September 1st, 2010
Last week we took a group of Classical Partners to The Proms.
Before the concert we had a meal in the newly refurbished Elgar Room and I have to say they have done a great job. It is now a contempory and stylish place yet it is still comfortable. Quite a feet, as I find most “modern” dining spaces just too hard. Clean lines and sparse furnishings often make for an attractive but inhospitable environment. The menu was not too big but offered a good selection of meat and fish. I would recommend you check it out next time you are in the Albert Hall.
The concert was not bad either. The Prommers showed their delight with extended stomping and whistling. I agree wholeheartedly with them for Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra’s rendition of Beethoven’s Ninth, but not the Berg Violin Concerto. It is not a piece I particularly like so that’s no real surprise.
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March 30th, 2010
I should have known that there was something good going to happen last Sunday. From the moment the clocks changed I was already a little out of kilter. My drive to the Wigmore Hall that I have done dozens of times was going smoothly until I realised that I had taken a wrong turning somewhere and was about two miles off course. No problem, I still arrived with a few minutes to spare.
Diving downstairs for a coffee and to meet up with the group of Classical Partners I was a little surprised not to see anyone from the group but they soon started to arrive. A couple of calls on the mobile let me know that one person could not make it and that one was going to be late. I was now getting worried as I could not find the two new members whom I had not met before. Just as the concert was due to start one of them introduced themselves. I had to leave the other’s ticket on the door as I went in, not perfect but the best I could do.
The Gryphon Trio from Canada, made their Wigmore debut, performing Schumann’s Piano Trio No 2 in F followed by Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B flat “Archduke”. They were absolutely sublime, even the clouds scudding over the Wigmore’s skylight seemed to alter the hall’s lighting in perfect concert with the music. Even though I freely admit that my personal taste tends to be for more dramatic symphonic music, I loved every minute of their performance.
After the concert, I managed to find our missing member and our group enjoyed a lovely relaxed Sunday lunch in the Wigmore’s fine restaurant downstairs. What a great way to spend a Sunday. Truly Gold Standard.
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November 23rd, 2009
I was lucky enough to attend Nikolai Demidenko’s recital at the Wimbledon music festival last Saturday.
The Great Hall of King’s College School is a great venue for a piano recital, with a lovely atmosphere and good acoustic. A haven on what was a horrible damp evening. Since it was the first year of the festival I am prepared to forgive the confusion over seating. When our group of twelve arrived to take up our reserved seats in row 3, there were only six seats available in that row. I hope in future they will number the seats.
Demidenko’s playing was superb! He plays with great colour and range and his sense of rhythm and pace are flawless. At times during the Schubert Sonata in D I was sure that he had other instruments at his disposal, such was the variety of sound he produced.
The performance should have ended with Mussorgsky’s masterpiece “Pictures at an Exhibition.” I say should have, because after Demidenko had transported the audience around that famous exhibition and left us transfixed in wonder, he returned to play two short encore pieces which, nice though they were, left me feeling somewhat downbeat. Is it just me or does anyone else agree, that these encores often add nothing to the entertainment? By their very nature they tend to be short un-substantial pieces that detract from the crescendo of the programmed pieces. There are bound to be exceptions but in this case they were superfluous.
To find out more about our music events for singles see Events.
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November 18th, 2009
Later this month sixteen members of Classical Partners will meet up to enjoy Glyndebourne on Tour’s production of Verdi’s great comic opera Falstaff, at Milton Keynes Theatre.
This production, part of Glyndebourne’s 75th season, is set in Windsor, in the years immediately after the Second World War, and in the opening scene we meet Falstaff in the Garter Inn, with it’s mock Tudor interior. The main parallel from the 1940s to Shakespeare’s England is that both were periods of growth from austerity. The set designs by Ultz are apparently very clever and critics have described the show as a visual delight, as we have come to expect from Glyndebourne’s productions in recent years.
As part of our programme of events based on the arts, we at Classical Partners regularly arrange opera evenings for our unattached, cultured members wishing to meet like-minded others. These may be at provincial venues such as Milton Keynes Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre, the Birmingham Hippodrome and Manchester Opera House, or traditional London venues such as the Holland Park open air summer season. Our nights at the opera always include drinks and a meal – before curtain up, as operas tend to go on a bit – giving members have the opportunity to meet and strike up new friendships.
Also popular have been our opera weekends abroad, in lovely European cities such as Paris, Florence and Munich, where we combine sightseeing and socialising with a visit to some of Europe’s finest opera houses.
To find out more about our arts events for singles see Events.
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