Somewhat pathetically, I decided to forego the second meeting of our newly-formed book group (even though it was at our house AND I’d read the book!) and, instead, attend a Paul Lewis piano concert at St George’s, Bristol. I’d watched one of Lewis’s televised BBC Proms last summer (a Beethoven piano concerto) and had been mesmerized by his performance. I’d missed out on seeing him in February due to Gail’s wonderful birthday celebrations and vowed then that I would try to ensure I saw him perform the next time he was in Bristol – and, of course, one of my “resolutions for retirement” was to be a more regular concert-goer (yes, I know I haven’t retired yet, but it’s important to get in some practice!). Last night featured Schubert’s piano sonata (no.18 in G D894, if you must know!) as the main piece. I’m not a particular Schubert fan but the concert was mightily impressive and I was utterly captivated by Lewis’s stunning, masterly execution. Not only do I struggle to see how anyone can play a musical instrument with such technical accomplishment, but also just how anyone can learn such complicated pieces “by heart” and play for over an hour. A wonderful evening.
Photo: you’re not allowed to take photographs during the concert, so I decided to take one of Lewis’s piano instead, before the concert started! As you can see, I had a brilliant seat in the gallery.
PS: Amazingly, during the interval, I bumped into Richard+Sarah (good friends and Felix’s parents – Felix being married to our daughter Hannah, you understand!), who had travelled down from mid-Wales especially for the concert.
PPS: I actually got back home in time to grab a glass of wine before the Book Group meeting had ended (we call ourselves “The Slow Readers Group”). They were pretty scathing about: a) my concert-going, b) that I was the only member who had cried reading the book and c) that I had taken so much pleasure in the change of font for different chapters featuring the two principal characters!
Photo: you’re not allowed to take photographs during the concert, so I decided to take one of Lewis’s piano instead, before the concert started! As you can see, I had a brilliant seat in the gallery.
PS: Amazingly, during the interval, I bumped into Richard+Sarah (good friends and Felix’s parents – Felix being married to our daughter Hannah, you understand!), who had travelled down from mid-Wales especially for the concert.
PPS: I actually got back home in time to grab a glass of wine before the Book Group meeting had ended (we call ourselves “The Slow Readers Group”). They were pretty scathing about: a) my concert-going, b) that I was the only member who had cried reading the book and c) that I had taken so much pleasure in the change of font for different chapters featuring the two principal characters!
2 comments:
Nobody was scathing. xxx
ha ha ! you sound like those audience members I hear in the theatre who say 'how do they learn all those lines?'...its their job!
Post a Comment