Category: Music

Our Bodies Were At Lord’s, While Our Hearts Were In Radlett: Ella Eyre Concert At Lord’s, Preceded And Followed By The Hundred Finals, 16 August 2026

Hold that stage!

Our excitement ahead of the The Hundred finals day was surely the fact that we would see Ella Eyre perform. After all, neither of the London teams had qualified for either of the finals, so we were really attending as neutrals, cricket-wise.

Contrast that with the extraordinary goings on in the 50 over county competition this year, in which Middlesex had qualified for a home semi-final – getting to that stage of a “List A” competition for the first time in 36 years.

Why didn’t you see that coming when you bought me a ticket for The Hundred Finals Day in early March?…

…asked Janie (aka Daisy)- a question to which no answer came to mind. I probably should have said:

We’ve seen Middlesex play Durham at Radlett before…with predictably hilarious results…

A vegetable being conspicuously indifferent to cricket?

…but I didn’t say that.

We toyed with the idea of Coxing and Boxing between Radlett and Lord’s, before bowing to the inevitable and conceding that our planned trip to the Ella Eyre concert was our fate. After all, Daisy had been planning her break dancing routines (or rather her ways of saying no to the suggestion that she try break dancing routines) ever since I showed her the following music video – in particular the dancing that starts about a minute in:

Thus, we played tennis in the morning, freshened up (while keeping an eye on the Radlett score of course) and then headed to Lord’s.

I thought a 13:30 arrival would allow us a great choice of seating in the Pavilion, but no longer is that so on The Hundred finals day. The families and guests which comprises much of the audience for this event are getting in earlier and earlier to grab the front terrace, including death row which used to be our dance floor.

Rudimental at the Hundred finals (a match report)

We retreated to the sun deck at the top of the pavilion, which is, in any case, Daisy’s favourite spot. We were soon joined by a gentleman with a familiar-sounding voice who turned out to be an actor who was wondering what the Middlesex score might be.

We spent the women’s match chatting and watching a bit of the live cricket and utterly forgetting to take pictures. In truth the match was a one-sided damp squib – see details here if you wish. That was a bit of a shame, as our experience tells us that the women’s match is often a lot closer than the men’ s.

But we needn’t have worried at that stage of the day, as the Middlesex v Durham match seemed poised at that juncture, while the Ella Eyre concert was being set up.

Then Middlesex lost a lot of wickets at Radlett and I foolishly mentioned, not only that Middlesex were seven down, but also break dancing, to the actor gentleman. Disappointed at what he assumed to be Middlesex’s demise, and the onset of some music he wouldn’t much like, the gentleman made his excuses and departed.

Daisy and I decided to go downstairs and get “in amongst it” for the start of the Ella Eyre.

The gig started with a slow number and the backing singers, musicians and dancers, uniformly strangely clad in an almost funereal mode.

Ella could be seen on the big screen singing within the pavilion. It was apparent that she would join them on the stage by coming out of the long room using the traditional cricketer’s route…although not in a traditional cricketer’s style:

Ella dashed down the pavilion steps and then up the stage stairs

Daisy took a short video of this up-beat number, Just Got Paid, which I had used as part of the due diligence briefing pack, I hasten to add:

Then we went back up top to our seats, to watch the rest of the concert. I especially liked the fact that the women players, including the defeated Sunrisers Leeds, mingled together on the outfield, sitting and watching the concert together.

Ella also went walkies on the outfield.

It looks like one heck of an effort to stage these Finals Day Concerts, but I do think there’s something rather wonderful about them and embrace the idea that short form cricket is an entertainment event that tries to have something for all the family. It certainly means that we get a family audience for these matches, which is great to see.

By the time the concert was over and the players were getting ready for the men’s match, I glanced at my phone and saw that Middlesex were trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Indeed, they were making a very good job of dangling that “hope carrot” before my eyes.

I decided not to say anything to Daisy about the Middlesex match at that juncture, but I suppose she couldn’t help but notice that I was showing surprisingly little interest in the early stages goings on at Lord’s.

What’s up?

