Before that though, Anne had been uptown shopping for niece Kitty’s birthday present and seemed to have found the biggest Disney Cinderella Castle in the world...which I’m sure Kitty will adore...
Meanwhile I had procured tickets for me, Anne and Phil to see the John Wetton/Geoff Downes Band live in Glasgow next month and a single ticket for me to witness Sparks live next Sunday – their new album is out today and I bought it mail order from CD-Wow for a mere £8.75 including postage – how do they do that??
For more info, interviews pics, downloads etc on this BRILLIANT duo go here...
http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/gut/sparks.htm
Just as Phil arrived, the windscreen wiper on our car appeared to have broken – at least it came off in my hand as I was trying to fix it...
There was much consternation and many suggestions as to the resolution for this crisis which may well have seen us carless (disaster) but, eventually, I managed to work out how the wiper went back together again (the initial fault seemed just to have been a slight looseness, now fixed) and large quantity of wailing and gnashing of teeth was avoided...
Anne treated the trio of windscreenwiper engineers (me, her and Phil) to a superb plateful of her world reknowned Spaghetti Bolognese and then Dr Prog and I took off into the night to listen to some weird modern classical (oxymoron?) music...
We had intended using Phil’s car but he was short on petrol and, what with the wiper emergency, we were a little short of time to fill up, so I drove – my second time since breaking the ankle....
I twisted it a bit on entry but, all in all, the trip went ok and we arrived with a few minutes to spare, both of us realising we didn’t even have enough cash for a drink – indeed we only just managed to scrape together enough change for the £1 for the programme...
The music comprised a programme of nine pieces by composers from Hungary, Germany, Holland, Austria, Poland, Egypt, Spain and South Korea, each of whom was born in the years between 1974 and 1981 – a fact which certainly made us feel our age...
The instrumental line up was voice, flute, clarinet (and bass clarinet), violin, cello and piano and various combinations of these were used through out the very entertaining evening....
Truth be told, there wasn’t a “tune” within earshot but the music was so interesting that, for the first time in a while, I managed to get through the entire performance without falling asleep at any point - and it made me keen to dig out all my CDs of tuneless modern classical music and give them a spin - you know the ones I mean...John Cage, Xenakis, Berio, Stockhausen etc etc...
During the interval we walked to a nearby cash machine to allow us to buy a couple of drinks which we didn't have time to finish. The bar staff very kindly kept them in the fridge for us to collect after the second half...
After the show, we sat in the bar and the young flautist, Nicole Pressler walked by. Phil complimented her on the performance and, in particular, her own solo piece from the first half ...
She sat with us and we chatted for a while....
Turns out she’s just 22 and has played flute since the age of 8, from choice – it’s what she always wanted to do...
Although originally from the former East Germany, she now lives in Salzburg and is a member of several orchestras and ensembles. She gets through a huge amount of performances of all types of music all year round and can recite pieces from Telemann right up to the present, like those tonight...she prefers to play pieces which haven't yet been recorded though as they are more open to interpretation...
I was pleasantly surprised to see Lindsay West, a local singer songwriter whose music I particularly enjoy, in the bar and she came over for a chat. She’s playing on Thursday night at the Wee Red Bar at the Art College if you want to check her out – free entry apparently. I might go along although I was hoping to return to Out of the Bedroom...
It turned out Lindsay was there in her capacity as a steward at the venue, something I’ve often had a hankering to look into becoming. It seems an enjoyable job and you get paid to see all sorts of music...
Back in the late 70’s, I was a steward at the Usher Hall and got to see all sorts of luminaries for free...
And so, after a couple of delicious Ginger Beers it was time for home. Lindsay had already left and we bade farewell to Nicole and the rest of the ensemble, congratulating them on an excellent evening’s music...
Back home I discovered my leg had swollen up rather badly but a quick run through the exercise regime reduced this before I retired to bed...
A good night...
Highlight of the Day : Ensemble Acrobat at the Queen’s Hall
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