And not only for the music. A thousand thanks to everyone who helped to make the Hungarian Dances concert yesterday a rip-roaring runaway success. Thanks to Vernon Ellis, Veronica Davies and the Queen's Gate Terrace Concerts for accepting us into the series and hosting the event in their beautiful salon, and for all their hard work. Thanks to Janine for some very "different" canapes: transforming Hungarian cuisine into finger food is no small order. Overwhelming thanks to Ilona for her sensational Austro-Hungarian biscuits, expert page-turning, and astonishing tranquility backstage throughout; ditto for Linn, who was able to keep her head when all about her might have been losing theirs; and ditto to Kate and Marissa from Hodder. Thanks to the team from omusic TV - more of which, I hope, in due course. Thanks to everyone in the audience for being so tolerant when I succumbed to brain-loss and forgot their names. And most of all to Philippe Graffin, Claire Desert and Tom, who pulled out all the stops on violins and piano and put up with me reading stuff in between the pieces.
I think Sir Alan would have been pleased.
Pictured, Philippe and Tom in full flood of Bartok Violin Duos.
1 comments:
I've been to a Claire's Beethoven recital a few days ago all the way down here in Rio, and she mesmerised us with staggering renditions of "Tempest" and "Les Adieux".
By the way, Jessica, you should investigate Rio Folle Journee (and maybe come next year for a full-fledge feature piece). I heard 30,000 tickets were sold out of 36,000 put up for sale for a once-a-year, 5-day blast including 48 concerts in 5 venuew within walking distance of each other.
The international crowd playing at the Beethoven fest?
Claire, of course, plus Abdel Rahman el Bacha, Alexander Kniazev, Andrei Korobeinikov, Antonio Meneses, Boris Berezovsky, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, the great Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Menahem Pressler, and the Ysaÿes. Complete String Quartets, Piano, Cello and Violin Sonatas, etc.
By the way, this sure looks a press release. Trust me it's not. I'm just a fan. But the event was just as gorgeous as any good PR piece would sure make it sound!
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