World class

Left to right: Ukraine, Korea, France, Kazakhstan. We were very lucky to have four genuinely world-class musicians playing to us for free in our little village of 300 people. Not many people turned up for it, sadly, but those who weren't there missed a treat. An unusual combination of baritone, violin, harp and cello, they played a very well chosen programme of short pieces, combining ones that are likely to be well known even to those who aren't that familiar with classical music (Boccherini, arias from The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni) with more unusual pieces (a Saint-Saens fantasy for harp and violin, a traditional Ukrainian song, a lovely Fauré song). The harpist introduced each piece with an explanation of its context.

The programme finished with a virtuosic extract from Astor Piazzola's History of Tango that brought a storm of applause for the violinist You-Jung Han. I had never heard of Piazzola before I moved here, but he seems wildly popular, especially among accordionists. And deservedly so. His music is fascinating, and versatlie enough to be played on many different instruments. Finally, an encore of a Schubert song beautifully sung by the twinkle-eyed baritone, with whom the audience was quite smitten, and whose name I sadly didn't catch.

I took almost no photos because I was reluctant to disturb the ambiance -- with such a small audience we were all close to the musicians, and even the three six- or seven-year olds sitting in front of me were spellbound. Hence this rather poor photo. The cellist and violinist may appear to be holding their instruments oddly, but in this piece they were plucking rather than playing with bows.