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!!