Month: November 2001

Sturm Und Drang: Concerto Cristofori & Sharona Joshua, Purcell Room, 24 November 2001

The thing I remember most about this lovely concert was the fact that Rabbi Philip Ginsbury was there and I ascertained that the soloist, Sharona Joshua, was his guest in London. That is about as cool a thing as I could ever imagine finding out about Rabbi Ginsbury, formerly the Rabbi at Brixton and subsequently at Streatham Synagogue.

My theological (or perhaps I should say atheological) journey with Rabbi Ginsbury, in a section labelled “Ginsbury talk”, is included in the piece below:

“Freed At Last, Freed At Last…”: Brixton Cheder In Early 1974

Anyway, Sharona Joshua was, at that time, an emerging artiste who was a fine exponent of keyboard instruments of various kinds, including the fortepiano which seemed suitable for these classical pieces from the era when the fortepiano was still holding strong [did you see what I did there?] against the piano forte.

We heard:

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Concerto in A major K414
  • Joseph Haydn – String Quartet in D major Op 71 No 2
  • Joseph Haydn – Piano Sonata in G minor Hob XVI/44
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Concerto in C major K415

Here is a version of the A major concerto being played in the small scale with fortepiano more or less as we heard it that night:

Here is the Haydn String Quartet:

Here is a recording of the Haydn Piano sonata on the fortepiano:

Here is the C major concerto also on original instruments not least fortepiano:

A Room Of One’s Own by Patrick Garland & Foley by Michael West, Hampstead Theatre, 23 November 2001

We weren’t blown away by this evening of theatre, rating Foley “poor”, while rather liking A Room Of One’s Own.

Eileen Atkins performed the Room Of One’s Own monologue. It was well received by the critics:

Room Halliburton Standard Room Halliburton Standard 15 Nov 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Room Billington Guardian Room Billington Guardian 17 Nov 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Room Gross Telegraph Room Gross Telegraph 25 Nov 2001 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The Foley monologue was performed by Andrew Bennet. It sounded like it was going to be our sort of play, but wasn’t. Perhaps it was a mistake to go for the double-header opportunity that night, especially as it was a Friday after work. We live and learn.

Exposed: The Victorian Nude & Turner Prize 2001, Tate Britain, Plus Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone At Whiteleys, 19 November 2001

That was a bit of a day off. Two exhibitions at Tate Britain, then on to the flickers for the afternoon (3:30) to see the first Harry Potter movie ahead of the schoolkids.

Here are some reviews of the Nude:

Nude Chapman Independent Nude Chapman Independent 17 Nov 2001 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Brian Sewll gave it a double page spread, spending much of his time beefing about the Tate Britain itself.

Nude Sewell Standard 1 of 2 Nude Sewell Standard 1 of 2 9 Nov 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nude Standard 2 of 2 Nude Standard 2 of 2 9 Nov 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Unsurprisingly, Sewell also chuntered at length against the Turner Prize Exhibition:

Turner Prize Sewell Standard Turner Prize Sewell Standard 16 Nov 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

In my log, I gave The Turner a shorter review, with similar sentiments to those of Sewell:

Twaddle.

On the other hand, Tom Lubbock in The Independent, listed it among the best shows:

Turner Lubbock Indy Turner Lubbock Indy 8 Dec 2001 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

No such differences of opinion over the Harry Potter film, which broke records at the box office and initiated a franchise blah blah.

Destination by Thomas Bernhard & Jan-Willem van den Bosch, Volcano Theatre Company, Riverside Theatre, 16 November 2001

We thought this was:

Very good.

But I can find precious little on it from the theatre press. Try this clipping from The Standard, as that’s about as good as it gets, review/preview-wise.

Destination Standard Destination Standard 15 Nov 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

It was very good, because we say so.

Borodin String Quartet At The Wigmore Hall, 13 November 2001

I thought Janie might like string quartets and thought that this programme might please her:

  • Dmitri Shostakovich – String Quartet No 9 in E flat major Op 117
  • Ludwig van Beethoven – String Quartet in E flat major Op 74 “Harp”

Possibly a Tuesday evening after a long day of work was not the ideal testing ground for my assumption.

But I also think that this sort of string quartet is not much to Janie’s taste on any occasion.

Still, Janie says it is always good to relax and listen to music at The Wig, even if the music would not be one’s first choice.

Here’s a recording of the Novus String Quartet playing the Shostakovich:

And here is the Alban Berg quartet playing the Beethoven one:

Absolute Hell At the Questors Before A Weekend In Bristol, 9 to 11 November 2001

We went to The Questors with the Duchess of Castlebar to see Absolute Hell by by Rodney Ackland.

It was absolute hell.

We walked at half time.

Things had to be pretty bad for us to walk at half time, especially when The Duchess was treating us to some of her freebie tickets for The Questors.

We had a late reservation at an Ealing restaurant named Parade. I suspect that they were grateful to see us much earlier than our promised arrival at 10:45.

Here is a review of that place from the Standard about a year before our visit:

Parade Campion Standard Parade Campion Standard 26 Oct 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The next day, we set off for Bristol to join the Boswell branch of the family for Scott’s birthday. We stayed at The Swallow Hotel. We were no doubt generously entertained at chez Boswell for the birthday.

I don’t think the Duchess joined us on that occasion; hence the theatre visit and dinner with her grace the night before. Absolute Hell on the Friday evening – redemption for the rest of the weekend.

Droopy Drawers Of Schubert & Bruckner At The Barbican Hall, 4 November 2001

In bingo parlance, m’lud, “droopy drawers” stands for 44 – all the fours. This concert was playing on the fact that it was utterly focussed on fourth symphonies:

  • Franz Schubert – Symphony No 4 in C minor “Tragic”
  • Anton Bruckner – Symphony No 4 in E flat major “Romantic”

The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons played the tunes.

Here is a video recording of Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo under Nathalie Stutzmann playing the Schubert.

While here is the London Symphony Orchestra, under Haitink rather than Jansons, playing the Bruckner 4:

It was even the 4th of November, the evening of that concert, so it really was an evening of:

Diana Dors – all the fours.

Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman, Royal Court Theatre, 3 November 2001

We rated this one:

…excellent.

Memorable too, in its creepiness. Yet it somehow Boy Gets Girl doesn’t seem to have hit the radar of the enduring drama canon. The Wikipedia entry at the time of writing this (October 2026) doesn’t even mention the Royal Court production, just the original production in Chicago.

We were treated to a terrific cast for the Royal Court production: Demetri Goritsas and Katrin Cartlidge in the lead roles. Fine support from Nicholas Day, Jason Watkins, Lucy Punch, Karl Johnson, and Lolly Susi – directed by Ian Rickson.

Nicholas de Jongh rated it highly in the Standard:

Boy Gets de Jongh Standard Boy Gets de Jongh Standard 8 Nov 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer was taken by the production and the ideas in it more than the play itself:

Boy Gets Spencer Telegraph Boy Gets Spencer Telegraph 9 Nov 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, also has some reservations about the play but praises the end result at the Royal Court highly:

Boy Gets Billington Guardian Boy Gets Billington Guardian 8 Nov 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Stalking is a discomforting and difficult topic – perhaps that fact, more than anything else, explains why this piece has somewhat vanished from view in the quarter-of-a-century since.