…asked Daisy. It seemed foolish to hide the truth from her. I showed her my phone, with the current score.

Oh my goodness, we’re going to do it…

…she said.

DON’T SAY THAT!

I replied, pointing out that the eighth wicket had fallen simply because Daisy had baited the cricket gods. Yet, Daisy persisted,

I still think we’ll do it.

Of course, she was right…in the end. Here’s chapter and verse on the match we didn’t see.

Almost at once, a generous message from Yorkshire Simon:

I’m delighted for you. Middlesex have been poor at getting over the line…but nothing like as bad as Yorkshire.

I didn’t dare tell him we were sitting at Lord’s watching The Hundred.

Anyway, Daisy and I sat out the rest of the Trent Rockets innings, while plotting our early escape. We figured that we could be home in time to see most of the Manchester Super Giants innings on the TV while celebrating Middlesex’s win with a glass of wine. And if The Hundred final proved to be an exciting ending, we’d be able to see it from comfortable seats and not have the heave of the departing crowd to contend with.

Thus it was decided, and thus it turned out – here’s the card.

An enjoyable and exciting day on all fronts.

Tinie Tempah Live At Lord’s – Preceded By And Followed By Some Cricket, 23 July 2026

Janie and I like a bit of live music. And we like going to Lord’s. And we like cricket. The Hundred might have been designed just for us. OK, perhaps not our first choice of music and our first choice of cricket format, but you cannot have everything. We always enjoy these afternoons and evenings.

On this occasion, we had business to attend to earlier in the day – kitchen and sound system planning doesn’t do itself, you know. And once we have really acquired the taste for thumping bass, rap music, we’ll need better speakers than those we currently sport in the house.

When we arrived at Lord’s, the monosodium glutamate (MSG) women’s team had already dispatched the London Spirit Women for the square root of diddly squat.

We decided to eat. Tasty pork baps and salad were the order of the day in the Long Room Bar.

Then we thought we’d better watch a bit of cricket. A very little bit of the women’s match as it turned out, but still we were able to get a vantage point on Janie’s beloved sun deck.

Then a short break before the highlight of the day – Tinie Tempah.

I tried to explain to some of the regular gentlemen around us that Janie is more of a Tinchy Stryder person than a Tinie Tempah-ista. I then asked the gentlemen who their favourite rappers might be. It took them a while to realise that I was pulling their legs…

…before amazing them with my rapper dance moves. I am quite sure the gentlemen had never seen anything quite like it – indeed one or two of them said words to that effect. Here’s an example of Tinie’s work with dancers doing some very similar moves to those I displayed:

For those who missed the concert…or perhaps even were there but couldn’t hear very much…here are a couple of Tinie’s best numbers, which he did perform on the day:

After the main event, we had just a little energy left to watch a bit of cricket. London Spirit bowled first and seemed to restrict MSG to a modest total.

James Coles showing his much-mentioned £390,000 worth with the ball

We left about half way through the London Spirit innings, with the match poised but tilting in MSG’s favour, as indeed it turned out, in a nail-biting finish which we caught when we got back to the flat.

Never mind – we enjoyed our day.

Here’s the Cricinfo resources on the women’s match.

Here’s the Cricinfo resources on the men’s match.

Héloïse Werner, Wigmore Hall, 17 July 2026

Héloïse Werner by Birdwatcher 42, CC BY-SA 4.0

A second visit to The Wig in one week – this will be our last of the season. While we planned two visits in quick succession, I hadn’t realised, when we booked these concerts, that we would be seeing Karim Sulayman twice in one week:

Broken Branches, Sean Shibe, Karim Sulayman, Wigmore Hall, 14 July 2026

Janie and I reckon that Karim noticed – he gave us an appreciative nod as the ensemble left the stage on the Friday.

As with the Tuesday concert, we were treated to a mixture of early music and modern serious music. In truth, as always, the early music did much more for us than the modern.

