the historic 'Green Room' at Wigmore Hall
A memorable evening last night at Wigmore Hall. We’ve played in a few less-than-ideal acoustics recently (some too resonant, some too dry) so it was a real pleasure to hear the sound ringing through the air of the Wigmore Hall. Such an acoustic actually makes the performers feel inspired to dig out every last detail, because they know it will be heard.
There was a wonderful piano, a great audience, and the world premiere of Huw Watkins’s piano trio – a new contemporary work which, for once, everyone liked on first hearing. This doesn’t happen very often, at least not in my experience. The audience was as quiet and concentrated for the new piece as they were for the two Beethoven trios on either side of it. Indeed, people later commented that having heard Huw’s new piece, they heard connections between it and Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ trio which we played afterwards, and one or two people even said they heard the Beethoven in a new light because of what they’d heard in the new piece. Surely that’s a fine compliment to Huw.
We had supper afterwards, and Huw thanked us for including him in what he called ‘a Beethoven sandwich’. But, as I pointed out, it was actually a Watkins sandwich. After all, a sandwich is called after the filling.
Thank goodness for the Wigmore hall acoustic – I got my ticket late and was in the balcony front row, which did not seem ideal. Then I realised I would be able to see the stage very well and yet I could also hear every detail (and admire the beautiful building too). What a wonderful concert! The Watkins sandwich worked beautifully, and it was suprising to find that the filling really did hold its own in such high class bread.
Among the many things I will remember about your playing that evening, I particularly loved the tone quality that you manage to achieve from the piano and the balance of the 3 instruments – not easy for a piano trio.
As I type this, I am enjoying your CD of the Archduke trio, which I bought after the concert and is immensely satisfying (having worked hard on the first movement last year on a holiday in France with two Dutch friends).
Thank you so much, Nick. I’ve been away, and have only just seen your very kind comments. It makes it all the nicer to look back on that evening in the Wigmore.