MAINLY MO
On
a Monday just over a fortnight ago Maureen had a fall in the garden
that left her in considerable pain and unable to stand on her left
leg. After a couple of days holding out, as is her wont, she was
finally transported mid-week to St Mary's Hospital by two kind and
competent para medics. She has since had an x-ray, CT scan (no
breakages), physio attention, drug reappraisal, and a move from one
ward to another at four o'clock in the morning. Now she is home.
Praise be!
She was discharged from hospital last Monday, still unable to put weight on her left leg, but carrying a stronger drug to relieve the pain and a cough she didn't have before she went in. All the medical staff were lovely though. The experience was otherwise just an experience. Everybody did their best. Walking is still difficult, but she has already been back at her ironing board, sitting on her tall stool. Try to stop her. What?
STILL PROMS WATCHING.
Still beguiled by Beethoven and Brahms, and enchanted by Tchaikovsky, I am still Proms watching. Mo is still watching people programmes: people looking critically for a dream home in the city, country, town, as an alternative to their £1m one-bedroomed flat in London, people doing up wrecked, charmless properties to sell at a vast profit, people with guest houses vying with other people with guest houses to discover who can be the more cruelly carping about the other's establishment, and so on. We have an amicable agreement. I avoid them.
Back in Post 476 I cheerily outlined a personal proms season with the observation that nobody could book, let alone afford, it in one season. To my surprise, several of my choices have appeared at the Proms this year. On the 6th of August Isata Kanneh-Mason played Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no.3 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ryan Bancroft. The Kanneh-Mason family was on my list, so that was a positive. I liked Ms Kanneh-Mason. Disliked the concerto. That will diss me forever with any 'can read and understand and enjoy every note' modern classic music lover. But I doubt they'll be bothered to read this anyway. For any who do, did you see Yuja Wang play Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä? Another concert pianist from my wish list. Wonderful.
Equally wonderful was the Proms debut of armless horn player Felix Klieser (using his toes to press the keys of the French horn). With the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra he gave a superb performance of Mozart's Concerto No.4.
She was discharged from hospital last Monday, still unable to put weight on her left leg, but carrying a stronger drug to relieve the pain and a cough she didn't have before she went in. All the medical staff were lovely though. The experience was otherwise just an experience. Everybody did their best. Walking is still difficult, but she has already been back at her ironing board, sitting on her tall stool. Try to stop her. What?
STILL PROMS WATCHING.
Still beguiled by Beethoven and Brahms, and enchanted by Tchaikovsky, I am still Proms watching. Mo is still watching people programmes: people looking critically for a dream home in the city, country, town, as an alternative to their £1m one-bedroomed flat in London, people doing up wrecked, charmless properties to sell at a vast profit, people with guest houses vying with other people with guest houses to discover who can be the more cruelly carping about the other's establishment, and so on. We have an amicable agreement. I avoid them.
Back in Post 476 I cheerily outlined a personal proms season with the observation that nobody could book, let alone afford, it in one season. To my surprise, several of my choices have appeared at the Proms this year. On the 6th of August Isata Kanneh-Mason played Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no.3 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ryan Bancroft. The Kanneh-Mason family was on my list, so that was a positive. I liked Ms Kanneh-Mason. Disliked the concerto. That will diss me forever with any 'can read and understand and enjoy every note' modern classic music lover. But I doubt they'll be bothered to read this anyway. For any who do, did you see Yuja Wang play Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä? Another concert pianist from my wish list. Wonderful.
Equally wonderful was the Proms debut of armless horn player Felix Klieser (using his toes to press the keys of the French horn). With the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra he gave a superb performance of Mozart's Concerto No.4.
And so to one of my favourite Proms
evenings so far. The Budapest Festival Orchestra, with their founder
and conductor Iván Fischer, presented an overture by Weber,
Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony, and Schumann's Piano Concerto played
by Sir András Schiff.
Sir András's first encore had the entire orchestra on its feet singing Brahms' Lieber Schwalbe Kleine Schwalbe (with the maestro giving piano accompaniment).
Sir András's first encore had the entire orchestra on its feet singing Brahms' Lieber Schwalbe Kleine Schwalbe (with the maestro giving piano accompaniment).
For his second encore Sir András played
Schumann's Der glückliche Bauer, a
tune often played, simply, by young piano pupils. Sir András
played it simply. It was wonderful. He is 69. Bravo!
And
that's that for now.
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