A Saturday 'play day' today...morning rehearsal with the clarinet clan and it was my section's turn to provide morning tea. Then later, an afternoon with Patricia Routledge and Piers Lane. It was also a bit of a memorial day too...
I've played in my clarinet choir for about 15 years now...at least, we think this is our 15th year...it's about that anyway. That's a lot of rehearsals (every second week) and playouts (here, there and everywhere). We bass clarinets have set a high standard. We have Brisbane's best scone maker and I make muffins, which people seem to like...that's nice.
The afternoon musical interlude was enjoyable. Patricia Routledge (familiar to most of as as Hyacinth 'Bucket') paid homage to Myra Hess, a woman who, in wartime London, set about organising lunchtime recitals in the London Art Gallery. A renowned musician herself, Hess believed that music in these dark times would help lighten people's mood. She organised them and charged one shilling entry, for the 'Musicians' Benevolent Fund'...hence the show's title "Admission: One Shilling". It was an overwhelming success.
Routledge, who as a young girl attended these concerts, recalled a first person account (as Hess) of the concerts. Lane, a pianist without peer, who I would pay to watch tap the kitchen table, played short interludes, weaved in and out of Routledge's narration.
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| One of many spectacular sunsets of late... |
[Camera: iPhone 4S, 5.19pm]