This is what we heard:

  • Pauline Oliveros – Sounds from Childhood from Sonic Meditation
  • Lara Agar – slow two (arranged by Colin Alexander)
  • Jean de Ockeghem – D’ung aultre amer (arranged by Colin Alexander & Héloïse Werner)
  • Claudio Monteverdi – A che tormi il ben mio (arranged by Colin Alexander & Héloïse Werner)
  • William Byrd – Come woeful Orpheus
  • Claudio Monteverdi – Non m’è grave il morire
  • Josquin des Prez – Entré je suis en grant pensée (transcribed for cello trio)

Interval

  • John Dunstaple – O rosa bella (transcribed for cello trio)
  • Josquin des Prez – En l’ombre d’un buissonnet
  • Claudio Monteverdi – Amor, per tua mercè vatten’a quella
  • John Dunstaple – Puisque m’amour (arranged by Colin Alexander & Héloïse Werner)
  • Claudio Monteverdi – Ecco mormorar l’onde SV51 (arranged by Colin Alexander & Héloïse Werner)
  • Colin Alexander – Intro
  • Héloïse Werner – Light, persists for vocal quintet and cello trio (world première): I. introduction • II. quidquid • III. luce • IV. fuit • V. tenebris • VI. agit • VII. chorale

The musicians clearly enjoyed performing the modern music – especially Sounds From Childhood. I had that “I can get all that at home” feeling when hearing the gurgling and raspberry noises.

There’s not much Héloïse Werner and Colin Alexander on-line, but here is a short concert extract that gives an idea of their modern music style.

I am especially partial to a bit of Ockegham. Here is a recording of D’ung aultre amer.

We are also partial to a bit of Josquin. Here are The Kings Singers performing En l’ombre d’un buissonnet:

I was particularly keen to hear some Dunstaple live – you don’t get a lot of Dunstaple live round these parts. Here’s a recording of Puisque M’Amour.

The Monteverdi worked especially well as arrangements for voices and cellos. In the absence of that, here is a decent recording of Ecco Mormorar L’Onde:

If you want to see the whole programme, here it is.

Broken Branches, Sean Shibe, Karim Sulayman, Wigmore Hall, 14 July 2026

We both thoroughly enjoyed this concert, despite it coming at the end of a remarkably busy day looking at paint, shelving, cricket and tennis.

I had a slight sense of foreboding, recalling that our previous sighting of Sean Shibe at the Wig was in similarly tired circumstances, with some ear-drum splitting electric guitar thrown in to ensure we stayed wide awake.

softLOUD, Sean Shibe, Wigmore Hall, 28 June 2019

This concert, with Karim Sulayman, was a far more relaxed and relaxing affair. We heard:

  • Henry Purcell – Music for a while from Incidental music for Oedipus, King of Thebes Z583
  • John Dowland – • Preludium • Fantasia No. 7 • Time stands still  
  • Giulio Caccini – Dalla porta d’oriente (you might choose to enjoy this personal favourite on YouTube music)
  • Claudio Monteverdi – • Sì dolce è’l tormento SV332 • La mia turca che d’amor
  • Trad/Sephardic – La Prima Vez arranged by Karim Sulayman & Sean Shibe
  • Trad/Andalusian – Lamma Bada Yatathanna arranged by Karim Sulayman & Sean Shibe
  • Sayed Darwish – El Helwa Di arranged by Karim Sulayman & Sean Shibe
  • Ziad Rahbani – Li Beirut based on Joaquín Rodrigo arranged by Karim & Fairuz Sulayman & Sean Shibe
  • Jonathan Harvey – Sufi Dance
  • Layale Chaker – A butterfly in New York
  • Tōru Takemitsu – I. Wainscot Pond (after a painting by Cornelia Foss) from In the Woods
  • Benjamin Britten – Songs from the Chinese Op. 58 • The Big Chariot • The Old Lute • The Autumn Wind • The Herd-Boy • Depression • Dance Songs
  • Encore: Tomás Méndez – Cucurrucucú paloma

We were fully engaged from the Purcell through to and including the enchanting Li Beirut arrangement.

The more modern music, as is often the case, was a struggle for us. I never have “got” those Britten songs and I’m sure now I never will.

