Reckless juxtapositions on Sunday Morning?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Was anyone else gobsmacked by the Trenet song that Suzi Klein played straight after a complete Grumiaux performance of a Bach solo violin sonata this morning? It was surely about as appropriate as the Bayreuth forces doing the can-can from Orpheus in the Underworld as an encore to Gotterdammerung!


I should add that I don't dislike Trenet - it's purely the utterly insensitive immediate juxtaposition (IMO of course) that I'm beefing about.

[Paul Sherratt]

Straight as in segue ?

[LeMartinPecheur]

I expect there was the briefest of spoken intro's between them, but I was still on my heavenly Bachian cloud when the so 'amusing', so jaunty Charles Trenet came bustling in.

Paul: I see we have something in common via Cornwall - are you down in the deepest west (where even the less-westerly Cornish say they still eat their own children)? I live near Launceston where we just eat other people's!

[Paul Sherratt]

LeMP,

Thanks for the reply. I wonder if the item was used as a time filler as it doesn't seem to be included ( yet ) in the playlist.

I'm a part-time Lelant person at present, the plan being to become full-time sooner rather than later. My avatar image was taken in St Just where
I often wonder about the family arrangements And from now on I shall wave to you, late at night on the A30 as I have been doing regularly to your near neighbour James Wonnacott for several months !

Perhaps we haven't acclimatized to the count(r)y sufficiently just yet as we tend to have relatively normal meals or eat out at 'Scarlets' or those Cafes - Seafood and Porthminster !

[kernelbogey]

LeM and Paul -

I was mercifully asleep during Suzy Klein's show, and suspect I'd have felt the same.

But I first heard an orchestra live in Pool, 'twixt Camborne and Redruth. It turns out, I discovered via the old boards, that Hornspieler was almost certainly playing (Bournemouth SO under Charlie Groves) that night. I grew up in Falmouth, and also had fairly normal meals (at least for the 50s and 60s).

BTW, there used to be a huge sign in the centre of Bodmin, where the old A30 took a sharp turn: 'To the West'. It often amused those who'd been driving for hours from beyond Devon!

BW, kb

[LeMartinPecheur]

kb: you used to get the BSO down here?? In Pool?????????

These days we never get a full symphony orchestra AFAIK. The Hall for Cornwall manages a decent-sized chamber orchestra fairly often, tho' only in the most boring/ conservative of programmes. For a full SO the St Endellion Festival is our only hope.

I used to live in Hants where the BSO was my mainstay. I think they may get to Exeter these days.

[kernelbogey]

Yes the BSO came in full in the 60s - to the Flamingo Ballroom, Pool! In the days of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, I think they later toured more frequently and extensively. Latterly I've become a friend of the St Endellion Festival and have been three years running in August, combining it with a few trips down amnesia lane..... Heard a terrific Brahms 1 under a young conductor (whose name escapes me) last year; and the year before, Death in Venice with Philip Langridge a few months before his death.

Once, circa 1989, I stumbled across a concert in Manaccan church by a quartet from the Prussia Cove music school. I heard for the first time one of the Mendelssohn Quartets (oops, can't remember key) and the Mozart E flat Piano Quartet in utterly memorable circumstances.

[LeMartinPecheur]

kb: I missed the St Endellion Brahms 1 but will never forget that Death in Venice.

I catch the Prussia Cove concerts when I can - first came across them in my Hampshire days when an ensemble up from there played at the Anvil, Basingstoke on the way to a London (Wigmore Hall?) gig. I haven't managed to get to any of the concerts they do in far-west Cornish churches but have caught them in Truro.

My annual Cornish orgy of chamber music is the Dante Quartet's festival around Launceston/ Callington/ Tavistock, this year in mid-July. It's well worth making an effort to reach, tho' fortunately it's right on my doorstep. They can usually do with selling a few more tickets, so do check them out. If the name doesn't mean much to you, their leader is Krysia Osostowicz, who led the paino quartet Domus whose recordings are still big on the Hyperion label - try their Faure piano quartets: to die for! The Dantes have recorded for Hyperion too, though perhaps their most indespensable recordings are IMO the Rubbra quartets on Dutton.

[kernelbogey]

Hi LeMP - Just remembered the conductor was Ryan Wigglesworth - he conducted the Brahms without a score, and I think is a name to watch. I spoke to a member of the chorus who had been in Onegin, conducted by him, who said he was inspiring.

Many thanks for the Dante Quartet recommendation, which I'll explore. Always glad of another excuse to cross the Tamar! BW, kb

[Don Petter]

Many thanks for the Dante Quartet recommendation, which I'll explore. Always glad of another excuse to cross the Tamar! BW, kb

The Rubbra quartets (together with four other chamber works) are now available on a Dutton double CD set for less than £8. MDT doesn't ever seem to stock Dutton, but Crotchet, Presto and Dutton's own site have them. Amazon's price of £22.49 hardly seems competitive this time!

[LeMartinPecheur]

kb - I was at the Onegin which was certainly memorable.

Ryan W did quite a bit in that festival, including a Beethoven Appassionata, and other piano duties as accompanist/ chamber musician. The Op 57 took a while to get going but the musical conception was excellent, and the technique pretty good. Definitely a musician, not just a conductor, to watch.

Talking of Onegin, this was an example of the SW's 'London buses' sketch - you know, don't get one for ages then three come all at once. I'd never seen or heard Onegin live till I moved to Cornwall. Then we had it from English Touring Opera at Truro 2007, WNO at Plymouth 2008, and St Endellion last year - I went to all of them.

We've also had chamber works with the same gregarious habits: Britten 3rd quartet, Schubert G major quartet D887 for example. Not that I'm complaining on either of those particular works you understand.