A proper concert

Nearly a fortnight ago now to a proper concert at the Wigmore Hall, Haydn Op.64 No.3 and Beethoven Op.132, given by the Doric String Quartet of reference 1, last heard a little more than a year ago at the event noticed at reference 2.

Both wind and rain were scheduled to appear later in the day, and there was some rain in the air when we left the house a little before 09:00. After some discussion over breakfast, we had settled for rainwear without umbrellas. I snoozed on the train.

Opposite us on the tube we had a rather stout father, not very English looking, with two boys, all terribly expensively dressed. The elder boy, a little plump, looked very spoilt. And the three of them seemed oddly out of place among the much more casual style of their fellow travellers. What were they doing all dressed up so early on a Sunday morning?

We also had quite a lot of American Football fans, all dressed up and heading for the 14:00 match at Wembley. New England Patriots versus Jacksonville Jaguars. I assume that this was a respectable match, if not the equivalent of their Premier League. I don't suppose they do overseas and in any case this sort of thing must cost the teams involved a great deal. What with their travel, their accommodation, their entourage and all their other baggage. All of which has to be recovered in the ticket prices. I was amused that these fans were out bright and early to make sure they had time to take on a few beverages before the match. Just like our football fans.

At least one fan with his son made it to Olle & Steen, where we took cardamon buns with our coffees. It would have been easy to be a bit messy and we should have taken a knife and fork too.

On the way in by the back entrance, I noticed this poster, not for the first time. Fancy being a lady called Jelly. Or rather, Jelly d'Arányi, a violinist and a musical eminence in London between the two wars. See reference 6. In those days the Wigmore, at least on this occasion, could roll out a Bösendorfer piano. Something which I have never seen there and which I have only ever seen at the Holy Trinity Church in Sloane Square. Unscored for technical reasons.

The Hall was nearly full. One chap had thought to put his Brompton in the cloakroom. I hoped he waited a bit before trying to get it back afterwards. And the nicely arranged flowers, with a dull red lead, were a bit lost against the brown background. The florist must have forgotten the context of the order. And, very unusually, the lady right in front of us was sewing something fairly small right through the proceedings. I thought embroidery, BH thought darning a sock, but whatever it was it was only just off my eyeline, which was tiresome. Various other types of fidgeting in range too.

However, generally speaking, the music was good enough to blot all that out. In fact, an excellent concert. No encore after the Beethoven, which is proper to my mind. The only downer was that I thought that I knew these late quartets pretty well, but not well enough to recognise the Lydian third movement for what it was. It was very good, but I was cross not to have been able to put its name to it. See references 4 and 5.

Out to an economical meal at the 'Place to Eat' near the top of John Lewis. In my case beef bagel plus Caesar salad, for BH just the salad. I was pleased to see that they had left nearly all the dressing off the salad: in some places it comes drenched in mayo, not to mention balsamic, which I do not care for at all. All very satisfactory.

The economy of lunch was rather spoiled by my discovering that I had lost the little plastic wallet containing my senior rail pass, my senior bus pass and my Travelcard at some point - something which had fallen out of my pocket onto Wigmore Street before. I went back to John Lewis from Oxford Circus. No luck at the cafeteria. Eventually made my way to lost property up on the fifth floor, where they were as helpful as they could be, suggesting that I ring back in a couple of days or so just in case. In the event, the Wigmore Hall phoned me in a day or so, as it had been handed in there. Total loss maybe £20, but much more important was getting it back and not having the rigmarole of organising replacements. Thinking about storage arrangements going forward.

Amused by hoardings at Oxford Circus tube station extolling the merits of having a retail outlet in the concourse area. Merits which were not so compelling that there were not a number of vacancies. I suppose that there is turnover, but still and all. One might think a prime spot.

But then, I have read that we English are rather odd in thinking that travel hubs need to be equipped with huge numbers of shops and other outlets. Other countries stick to travel and a modest amount of refreshment, this last being welcome when one is likely to be waiting around for a bit.

References

Reference 1: https://doricstringquartet.com/.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/09/death-and-maiden-not.html.

Reference 3: https://help.wembleystadium.com/support/home. 'There are different policies in place regarding the purchase of alcohol during each and every event at Wembley Stadium. As a general rule the sale and consumption of alcohol is permitted at concerts. It is also permitted at Rugby League events and other sporting events like American Football'.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._15_(Beethoven).

Reference 5: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/12/belcea.html. 'Point Counter Point' now honourably buried in the large compost heap so not available on this occasion.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_d%27Ar%C3%A1nyi.