Still, the concert was a triumph. Janie especially liked the baroque pieces -not least the Italian songs, and the encore. Which is is just as well because we shall be returning to the Wig three days later (today, as I write) for some more of that sort of thing. Indeed I have only just (subsequent to booking) realised that Karim Sulayman is part of the ensemble that we’ll be hearing.

If you are keen to hear pretty much the whole Broken Branches thing, here is a stream from 2024, when the pair performed the same concert in Philadelphia:

El Llanto De La Guitarra, Samrat Majumder, Wigmore Hall, 14 April 2026

A delicious lunchtime concert of classical guitar. Samrat Majumder is a young guitarist who is clearly going places. He played an interesting programme of music spanning five centuries, although the 17th and 18th missed out in the jump from renaissance to classical/romantic periods.

We heard:

  • Luys de Narváez – Canción del Emperador
  • Alonso Mudarra – Fantasia No. 10
  • Fernando Sor – Grand Solo Op. 14
  • Enrique Granados – Valses poéticos
  • Manuel de Falla – Homenaje ‘pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy’
  • Antonio José – Guitar Sonata
  • Encore – Isaac Albéniz – Granada (Serenata)

Here’s a lovely vid of Samrat, a couple of years ago, playing the charming Mudarra piece we heard.

After the gig, Janie and I floated a couple of doors down, to look at posh cookers. That hadn’t always been part of the plan, but that mission ended up fitting in with our plans very well indeed.

If you want to know more about Samrat, this video is a mini documentary/interview with him:

Lighten Mine Eies, Ensemble Près De Votre Oreille, Wigmore Hall, 17 February 2026

I fought the (William) Lawes and…Parliamentarians, tragically, existentially, won.

This was a delicious lunchtime concert at The Wig. Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resource on this concert.

All music by William Lawes, this is what we heard:

  • Choice Psalmes: – Music, the master of thy art is dead
  • Harp Consort No. 9 in D:– Pavin on a theme by Cormacke
  • Choice Psalmes: – My God, my rock, regard my cry
    • My God, my rock, regard my cry (arranged by Loris Barrucand)
    • Judah in exile wanders
  • Harp Consort No. 5 In D: – Alman – Saraband
  • Harp Consort No. 4 in D: – Coranto
  • Choice Psalmes: – Whieles I this standing lake swathed up with ewe
    • Love, I obey, shoot home thy dart
    • O sing unto the Lord a new song
  • Harp Consort No. 11 in D: – Fantazy
  • Choice Psalmes: – Ne irascaris, Domine
  • Harp Consort No. 10 in G: – Paven on a theme by Coprario
  • Choice Psalmes: – How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord
    • Come sing the great Jehova’s praise
    • In resurrectione tua
  • Harp Consort No. 8 in G
  • Choice Psalmes: – O my Clarissa

This concert is basically their latest album Lighten Mine Eies, available I’m sure at all good CD outlets and streaming, e.g. YouTube Music – click here.

Below is a little video clip of them performing one of the instrumental pieces:

While below is a little video clip of them performing one of the choral pieces:

We were supposed to hear Maïlys de Villoutreys sing the soprano parts, but she was unfortunately unwell. Enter a late replacement in the form of Marion Tassou, who did a wonderful job given the near-absence of preparation and rehearsal time.

Ensemble Près are a very together-looking unit, handling the late soprano switch like the commensurate professionals they clearly are.

We really enjoyed this concert and have enjoyed listening to their recordings of 16th and 17th century English music since. An unusual choice of repertoire for a young French ensemble. I hope it works for them.

Robin Pharo, their leader and gambist, did mention that they have started work on some French repertoire as well. Quelle surprise!

Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi & The Old Lady, Wigmore Hall, 5 February 2026

Our first Wigmore Hall concert of the year. We had been looking forward to this concert as something rather different…which it was. It was also very different from the concert as promoted. The rubric mentioned banjo and tambourine. Rhiannon apologised for that, as she explained that she and Francesco were currently working on voice and piano.

