psmv5: Messiaen

I knew nothing of Messiaen, other than that he was French and modern, as opposed to German and classical, but was for some reason attracted to Kings Place for a performance of his 'Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus' by the Latvian pianist Reinis Zariņš 'who seeks, through music, to sound the mystery of life'. A suite of 20 parts which was performed without an interval and which ran for about two hours.

It helped that it started at 12:00, so a daytime event, not requiring us to be up and about after dark.

On the day in question, a Sunday, we had no trains from Epsom to Waterloo, which meant that we discovered the Sutton to St. Pancras option, handy on this occasion. I did the Apcoa parking business at home, to avoid grappling with verification codes in a car park.

A bit late in the day, I thought to take a look among the six feet or so of classical CDs offered by our Oxfam shop - presumably lots of music buffs have switched over to streaming - but nothing of Messiaen's to be found. Mozart appeared to be far and away the most popular offering. So I settled for some very sketchy preparation on YouTube. I was intrigued.

The next item on the agenda was where to go for lunch after. The Rotunda, right on the spot, known for its fine meat, is a place we need to try, but I thought at least a short walk after sitting for a couple of hours was in order, and plumped for Vinotec, last tried in January and noticed at reference 5. The only catch was that since then the firm went into liquidation and whoever bought it up decided that this was the branch, out of the five of six, which had to go. Maybe the rents in this now ever so fashionable precinct were a bit fierce.

When we got there, there was still some Vinotec branding visible, but the hoardings told us that Harrys was coming soon. We shall see. And we shall see how long it takes Google to let what I assume are lots of prime retail opportunities underneath their huge but handsome new building now nearing completion right in the snap above.

Another view of it, complete with two partially hidden but large cherry-pickers. There were also the thoughts that this handsome new building was probably sized before the plague made a dent in our working habits and was in any case paid for by all those annoying advertisements which so many blogs and YouTube videos are so badly infested with. There ought to be a better way of doing things.

And not only was Vinotec shut, but the café in Kings Place was shut too - its refurbishment was due to finish on the Monday following - and so we had to scuttle down to the Pret down the road for the refreshment needed to take us through the two hours to come. Is it significant that Pret appear to be camping out in the branches which I have visited? Taken out cheap, short leases on hard-to-let buildings?

We had settled for the German Gymnasium next door, snapped above.

There was time to revisit Piano 79 of reference 6 before we went downstairs to find that the art had been refreshed. The handsome upside down beetle, complete with instructions about how it was not a climbing frame for small children, had gone. A pity, as I rather liked it. Both beetle and an earlier state of the Google building can be seen at reference 7.

Into the hall, by no means full, but respectable; and, as it turned out, the hall matched the music rather well. At least we thought so. One downer that the two chaps in front of fidgeted all the way through. One wondered what on earth they were doing there. Another was that two hours was too long for us. I dare say a break would have broken the mood, but for us that would have been the lesser evil. But interesting to have been and it will be interesting to see if we ever go again, or even get a CD - streaming being a little way off yet. One catch being that a quick peek at reference 8 finds plenty of Messiaen - but not this one - so maybe it does not get that many outings.

The snap above shows the screen used for the Biblical quotes mentioned at the bottom of the first snap above. It also told us what number we were on, which I liked, perhaps in the same way as I like there to be gaps between movements of things like piano sonatas. I like to know where I am. I dare say it shouldn't matter, but it does matter to me and I need a bit of help.

Out and onto the rather odd building which houses the German Gymnasium. We had assumed that 'gymnasium' was a foreign word that did for restaurants as well as schools, but we did wonder what on earth the building could have been, being a rather odd cubical, shape for an engine shed or a coal shed, and this evening I find to my surprise that it really was a gymnasium. With the snaps above and below turned up by Bing, above from the website at reference 9.

Interesting that there were enough athletic Germans in London at that time to stump up for such a large building. But then, one has all the grand churches built during the second half of the nineteenth century, presumably with a mixture of money from wealthy backers giving a bit back and money from the more humble faithful. All the masonic halls, temperance halls and drill halls. And after that, the once grand Polish White Eagle club in Balham.

I associate to the giant leek clubs up north which, by way of a contrast, tended to have their meetings in public houses. Rolls of allium honour in golden lettering on the walls yes, their own buildings no.

French rather than German wine, although we need to allow for the French (18th century?) conquest of what was an essentially German area. Just one previous mention of the house at reference 10, while the house itself is to be found at reference 12. Where of this brand it tells us that 'Un puissant dragon aurait fertilisé de son sang ce terroir solaire qui donne naissance à des vins majestueux et délicats'. 17.45 euros from them. A relatively modest mark-up factor of 4 or so. Tasted fine.

Potato soup for him. Pretty good, if a little salty.

Followed by braised beef roularde, complete with bread dumpling. Roularde good, not so sure about the bread dumpling, a rather heavy object. A guess it was once a sensible way to use up stale bread, but a good thing was was not a lot bigger. We make bread pudding out of our stale bread, which I do like, especially when it is fairly fresh out of the oven. Just left to stand to firm up for a few minutes before tucking in.

Generous with the bread. The box held more than one might think.

A better approximation to cheese cake than they managed at Circulo Populare. Having the blueberry sauce on the side, rather than poured on top was a good touch. In the same way that gravy on the side is.

A very German page in the non-wine drinks menu. The Calvados varies from £12 to £110 for 50ml, and I went for one of the cheaper options - although not, as I recall, my first choice.

I failed to work out what snake movement - upper left in the wine cupboard behind our table - was at the time and Bing does not help this morning (Saturday), it not getting any further than snake wine from China, which I do not think is relevant. Google does rather better, offering wine racks decorated with snakes, but I don't think that is right either. Maybe it is something to do with the way that the wine numbers zig-sag, snake through the shelves?

We did learn that the waitresses had to wash their own uniform white blouses. Which seemed a bit mean at the time, but thinking about it now, organising laundry for a team of waitresses might be a bit taxing for a restaurant. DIY much simpler.

A lucky connection to Sutton, where we picked up this echo - not a blackberry this time - of the shoot noticed back in August at reference 12. Nature clearly likes straight lines.

And another trolley that got away.

All in all, an excellent outing.

PS 1: according to Wikipedia, '... Messiaen perceived colours when he heard certain musical chords (a phenomenon known as chromesthesia); according to him, combinations of these colours were important in his compositional process...'. An interesting condition which I think is not yet fully understood. How does the brain come to get its sensory wires crossed? But then, how does it come to get them separated out in the first place?

PS 2: amused to read over breakfast that Nigel Farage - he who was ousted from Coutts - needs the services of an image consultancy in the US. Presumably they promise to boost both his standing and his income there. And who don't appear, from the short piece in the Guardian, to operate by taking a slice of the winnings, in the way of some lawyers. Politics!

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Messiaen.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vingt_Regards_sur_l%27enfant-J%C3%A9sus.

Reference 3: https://www.reiniszarins.com/.

Reference 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvGtdhccqCE. Someone else.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/in-transition.html.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/piano.html.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/04/kings-cross.html.

Reference 8: https://bachtrack.com/search-events.

Reference 9: https://www.germangymnasium.com/.

Reference 10: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/02/trolley-226.html.

Reference 11: https://www.cave-turckheim.com/fr/.