Friday, June 01, 2012
Bach
Back to Bach yesterday with some of the 'Well Tempered Clavier Book II' on a Steinway at St. Luke's and played by Cédric Tiberghien, following the harpsichord rendering of a relation last week. Not full but a presentable and enthusiastic audience. Following my doubts last week, it sounded fine on a piano, if rather different. But I am not so sure about the programming decision to play all 12 majors, reserving just one minor for the encore - and very different in mood it was too. Once home I dug out my rendering played by Maurice Cole and played the first four, two majors and two minors, without being reminded at all of the live rendition only a few hours previously. All very odd and I shall have to work at the matter: maybe it will turn out that I can tell the difference between my Cole and Richter versions, despite being two pianists of roughly the same generation. Wikipedia also tells me that Richter, although Russian, had a German immigrant as a father, a complication which caused serious problems when Germany invaded Russia; yet another small fact which had hitherto passed me by.
After the concert, inspected some of the housing to the south west of the church, I guess on the fringes of the Barbican estate. Some indications that it might not be a great place after dark, but at least one ground floor flat dweller took the matter of cheerful pot plants very seriously and put out a very serious display. I was impressed.
Followed by the usual stroll back to Waterloo. The first item of interest was a juvenile black backed gull on the water at Blackfriars. There was a brisk breeze blowing up the river and the gull was trying to take off. Four times it managed to get clear of the water, rise about a yard in the air and then collapse back down again with a right old splash. On the fifth attempt it actually got airborne and flew 20 years up river before landing again. The second item was the preparations on the bridge, noticed in the previous post. The third item was clocking the outdoor café at the National Theatre which appeared to be constructed from cast off sets. Very whimsical.
Closed the proceedings with the first 'Newsweek' for many a year, which turned out to be a transatlantic version of the 'Ecomonist'. Rather thinner, on cheaper paper, not so full of itself and generally rather easier on the brain. Far better coverage of foreign affairs than would be usual in this country, the 'Economist' itself excepted.
After the concert, inspected some of the housing to the south west of the church, I guess on the fringes of the Barbican estate. Some indications that it might not be a great place after dark, but at least one ground floor flat dweller took the matter of cheerful pot plants very seriously and put out a very serious display. I was impressed.
Followed by the usual stroll back to Waterloo. The first item of interest was a juvenile black backed gull on the water at Blackfriars. There was a brisk breeze blowing up the river and the gull was trying to take off. Four times it managed to get clear of the water, rise about a yard in the air and then collapse back down again with a right old splash. On the fifth attempt it actually got airborne and flew 20 years up river before landing again. The second item was the preparations on the bridge, noticed in the previous post. The third item was clocking the outdoor café at the National Theatre which appeared to be constructed from cast off sets. Very whimsical.
Closed the proceedings with the first 'Newsweek' for many a year, which turned out to be a transatlantic version of the 'Ecomonist'. Rather thinner, on cheaper paper, not so full of itself and generally rather easier on the brain. Far better coverage of foreign affairs than would be usual in this country, the 'Economist' itself excepted.
# posted by Jim @ 2:27 AM 