No-one seemed to mind. The audience mostly comprised Rhiannon fans, from what we could make out. We didn’t recognise fellow Wigmore-istas. Which is a good thing in our view. We are great believers in the Wig opening up to different artists and styles.

The music Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi played us was delightful and of the highest quality, albeit relentlessly downbeat in mood. Leonard Cohen and John Dowland had nothing on this pair in the gloom department.

Rhiannon is a charismatic performer, who can clearly shift between musical styles and spoken languages in a seemingly effortless way.

She did get caught out on the piece they were premiering that night, when the music page technology let her down. She stopped, explained the problem and asked if we wanted her to start again?

Yes please…

…we all shouted. So she started again.

Francesco explained with great enthusiasm that he had been afforded the honour and opportunity to play The Old Lady – the older of the two Steinway pianos at The Wig that rarely gets an outing. I had thought that the piano looked a little different when we arrived. The headline photo shows The Old Lady with our reflections in it as I snapped it on exit.

There’s not a lot of on-line video showing Rhiannon Giddens performing with Francesco Turrisi, but the following YouTube (which also includes one other musician), shows one of the most moving pieces they played: American Tune by Paul Simon:

We thoroughly enjoyed this concert and will look out for other concerts in Rhiannon Giddens Wigmore Hall residency. We might get to hear the banjo and tambourine next time. Or something completely different. I don’t suppose we’d much mind.

Emmet Cohen Trio, Wigmore Hall, 16 November 2025

To the Wigmore Hall for an evening of Jazz. We hadn’t yet seen jazz pianist/arranger/composer Emmet Cohen, although I think he has been curating the jazz at Wigmore Hall for a while now. Emmet’s previous dates/gigs hadn’t worked for us.

This was a good chance to see him with a couple of his regular buddies as a trio: Joey Ranieri on bass and Joe Farnsworth on percussion.

Calm before the storm

We heard:

  • Frederick Loewe – I’ve grown accustomed to her face
  • Bud Powell – Budo
  • Ernesto Lecuona – La Comparsa
  • Ralph Blane & Hugh Martin – The Trolley Song
  • Tadd Dameron – If You Could See Me Now
  • Ray Brown – Lined With a Groove
  • Emmet Cohen – Universal Truth Suite: I. Compassion, II. Eternal Glimpse, III. Universal truth
  • Scott Joplin – Original Rags (arranged by Emmet Cohen)
  • Harold Mabern – Rakin’ and Scrapin’ (arranged by Emmet Cohen)

You don’t have to take my word for it – here’s a link to the Wigmore Hall archive resource on this concert.

They were very good.

Here’s a YouTube of the three of them playing together in Switzerland a couple of years ago – but not playing one of the pieces we heard:

They look a bit less joyous in Switzerland – possibly they were on “stronger meds” when at The Wig. The audience for sure were well “medicated” – the bar was heaving with people before the concert…as were the loos. Very few familiar faces – not many of us Wigmore Hall Mafia dig early music and jazz.

Here is a link to the entire gig that those three did in Amsterdam a few days before they arrived at The Wig – there will be many similarities and overlaps:

I’m guessing that the Dutch do better meds than Swiss.

Of course, this is incredibly accomplished stuff and Janie and I enjoyed ourselves very much.

Some of the music choices are not quite to our taste – tunes from musicals of the 40s and 50s tend to sound corny to our ears and, to some extent, even more so when syncopated into cool jazz. The Trolley Song, in particular, could, for me, only conjure up a vision of Judy Garland dressed in Edwardian finery.

The only other issue we have with this style of jazz concert is the “mutual admiration society” style chat, about each other and about jazz masters past and present with whom they have worked. I realise that there is a type of jazz maven who likes to hear all that stuff, but we prefer to let the music speak for itself. There’s also something “not quite our style” about self-aggrandisement.

But this nit-picking does not detract from a thoroughly enjoyable evening of top quality jazz musicianship, for which we are grateful. We think the acoustics of the Wigmore Hall work brilliantly for small jazz combos such as this trio, although Emmet suggested at one point that he finds the acoustics of the hall “a bit weird”.

