: on arrival at Epsom, BH found that she could buy a one year rail card over the counter (still present, at least for the time being), thus avoiding the difficulty online with two rail cards for one email address. Not quite such a good deal as a three year card, but good enough.

References

Reference 1: https://piattiquartet.com/.

Reference 2: https://www.timlowecellist.com/.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Phibbs.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/d956.html.

Reference 5: https://www.josephphibbs.com/chamber/.

Reference 6: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2007/06/goose-paste.html.

Reference 7: https://swapfiets.co.uk/.