Just going back to Crumb for a minute. Jacky just reminded me that on 13th Sept. 1993 (my b'day) we were playing 'Death and the Maiden' // Black Angels in Sydney (that's a prog we played often; indeed we recorded it). Just before the concert she had received a phone call to say that my dad had died. Thankfully, she didn't tell me till afterwards. How on earth did I manage to forget that little event when cataloguing the BA stories???

Much as I like Canterbury, do I want to spend the night there, unplanned and potentially in my car (albeit with a view of the glorious cathedral)? I don't think so. The writing was on the wall I suppose. We were making our way gently towards the wonderful Uni of Kent; purveyors of doctorates to the great and good (and not so!). It was a rare moment in this hellish winter that has followed the not too clever summer - the sky was clear and blue, the sun practically warm causing us to peel off one or two of the outer layers; then, there in front of us, a bizarre, post- apocalyptic sight. It was the blackest sheet of cloud you've ever seen which had draped a 'curtain' of sleet/snow/hailstones across the Kentish countryside. Sounds somewhat over-dramatic I know but we were actually scared as the car carried us relentlessly into the unknown. Almost instantly we went from the bright clarity of the drive thus far to an eerie darkness where visibility was down to a few metres. The outside temp. went from +5 to -3 in a matter of seconds.We went from being Toad of Toad Hall to being Dennis Quaid in a scene from 'The Day After Tomorrow'.

The show must go on of course and many brave people battled hard to make the concert a success (Jacky's sister, Janet and her husband Tony who live in C, got in the car and proceeded to slip-slide down their street straight into a taxi that had found itself stranded sideways in the middle of the road. Within seconds another car got in on the act and pirhouetted into them. This car turned out to be carrying 4 people also bound for our concert, so in that moment we lost 6 audience members!!!); we had a lovely time there, as always but then...... The scene that greeted us as we left was frankly comical. there were abandoned vehicles everywhere, just left where they ended up. Taxis were parked up and down the road, refusing to go any further, their charges left to fend for themselves; at one point, a young man came running up the middle of the road waving his arm hysterically shouting," don't try to go any further. You cannot go down there, you don't stand a chance....... !!!!!" It took us half an hour to complete the 3 min winter olympic preview course and get off the campus. Another 20 mins took us to the M2 and a welcome return to sanity. Were we in Whistler or Thomsk ?? No. We were in the 'Garden of England' !!!!

ps No-one was hurt in the making of this blog!

Our residency at the RSAMD is really beginning to take shape now. We just had our most successful trip to date. The students there are starting to understand and love this chamber-music lark. Also managed to fill the hall with Prok 2/Bart 6 on Friday lunchtime which was most heartening. Wed night some of us hit the Wee Curry House (not for the first time!!) hmmmm... excellent. It was -7degrees and snowing so I simply had to have the chilli, coriander, ginger King Prawn dish. Isn't life a ... Next night Me and J went to the cinema and saw The Road. Bloomin' 'eck! Brilliant film but not if you have kids a few hundred miles away. Extremely harrowing. The entire packet of Revels went very quickly.

After our lunchtime on Fri we had a very scary encounter with a somewhat deranged and horribly aggressive taxi-driver but still managed to make the 2.30 train to Kendal where we played that night (Courtney Pine and co were in the next hall/dressing room) at the Brewery Arts Centre. Lovely little place actually and good crowd. We were halfway through the second piece when Jacky's stand began to slowly tilt forward eventually causing her music to fall to the floor. We kept playing for a short time but when it was obvious that no-one from the audience was about to get involved we stopped and Daniel rectified the situation. I suggested to the audience that this had been a clear case of 'brewer's droop' ..... not sure how well that went down but i'm afraid I found it irresistible.

Had a fun Thai meal; then whilst waiting for the cab, bumped into some rather worse-for-wear local lads and lasses clutching bottles of rose. They were complaining that there was nothing for them to do but drink and that because of their appearance everyone was on their case. We suggested that they looked perfectly normal and should have spent at least part of their evening down at a different brewery listening to Beethoven and stuff ...... not sure there'll be much change next Friday though. Nice kids .

Like an idiot I managed to catch the end of Jaws2, Fish Called Wanda and White Mischief before collapsing at some unearthly hour. Got the first train home and found ourselves next to two trainspotters on their way to Royston. They had this extraordinary file full of mind-boggling diagrams of the national grid etc. At one point they nearly knocked each other out in a desperate attempt to be the first to see a particular signal-box that we were about to pass...... Now I love trains and all but ..... mind you, if they were to attend one of our rehearsals they might well think the same of me (just different anoraks really!!).

