oh crumbs

The other day, got a call from Andrew (as in Haveron) saying that he (bbcso) was doing some work with George Crumb and when he mentioned having played Black Angels with us many times George said that he'd love to meet us. So, Jacky and I tootled off to the Barbican on Fri eve to see him and catch a bit of the dress reh. it was lovely seeing A again and all our pals in the orch; Martin Brabbins (an old friend ) was conducting, so that was nice but what a treat to finally meet the man himself. Black Angels is a piece that we've spent a lot of time on over the last 30years. He very kindly enthused to us that when our cd suddenly appeared on his doorstep, out of the blue back in '94, he was rather worried in that he had not been involved in the recording or learning process but that he had been blown away by it and that it remains his favourite recording of that work. As we talked we remembered and regaled him with some stories to do with performing BAs. Here are four.

Once in Dartington while Maxwell-Davies was still running it we gave a performance where the sound-man (provided by them not us) had a little power surge of his own and as we began to play (it's marked 'as loud as poss') he turned the volume up to max (forgive the pun!).... the ensuing noise was absolutely unbearable..... the hall pretty-much cleared of people and rumour has it that poor old Max was physically sick.

BAs is a bit of a nightmare to perform principally because the promoters always have trouble getting it right and finding all the things required. One of the worst was an outing at the Berlin Festival in the Philharmonie. We arrived to find no tam-tams, dble-bass bow, etc.... we were still in the public bar finding and tuning glasses at 7.15 with a first half of Smetana's 'from my life' starting at 7.30 !!!! Not ideal I can assure you.

In the early '80s while we were still resident quartet at Sutton Place we did the exact same prog on Fri 13th July (the anniversary of it's completion). At this performance the first half was done as usual but when the audience retired for their customary glass in the interval they were greeted by the butlers dressed in capes with vampire teeth and serving Bull's blood. Upon their return they found the four of us in position, stony-faced; the lads had tailcoats etc but no shirts, just white bowties; Jacky had a very full black dress with white bowtie.

As soon as the somewhat perplexed audience had taken their seats we hit a foot pedal which sent the room into complete darkness; then another, which turned on these tiny fluorescent lights whereupon we hit it pretty hard (as loud as is bearable.....). Thanks to the lighting, the audience only saw four white bowties and four bows (the hair). At the end we returned to our motionless, stoney-faced pose and put the main lights back on. The poor audience tried applauding for a while but got no reaction from us so they just gradually got up and left....

Last but not least was the night of 28th June 1998. We finished a performance of the piece in the Barbican at 10pm; went to Upper St where we found a nice table outside; Had a bowl of pasta and a glass of red while watching a World-Cup match, then on to the Whittington Hospital where Celia (our youngest) was born at 3am !!!

Hello there. Given the hopeless infrequency of this silly blog, I don't expect there to be anyone there but if you are, then, Hello !

it's actually, rather surprisingly, been quite a full-on autumn. One full of surprises and mostly very nice experiences.

In Sept. we kicked off on top of the Alps where we stayed in quite the most bizarre hotel ever (still not sure what the building was meant for).

We then turned up in Manchester to do a BBC lunchtime only to realise half and hour beforehand that it wasn't ! Rather annoying given the inevitable fraught build-up to such events but, on the other hand, tremendous relief. Mikes do not bring out the best in me.

Then Jacky and I left a family wedding at 4.30pm, did a very lovely concert in Beverley ( a hidden gem, by the way) and managed to get back for the set-dancing. They even left us something to drink. Next day we did clay-pigeon shooting.... great fun.

Oct. saw us on the Rhine; passing a beautiful, sunny day before, as always, trying in vain to find the Beethovenhaus.

On the 13th we started our 'Migrations' series at St. Georges in Bristol. I cannot imagine life without our regular visits to this amazing hall and now we've found a little Thai place for a quick bite afterwards, it's getting more and more unmissable. The centrepiece of these 3 concerts is Bartok but we're also getting to know more of the music of Golijov..... absolutely wonderful.

15th we brought the Boda Festival to the Cadogan Hall and met the crown-prince of Norway. If Daniel Craig ever decides to move on the Bond people should look no further than this guy !! Played a new piece by Albert Schnelzer (Swedish) ..... not for the last time and all ended up having a great night in a place called Blondes on the Kings Rd that I rather embarrassingly remember being at the opening of back in the '70s.

For some reason we haven't done a BBC for a while (when we thought we were , we were dreaming!) so then, suddenly, like the proverbial 'London-bus', along came not 3 but 4.... in less than a week ! We did the Brahms 5tet with darling Michael Collins (despite someone throwing themselves under our train on the way there) and a fantastic w/e in Derry where we did another premiere (Peter Cowdrey's 'Derrivations') Bartok 1, Ravel, some smaller works and the incomparable Mendelssohn 8tet with the very lovely Badke Quartet. It poured incessantly all w/e but relented on the Mon allowing those of us who stuck around to spend a most memorable day on a perfect beach with a not inconsiderable amount of food and liquid..... magic!

