Something to do with Five

What do you do when you have a quartet of a cello, 2 violins, and 2 violas?  Ah, no, this is not a joke... You have a quartet night of Mozart Quintet, Mendelssohn Quintet, and Haydn Quintet followed by quartets of movie and tv-themes (optional second viola).  Good times.

So, this all started because Viola Man and I were discussing quartets.  Normally it's hard to find a cellist, but as my brother is one, I've got that covered.  My brother's flatmate plays viola, and Viola Man (who is also a violinist) has a friend staying from Canada - who also plays viola.  All in!  I think the Mozart was written (this is just a theory) because he had either a violinist he didn't like, or a violinist he really liked who wasn't any good.  It was the most boring Mozart part I've ever played - but the most interesting my brother has ever played.  The Haydn had Joseph's name on it but was apparently really by his brother, Michael.  And Mendelssohn.  Ah, Mendelssohn.  A teensy bit hard to sightread, especially as Mendelssohn likes to do a bit of the Jackson Pollock style so you wash about a bit, hoping you've counted correctly, until you all miraculously have the theme at the same time.  Love it - but a bit unnerving if you're unfamiliar with the part.  Or even if you are familiar with the part. 

We held this at my place, so I got to cook.  I've had a Tana Ramsey cookbook for a few years now and have cooked almost everything in it.  I'm not a fan of lemon chicken so have always skipped over the recipe for lemon chicken stew, but it stood out the other day.  Apparently the chopping is meant to take 30 minutes - I did it in half that time (go me!).  Knowing what her recipes are like with quantities (massive) I browned the chicken, in batches, in my frying pan, then proceeded with the recipe after that - all in the pot, basically.  Simple.  And tasty!  The lemon was more a suggestion instead of the overpowering force I expected, so I was happy.  Also, note the crusty bread in the background...  The serving suggestion is for rice but I'm not a fan of rice.  I made sure we had real, not imaginary, crusty bread, to soak up the saucy bits (unlike Monday).

I wasn't sure how much we'd want dessert, but with 3 blokes I thought it would be wise.  I was correct.  Earlier this year I bought, on impulse, a cookbook for fruit.  So far I've made fruit and cinnamon muffins... but nothing else.  I looked through the entire book, with my current stash of fruit in mind, and settled on the date and cinnamon squares.  (Yes, I love cinnamon).  Really yummy.  I put out half the slice, and it was all gone by the time we'd finished laughing at side-splittingly funny Youtube videos.  The slice is your standard slice mix, but because of the liquid with the dates, it is fabulously moist.

(Recipes available on request, I didn't want to take up buckets of space and reading attention with them though!).

Today's photo:

I walk past this tree nearly every day.  I love the carpet of green that encompasses the roots - but it is proving awkward to photograph.  I expect there will be a few more attempts before I capture it to my liking.

QSO Matinee

To be honest, I did not even know that QSO did matinee concerts on Thursdays.  But, they do.  A series called "Morning Masterworks", this one was "QSO Plays Elgar".  I only found out about this because my brother was called in as a casual, and then was issued with some complementary tickets, and I don't work until after lunch on Thursdays...  Free concert!

I arrived at the concert hall just before the 11am start, and discovered that my seat (18) was right in the middle.  And everyone else had already taken their seats.  Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, so sorry, excuse me.... The other thing about sitting in the middle (and near the front) is that it looks like the whole orchestra is staring at you.  I had to keep reminding myself, they're looking at the conductor, they're just turned that way, the stage lights mean they can't see anything really.  Still, it was a little unnerving.  Also unnerving was the woman to my left turning her head several times during the harp concerto.  I know she must have been looking past me, but it really felt like she was staring at my nose.  I resisted the urge to return fire.  And, out of the 8 cellists, I could only see 7 - guess which one I only saw during a page-turn?

It has been a really long time since I've been to a concert at the QPAC Concert Hall.  I picked up a program but didn't really need to look at it.  This is what years of musical study has achieved.  I saw that it would be a Haydn symphony, a harp concerto, and Elgar's Nimrod Variations.  For the Haydn, I could predict the basic layout of the movements, and it was a bit like seeing well-known people as every expected bit happened.  Same with the harp concerto (played by Marshall McGuire).  Except, for most of that I was thinking of The Emperor's New Groove and the dress/robe argument.  And trying not to giggle.

Ah, Elgar.  It's been several years since I've heard Nimrod, and I don't think I've ever played it.  He really knows how to write a heart swell.  It was really something. 

Some orchestras, you get the feeling the players have all done this a thousand times, they're just playing the notes so they can go to the bar for a drink (for example), it's just a job.  Today, this group of players were, mostly, really into it.  The expressions on their faces and the movement of their bodies described a passion for this music that I wasn't expecting, to be honest, but really appreciated.  Although it felt really decadent to be at a classical music concert, late morning, on a weekday, to see and hear people living a passion was very inspiring.