This post is one in a sequence which lists (mostly) live music I have heard, as best as memory allows. I write to have a record of my musical experiences and so these entries are intended as postcards from me to my future self. All opinions are personal.
Other posts in this collection can be found here. The most recent prior post in this sequence is here.
- The Piccadilly Sinfonietta and Christina Lawrie on piano in an early evening concert at St Mary-le-Strand Church, Strand, London on Friday 19 September 2025. The programme comprised Holst’s St Paul’s Suite in C major (Op. 29, No. 2) and Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. The Sinfonietta had 7 musicians (two first and two second violins, a viola, a cello and a double bass), six of whom stood. There were about 50 people in the audience. The playing from all eight performers was excellent. I do love the final movement of the Beethoven.
- Claudia Jablonski in a lunchtime cello recital with Rustam Khanmurzin on piano at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, London on Friday 19 September 2025. About 35 people were present. The programme comprised the Cello Sonatas of Debussy and Prokofiev, neither of which I had heard before.
This was a superb recital. The Prokofiev Sonata began with low rumblings on the cello, and then the piano entered with a lyrical and pleasing melodic phrase. I relaxed into a reverie, only to be jolted out by the very next phrase from the piano. The theme went stumbling spikily into some strange key! I thought, Hello Prokofiev, my old friend!