Thank you, Joachim Raff

Because if you hadn’t been the founding Director of the Dr Hoch’s Konservatorium here in Frankfurt, we wouldn’t have been here to enjoy our weekend.

Not forgetting to thank my hero too, because had it not been for his efforts on Raff’s behalf, the choir wouldn’t have had any music to sing this evening.  It was just a couple of short years ago that Die Sterne was heard for the first time at a recording  in Sweden and I encourage you to follow that link and hear it for yourself.  If you’re short of time, go straight to the fourth movement!

The walk to the Konservatorium was, like many of our Frankfurt walks, hindered by road works!  Sadly, it wasn’t the stroll along the riverbank as we imagined, but a brisk step along a deserted road.

The concert was super.  Of course, you will be able to read a full and detailed review here when you know who has dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s.  The young horn player in Die Sterne was outstandingly good and it was definitely one of those concerts which left us humming the whole way back to our hotel.

For it was a remarkably quiet walk back along empty streets until a collective “oooooohhhhh!” was heard from a nearby beergarden.  As it stated on the blackboard leaning by the door:

“Deutschland v Griechenland.  It’s payback time!”

We went into the hotel bar for a nightcap and watched the emotional roller coaster ride as it happened.  There was no need of the TV screen because the crowd told us all we needed to know!

Germany 4  Greece 2.

Result.

Beautifully done

Tra’s new CD is released this week.  I love the promotional video she’s produced.

and then…

there was the Wagner.  We hadn’t seen Tristan and Isolde before and indeed, are pretty much Wagner novices since our previous exposure was limited to Das Rheingold a couple of summers ago.  Though we’d really enjoyed that performance and indeed, looked forward very much to the spectacle and all round experience a night at the opera promised, I was still a little apprehensive.  After all, the performance began at 5 pm and there was not only an interval but a meal break too!

 

We arrived at the Millennium Centre in good time, to hear the preconcert talk and to learn a little bit about what we were going to hear.  Simon Rees (the same chap who speaks so eloquently on the WNO website) spoke very well and explained the plot sufficiently that I was confident of knowing I’d be able to follow.

So it was that, fortified by a little sustenance (a few madeleines and a bottle of fizz, enjoyed in the fresh air of a Cardiff Saturday afternoon) we took our seats and settled down for the duration.  Except that it wasn’t at all…

The sets were sparse and a little bleak, for sure and the cast of six main characters meant there wasn’t a great chance to be overwhelmed by lavish costumes and larger than life characters.  This was Wagner, for sure – there was not much action and the story moves at a glacial pace at times.  But the drama was there in spades, the characters well defined and for me, the spare and rather dimly lit setting was perfect.  In no time at all, we were breaking for the first interval and off outside again for the next stage of the picnic!

We returned after half an hour to Act Two and a different but similarly constructed set.  Having the characters established in our minds now, we were able to sit back a little and not feel as though we had to work so hard at it.  I was so enthralled that the end of the act came as rather a surprise!

Off we went again, this time for a rather longer, supper break.  Arthur and Barbara had booked us a table for a delicious cold plate of salmon, ham, salads and suchlike and we were getting well into the routine.  Well, a little food, a little music, some more food…get the picture?

By the time we’d got to Act 3, we felt that we had a fair bit invested in old Tristan there, as he lay injured and awaiting the arrival of his love from afar.  Not the most agile of chaps, I held my breath as he staggered up this slab of a set, realising a little too soon that it had been designed as a kind of platform on which he was going to lay down and die – which sure enough, he did.  Fortunately, Isolde had got there just in time and as the tale reached its sorry end, I also realised that the last five hours had been the build up to this, the most magical of finales, the Liebestod.

We were all left somewhat breathless.  Though Wagner demands a little more commitment than Puccini or Verdi and certainly doesn’t bring a tear to the eye or a smile to the face so readily either, that’s not to say that the emotions are left unstirred.  Far from it – this was truly thrilling and incredibly powerful stuff and I can understand why Wagnerian sopranos are so highly regarded and command such respect.  Ann Petersen was magnificent.

I won’t say we left the theatre humming, but felt thrilled and rather drained at the same time.  I think that’s what Wagner does…

Eclectic tastes

This weekend is a social whirl and as I write, I’m hoping the weather’s going to be kind enough for me to wear my blue Mumbai kurta and white churidar to our neighbours drinks party this lunchtime. 

It wouldn’t have looked out of place on Friday night in Birmingham, actually, when we took our regular seats in Symphony Hall for “Burman in Bollywood”.  What a fun evening!  We’ve always loved Bollywood films and find them to be the perfect escapism for when we want to watch a feelgood film, though we’d be the first to admit, we don’t really know much about the genre.