Had such fun doing In Tune the other day. Sean is just amazing and since they've gone up-market studio-wise it's become an even more pleasurable experience (Jacky now has her own podium instead of the old coffee table of yesteryear!!). Got so many comments about the Tanaka; that piece really gets to people which is nice.

Went back to Kings Place to take part in a celebration of Maxwell-Davies' music. What a hall that is; surely the best acoustic in London. The whole building is fantastic of course. The brain child of the inspired Peter Millican. Lovely to catch up with Peter, Max and Colin..... get some new swan-recipes!!!

Did our third and final concert as part of the excellent 'Migrations' series in Bristol. The audience at St Georges is so impressive. We almost filled the place for quite an uncompromising prog. We had a great evening except that I pulled my A string off the instrument getting a tiny bit carried away during the cello cadenza of Bartok 6 ... all Jacky's fault of course for playing like that!!

Speaking of Jacky. She had a bit of a brain-wave there because there is always the dilemma after those shows.. does one go to a restaurant or head for home!? Anyway, inspired by our experience in Eindhoven last month she ordered a take away to be delivered to St G for after the concert. I can tell we're going to be doing more of that from now on.

In Naples we stayed in the King's former hunting lodge (the proprieter was a charming chap with a very impressive collection of ....... hand-grenades!) and played in his summer palace (figured out why he only went there in the summer..... bloomin' freezin'!!)

Someone told Ian after the concert that Portici (that's where we played) is the third most densely populated place on Earth. Hard to believe but there were a lot of people at our gig many of whom chatted their way through the whole thing in old Italian style. 'Tis somewhat annoying that, having travelled all that way and it's op59/1!!! It's not that they're not enjoying it (we had to do encores) it's just their way. Very delicious sea-bass dinner in front of the Milan derby. Limoncelli on the house..... brill.

Now then. Off to Potton Hall in Suffolk for three days to make our first cd with Daniel. Really excited. It's pretty perfect there; miles from anywhere. Lovely big barn with wonderful acoustic and the very excellent Jeremy Hayes and Patrick Allen to guide us. Recording is tough; very long days of relentless pressure. Still, Helen's mum's soups, the deer outside the window and the Manchester derby got us through it........ ok, and a little bit of Adnams !

SO lovely to be back in Valencia. Scene of so many amazing memories for us over the years. Can't think of a better way to start any year of concerts.

What's most perplexing is that a city like V which has grown so enormously in so many ways over the last 20 yrs doesn't really have direct flights to anywhere outside Spain anymore....weird! We had to go via Madrid ; we're finding the same problem for Bilbao next month.... bit of a bore.

Almost got stuck in Madrid too as another snow shower over here closed Stansted, Luton and Gatwick. Luckily we were coming into LHR so eventually got home. Seriously need an extended and glorious spring and summer now asap!!

It was great to see M@(our unique manager) and our old pals , Peter and Carla Taylor from the BC days. Excellent meal too which is always important. In a little place not long open; just under the Holiday Inn.

Big prog we did there; 59/1 in first half. Woweee.... is there a better quartet than that?? I'm not sure there is you know.

Our slightly odd friend was there in the front row as always. He's an extraordinary guy. He's been to every concert we've ever done in Valencia (that's got to be at least 30); same seat; never moves; never applauds; never smiles; Rather unnerving actually.

Had forgotten what a great hall Eindhoven is. Bit odd-looking but superb acoustic. It was bloomin' freezing there. Main problem is that unless you're into Big Macs it's vert tricky finding something to eat after the show. Anyway, luckily I remembered this little Indonesian place just opp. the stage door. It's up a flight of stairs and they're very nice in there. I managed to get them to stay open for us. Then, during the course of the evening, something happened which made it impossible for them to stick around so rather than leave us in the lurch, we came off stage to find an amazing buffet awaiting us in the green room with beers, wine, the lot.They had prepared it all and brought it over by hand. Lovely example of Christmas Spirit. Fantastic!!

Oh, while we were there we met a quartet and singer who are about to do something in the region of 22 concerts in Holland of a theatrical version of the Juliet Letters ..... more of that anon.

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!!