Anyway, as Janie and I have said repeatedly to the powers that be at The Wigmore Hall over the years with regard to jazz – more of this please.

Four Noteworthy Days In Oh Such Different Ways, 12 to 15 August 2025

Nat Oaks At Lord’s, 14 August 2025

Tuesday 12 August: Goodbye Hydrotherapy At Riverstone, Hello Chelsea Arts Club

I had my last hydrotherapy session for my hip surgery rehab with Michael Lambert at Riverstone that afternoon – highly recommended if you are recovering from major surgery or injury, btw. My entire focus now will be on the more gruelling home and gym based physio.

Criss-crossing the Borough all day – later that afternoon, I ventured to the Chelsea Arts Club, where Tony Friend had kindly arranged to introduce me to Nigel à Brassard, a fellow avocational writer/historian who is also to speak at the Real Tennis Society history conference next month. A most pleasurable early evening with some very interesting note-swapping. I think Nigel’s notes to me will have helped me far more than my notes will have helped Nigel. I don’t suppose he minds.

Wednesday 13 August: A Sad Day At Stuart Morris’s Funeral

A few week’s ago Janie and I were shocked to learn that Stuart, Annalisa’s husband, had died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure. We resolved to keep the funeral day free and attended the moving and dignified ceremony at Bierton Crematorium.

In truth, we did not know Stuart well, having met him perhaps once or twice before attending Annalisa & Stuart’s wedding, all those years ago:

A Long Weekend Near Dumfries For Annalisa de Mercur’s Wedding, Then Sharrow Bay For Afters, 12 to 15 September 1998

But of course we did know Annalisa well and wanted to be there for her. As it turned out, it was a very large gathering, as Stuart had been extremely popular and well -regarded by friends, police colleagues and even his latter-day colleagues from Whipsnade Zoo, whom Stuart had not known for long but the several who attended seemed much affected by their time with him, which had been so cruelly cut short.

Thursday 14 August: Nat Oaks Concert At Lord’s, Before & After Which Was Some Tennis & Cricket

I love being able to combine tennis and cricket on visits to Lord’s. Not least when this combination of activity affords the opportunity to watch some cricket with a fellow tennis player or two. On this occasion, some relatively gentle doubles (playing entirely left-handed at the time having torn my bicep tendon in late July), followed by The Hundred matches between the London Spirit and Trent Rockets, with Nat Oaks performing in-between.

Max McHardy, from The Bionic Quartet…

Plums, Spirits, Gunns & The Bionic Quartet: Only At Lord’s, 5 & 8 August 2025

…was one of the four again. This time, we had the opportunity to watch some cricket and contemporary music together after our game. It was great to watch some cricket with Max, as we had never much discussed cricket before, given the highly focussed nature of our mind sets, and therefore conversation, when playing tennis.

Max had never watched women’s cricket live before and I think was quite taken with it when observed from the rarefied atmosphere of the Lord’s pavilion terrace. We are so privileged being able to use those facilities as “our cricket club-house”.

I’m not sure that Max was as sure about the music of Nat Oaks. I rather liked it, having extensively researched the subject ahead of the match (i.e. I had watched two on-line vids before setting off for Lord’s).

This is what she looked like performing live at Lord’s – thanks to BBC Music:

Max stuck around for almost half of the men’s match. I stuck around for the entire first half of it.

Friday 15 August: A Day Chatting & Eating With Ben Schwarz

A follow up session with Ben Schwarz to try and cover some of the items we had meant to chat about when we met up at Lord’s a few weeks ago:

What Does He Know Of CLR James, Who Doesn’t Cricket Know? A Most Enjoyable Day At Lords With Benjamin Schwarz, 25 July 2025

It was a most pleasant way to spend a large chunk of the day. We nattered for so long over a pot of tea at Clanricarde Gardens, that by the time we got to The Orangery in Kensington Gardens, they’d stopped serving the lunch menu and had moved on to the high tea menu. A suitable venue for high tea, we shared one of those and then strolled in the gardens chatting some more.