The concert was a tribute to RD Burman and the music of the evening began with a song in what we thought of as typical Bollywood style:  Dum Maro Dum, sung by Sanchita Pal accompanied by the full CBSO.  Even though they had got out what seemed like every percussion instrument they possessed, Shahbaz Hussain’s tabla playing was an essential part of the evening and I loved the range of rhythms and sounds he created with what looks like the simplest of instruments (but clearly wasn’t!)

That got everyone’s toes tapping and with such an enthusiastic audience it was hard not to be carried along with the mood!  Mind you, we had difficulties singing along…

Sanchita shared the stage with Bhangra star Shin DCS who sang O hansini so beautifully and who made us smile with his super cool moves!  He and Rashid Ali were having a great time and when Rashid and Sanchita sang Kya Hua Tera Wada we were well into the groove!

We’ve now got a long list of Bollywood movies we want to watch, including 1942 A Love Story, from where another favourite song came

The whole evening was a great success and we’ll look out for the next such interesting feature on the CBSO’s programme without a doubt.

In perfect contrast to Friday evening, we spent much of Saturday in Cardiff with friends Arthur and Barbara, who’d invited us to Tristan and Isolde.  I think that deserves a whole post to itself, so more about that later. 

A weekend of Bollywood and Wagner?   Wow!

Good to be home

We’ve been in London for a couple of days.  I always enjoy a day out and staying overnight means that there’s more of a chance to catch up with Edward, to enjoy a relaxed meal (or two) and so on.  But this last week, we’ve each had other reasons for catching the early train to spend time in the city on different days and unusually, we hadn’t managed to coordinate ourselves very well.

We both caught the 0905 train on Thursday though, because that evening, Tra was giving a recital at Pushkin House, a rather interesting venue in Bloomsbury.  Not only that, but my hero was giving a pre-concert talk about his own hero, Joachim Raff.  No pressure then, but every reason for a relaxed, easy afternoon pottering around beforehand.

Every reason, too, for a decent lunch at Nopi.  We sat downstairs with a good view of the kitchen, surveying the stocks on the shelves alongside the table.  Fascinating ingredients and an enviable larder on which to call.  We chose well – the middle eastern flavours served tapas style suits me perfectly.  I am easily intimidated by a huge plateful of food and get easily bored when ploughing my way through a large bowlful of pasta, say.  So, a few choice and rather intriguing flavours kept us well entertained for a couple of hours and the friendly atmosphere was great.  What did we eat?  Well, three dishes each:

• Valdeón cheesecake, pickled beetroot, thyme honey..
• French beans, smoked wheat, tahini lemon dressing, mint..
• Spiced gurnard wrapped in banana leaf, pineapple sambal..
• Seared organic prawns, feta, fennel, Pernod..
• Pork belly, caramelised Nashi pear, grape mustard jus..
• Confit press duck, burnt miso butterscotch, pickled mixed mushrooms..

Yummy, n’est-ce pas?

Tra’s recital was superb; an evening full of warmth and the most wonderful music eloquently put into context by you-know-who beforehand.  Tra’s playing is sublime, her interpretation and the way she communicates her enthusiasm for these rarely performed works is remarkable.  I could have danced listened all night!

A rainy Friday wasn’t quite what we’d planned, but we had things to do.  A brisk walk via Selfridges and Blink, a mooch along Marylebone High Street with a quick stop in Eileen Fisher and a longer linger in Daunts, before meeting Edward for lunch in our favourite Orrery.

Yes, food does tend to feature large, doesn’t it?

We enjoyed another delicious lunch, accompanied by the usual easy conversation with Edward, who always delights and entertains us in a way which inspires the greatest parental pride.  Thankfully, he didn’t have to return to his office that afternoon, so he went off to the London Library to do some research and we planned to stop by Heals, to look at bedside tables, so we went our separate ways on Marylebone Road and we jumped on a bus to Warren Street.

Things were not flowing freely in that area, however.  High-Vis jackets were much in evidence and a police cordon was in place around the top of Tottenham Court Road.  It seemed as though there was “an incident” in progress and we soon learned that a visit to Heals was going to be quite out of the question.  Not wanting to linger in a potentially threatening area, we changed our plans and headed towards Charing Cross Road and Foyles, thinking that a bookshop is never a bad place to spend a rainy afternoon!

But whilst we enjoyed a cup of tea in the Portrait Cafe in Trafalgar Square, the clouds parted and the sun came out.  Too late for us – we were headed back to collect our bags from the hotel and make our way back to Paddington by this time, but there were certainly plenty of people around to enjoy it.

For me, though, it had been enough.  I was ready to return home, to leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind and to spend a quiet weekend in the peace and quiet of Gloucestershire.

At home!