Brodsky Quartet

You know how you usually find out that your luggage has been lost when you arrive at your destination...well, here's a first. Ian gets onboard exclaiming that they've lost his bag !! Bloomin' 'eck, more shopping. Great but we're not in Milan or somewhere, we're in Dornbirn ! Anyway, upon arrival, poor old Ian heads off to see what he can conjure up between the ski-shops, farmer's outfitters, liederhosen etc.

Come concert time he actually looked rather fetching though we couldn't decide whether the goggles were a good idea or not.

We were playing this Mend. 6tet for vln, 2vlas,(yes, 2vlas... Ian opted for the dark goggles in the end!) cello, dble bass and piano (Piers Lane and Leon Bosch). So nice for us to sometimes have extras around to chat with provide some much-needed entertainment. The promoter there is an old friend of ours, Roland Jorg, or Van the Man as we call him due to his uncanny resemblance. He's a wonderful guy with a taste for single malt. We were all remarking how much we like the inimitable cosiness provided by those wood-panelled, perfectly sealed eateries you find in Austrian/Swiss villages.

Next day we headed for Sweden (only we 4). We returned to the rather amazing hall in Uppsala which we helped open a couple of years ago. Mats, our agent up north, met us at the airport, set us up with a spanking, top of the range Volvo (or is that Borbo!?) and we were off.

One of the features of this venue is the rather extraordinary and somewhat terrifying escalator which goes from foyer to roof, Thorpe Park style; beautifully lit and enticing. A very charming young man served us dinner in the roof-top green room. The first leg of our '10 Swedish experience was looking good!