Back to Bristol . Bartok piano 5tet (anyone tempted should contact either myself or poor old Leon McCawley !!!). Amazing work but certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Golijov Clarinet 5tet with Chen Halevi........ mind-blowing.

This was immediately followed by a w/e in St Andrews (not a single ball was struck ! Very difficult for me). Also quite tricky for me was the fact that we went there thinking it was a celebration of Watson Forbes (which it was) only to find that it was a one-off international viola competition with competitors from all over the world and a big-name jury all of whom attended our concert on the Sun aft ....... bit hairy for me and Scott Dickinson but enjoyable nonetheless.

Rsamd visit was fun as always. Lovely staff, lovely students. Went to an awards ceremony which was quite an experience for one who normally runs a mile from such gatherings. This amazing guy turned up to the dinner afterwards and played a thing called a double-pipe... fantastic.

It has to be said that the horrible 'main de Dieu' did spoil an otherwise lovely trip. (oh, and the hotel flooded under the worst rain on record...... interesting aroma).

Now then .... who's been to Morelia ? Our whole time in Mexico was memorable but Morelia has to be the highlight. What an extraordinarily beautiful place. We played an all-British prog with Purcell/Britten 2 and the Elgar piano 5tet with Alexander Pashkov their resident, very excellent pianist. This concert was in one of the many stunning courtyards Morelia has to offer and went out on live TV. Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious meal in the Museum where the great and good had assembled. We were entertained, firstly by a charming ad evocative local, traditional band and then by three guys doing Beatles covers. Sound horrendous but it was actually really moving. They were extremely good and we all dutifully joined in but I couldn't help wondering why a band covering the Beatles would elect to have only three members !!? On the other hand I didn't see their paycheck ...... hope the other three aren't reading this and getting ideas !!!!

Our other two concerts there highlighted the Ravel quartet. In the first half we did, amongst other things, two of our favourite little pieces. Both Mexican. One by Javier Alvarez and the other by his old teacher, Mario Lavista. It was great to see them both again, particularly Javier and his lovely family all of whom we knew very well when they lived in the next street here in London.

After the concert in Zamora we ended up in a restaurant called Sur. We worried slightly when we arrived as we were the only people there but we needn't have. Soon the place filled up, the food and wine was excellent and when the Mariachi band arrived our evening really took off. By 3am we had busked with the locals and ruined everything from the Czardas to Zapateado via Irish songs and goodness knows what else...... Ian was a star ! The night came to a close with a bottle of best Mescal by the pool.

After the show in Mexico City we were invited to the extremely impressive British Ambassador's residence for a terrific evening of chat, nosh and fortification. The 3 Scottish Tenors were there and said goodnight with a gorgeous Burns song. Impressive though the house was, much more impressive was the Ambassador herself. Judith Macgregor is an incredibly kind and inspirational woman. She was an absolute delight and we thank her most warmly for her generosity of spirit. Mexico is lucky to have her around.

Added to this the amazing Susan from the Anglo-Mexican Foundation and our totally wonderful and irreplaceable Daniela who put up with all our little gripes and looked after us with such apparent ease and brilliance ...... we all miss you.

Asta la vista baby!!

Oh dear, 

sorry this is not a very interesting blog site. Lots of things have been happening but not much reported on I'm afraid!

Mon. 3rd Aug. Gave a concert in a french cloud... rain that put Derry and M'bro to shame. Then somehow survived horrible food-poisoning (yes, in France!) to do Boda Festival. 8 gigs in 4 days.

It's impossible to imagine what lies in store for one when one goes to a place like Boda (Arctic Norway), especially from the toilet floor but one can usually tell pretty soon upon arrival. We were looked after so beautifully there (so important when you spend your life dandering around the globe). Despite feeling SO terrible and the first concert being 'live' on EBU radio, the whole experience kicked into life with a memorable meal laid on by a most amazing gentleman named Morten. He had been the chairman of the festival for 8 years (irreplaceable I would have thought) and still kept the whole thing alive with his particular brand of extreme generosity. Our ensuing Shost Cycle in 5 different churches became all the lore memorable thanks to him; plying us with his boat trips, fish eagles, fjords, glaciers, fish cakes, champagne, barolo...... unforgettable. The whole Festival comes to London's Cadogan Hall in Oct. Don't miss it.

Off on hols now for a wee while. Will try to write more in the autumn.    

Phew!

It's been a huge month, fantastically exciting to be playing with Elvis again and with a lot of new material to explore, as well as revisiting the Juliet Letters 15 years on... Back to Glasgow three more times since the Shostakovich Cycle! With Elvis we returned to the venue which opened the first JL tour back in '93, the Royal Concert Hall, then back to the Academy for the In Memoriam concert with Joan Lluna and some teaching, then a fab outing with the Andalucian Dogs and the brilliant Dawn Upshaw at the extremely hip Indoor Fruit Market at City Halls. 

In the meantime the EC tour took us up and down the country, ending at one of our favourite haunts, St George's Bristol, where we played for over three hours, such is the wealth of this man's output and the ever increasing number of  arrangements it inspires in us.