This photo, in truth, from 1994, but the look of the place on a sunny day hasn’t changed

Naturally, we didn’t quite complete the list of topics we had been hoping to discuss, so we’ll chat some more in the autumn. It will be interesting to compare notes from our respective times in the USA when next we meet.

Miloš & The Piatti Quartet At The Wigmore Hall, 13 July 2025

Miloš: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, CC BY 2.0

Janie and I were really taken with Miloš Karadaglić when we first saw him, at The Wig, more than 10 years ago:

Miloš Karadaglić, Wigmore Hall, 22 February 2015

I bought some CDs (remember them?) on the back of that concert and we attempted to see him again a year or two later, but he had to cancel that concert due to injury and disappeared off our radar for a while.

I had noticed his name on schedules relatively recently, but this was the first time that the timings worked for us…more or less.

I say “more or less”, because I knew that we would most likely be at Lord’s that day for the fourth day of the test match…

Four Out Of Five Days At The England v India Lord’s Test, 10 to 14 June 2025

…and a day at the test followed by a concert at The Wig was sure to be a rigorous test for Pinky, my brand-new hip.

Still, Lord’s and the Wigmore Hall are the only places left on the planet where some stewards and fellow patrons still occasionally refer to me as “young man”, so it had to be worth a go.

Pinky and I passed the test with flying colours, as did Miloš Karadaglić. But things have also changed for Miloš since we last saw him. For a start, he has become mononymous; “Miloš” is his entire billing name now. Miloš now plays with some strapping on one of his hands and plays accompanied rather than solo, perhaps to help manage his workload.

When I booked the concert the plan was for him to be accompanied by an accordion player, but the concert was changed substantially between booking and concert. Instead we saw him with the Piatti Quartet, which, frankly, was more to our taste than I imagine the accordion would have been.

Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall resources for the concert.

The concert was lovely. Miloš still plays delightfully and with great elegance. You could sense that he had built a great rapport with the quartet for this concert/mini-tour. The Piatti Quartet also played beautifully.

Miloš explained that, in a musical world that is increasingly about playlists that keep individual items short, while mixing and matching styles, this concert was designed like such a playlist. Hence the four movements of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Quintet unusually peppered throughout the concert.

In the first half we heard:

  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Guitar Quintet Op. 143: I. Allegro, vivo e schietto
  • Benedetto Marcello – Oboe Concerto in D minor: II. Adagio
  • Luigi Boccherini – Guitar Quintet in D G448 ‘Fandango’
  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Guitar Quintet Op. 143: II. Andante mesto
  • Malcolm Arnold – Serenade for guitar and strings Op. 50
  • Anon – Spanish Romance
  • Ástor Piazzolla – Libertango

This video clip of him playing the Spanish Romance will give you a sense of his playing:

During the interval, Janie struck up a conversation with the American lady who was sitting, alone, to Janie’s right. The lady told us that she had become a bit of a groupie for Miloš, having seen him several times at various locations in the recent past. She seemed surprised (and perhaps a little envious) that we had seen him as long ago as 2015. She then admitted that she had somewhat of a crush on Miloš and blushed. I asked politely what Miloš has that I haven’t got? I thought I heard a rather complimentary response from the blushing lady, although Janie claims to have heard the response differently. “Young man” was not part of the answer in either of our rememberings.

In the second half we heard:

  • Philip Glass – String Quartet No. 2 ‘Company’
  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Guitar Quintet Op. 143: III. Scherzo. Allegro con spirito, alla marcia
  • Pablo Casals – Song of the Birds (arranged by Piatti Quartet)
  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Guitar Quintet Op. 143: IV. Finale. Allegro con fuoco
  • Harold Arlen – The Wizard of Oz: Over the Rainbow (arranged by Tōru Takemitsu)
  • The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
  • The Beatles – Fool on the Hill
  • The Beatles -Here Comes the Sun
  • Encore: Antonio Luca Vivaldi – Concerto in D major for flute, oboe, violin and bassoon RV90: II. Largo

Here is a link to the Programme text.