The month ends with us learning works new to us - Verdi and Wolf - and a brand new commission from Isadora Zebeljan - all really exciting. 

In the meantime, Pip the duck is two months old and huge! She's dipping in and out of her paddling pool-pond as I write and tomorrow she goes to live at our local city farm, to my great relief. After an incredibly busy month of work, the kids having school exams too, she was just one push too far. By this time next week we'll be taking a six day holiday. Can't wait!

Go Glasgow!

We had such a great time in Glasgow. The two day marathon of all the Shostakovich quartets was a revelation to us as well as the audience, judging by their fantastic reception. I can never tire of this incredible music. What an amazing hall - City Hall - and a wonderful team behind the scenes, Colin and co.  

BTW, Pip (the adorable duck) hatched two days behind schedule and is a joy to have around.

Happy Easter! Jacky

What the duck!

Having a couple of days at home between Holland and a trip north to the old homestead, Middlesbrough, for a concert in Stockton. I'm desperately hoping the ducks hatch today or tomorrow or I'll miss the great event. (Our 10 year old is incubating them in her bedroom...)  Off to Sicily on Monday then the mammoth weekend of Shostakovich in Glasgow. Can't wait. 

Hey there!

Hi 'blog-readers',

My name is Holly Cassidy, I am the older daughter of Paul and Jacky.

The oldies have been in and out of this house like me loosing my temper with my younger sister Celia (which i might add is alot!). So they're back tonight only to head STRAIGHT back out the door tomorrow so i've got bored and decided to write to the blog as it's my first time and decided to give it a try. So last week i had three performances with the school production, Sweet Charity. on the wednesday, they were away, on the thursday, they came! on the friday they were away in... somewhere... saturday and sunday they were in, like, Italy or something and the came back on sunday evening then went again monday morning then came back tonight (tuesday) then tomorrow they're away AGAIN till thursday! We've been left with our schools and granny. Gosh! Anyway, to be fare on them, this is a one-off thing... and they've been warning us about this 'busy month' for ages! Last year, we all went to Australia!! It was soo fun! We met loads of relatives we hadn't even heard of, Celia got bitten by a Koala (and sucked by a leach...arrgggh), and sun burned...ouchy. But it was soo much fu!!! We went to this dolphin wild life resort place called Tangalooma... omg, if you ever go to Ozzy, GO THERE!!!! Well, i'm going to go and say good bye to my parents yet again till thursday... : ) Holly x

 What an amazing week we're having. Every day sees us on another flight to another city with another programme, rock'n roll! Last night was the last concert of our Shost Cycle in Bologna. Daniel was a star.... that being his first S/C. Thankfully we've got a few more coming up in the next couple of years so all that work won't be for nothing. From now on though we're doing them in two days instead of over 6 months !!!! 

Glasgow's become a bit of a second home at the moment; The Wee Curry House and Sarti's are keeping us going post gig/teaching. Missed the League Cup Final on Sunday but managed to get on the earlier flight home to see the kids despite the best efforts of a couple of BA jobsworths. SO annoying !!!! Jacky, Ian and I were all at the gate ready to go but.... long story; only I got on. Mind you, missed Kirsty Young who was on the later flight. Was it worth it????

Tomorrow night's Brit 1/ 132 in Madrid which would be great but for the dreaded mike ! 132 on 'live' radio is not my idea of fun. Last Wed we had dinner in a restaurant frequented by the Real players..... it was very quiet for some reason ! Next problem, can we finish next Wed's gig in time for me to get to a screen for Man U v Inter (the return ) ?              PAUL.

Imagine this; you're halfway down the last page of Op.59/1 and your 1st violin breaks his/her E string !! aaargh....... what to do. Bit like getting to within an inch of the summit of Everest and being told there's a slightly bigger one just down the road.

Anyway, Daniel was mercifully quick.   Nice Nepalese meal afterwards during which Celia (our youngest) was discussing the Yeti with the waiters.

Got home and watched Match of the Day..... MU 2 Blackb 1  hmmm, nice. (should have been 3)

Not such a bad evening after all. !!!!  p.

just back from Bologna (hence the script colour!!). It's not exactly the Bolognese Red but hey.

Got to stop coming into Gatwick........ nightmare for us North Londoners; especially when Victoria's closed, as it was today. 

No matter how many times I go to Bologna it never fails to take my breath away. It just looked so beautiful late last night in the moonlight..... too much Limoncello I hear you say.... quite possibly !

Nearly there now with the Shostakovich Cycle; only one to go.Always  gets seriously exciting at this stage but particularly in that incredible venue, with that heartwarming audience and those very special promoters; our old friends Bruno and co. at Musica Insieme. March 2nd will be party-time.         Paul

New release

We're happy to announce we'll be releasing our new album "Rhythm and Texture" this summer on the Orchid label with Brodsky Records. The wonderful Ravel Quartet is the main piece on the cd with a collection of short 20th century works finding inspiration in the similar sound-world of Latin-American and Hispanic rhythms and textures. Look out for it in September, or earlier if you're in Australia as we'll be taking some preview copies along for our concerts there in the coming weeks.