fab music and film

Mrs C and I have been to some fab entertainment in the past
week....
Last Tuesday, we went to see a fantastic string quartet ..the
Carducci String Quartet, who played Haydn's "Frog" quartet
(Op. 50 no.6), Janacek's 1st quartet (the "Kreutzer"), and
Beethoven's C minor quartet in C minor (Op 18 No 4). The playing
was out of this world ... they are a very lively and young group
of musicians, who have won some prestigious awards. I know the
Janecek piece very well (as my dad used to play the LP a lot
when I was a teenager), but I didn't know that the composer
wrote it when he was 69, and that the music was based on a
tempestuous relationship between a man and his wife, whom he
knifes to death towards the end of the piece. (Perhaps it
reflects the love-hate feelings a lot of couples have?) :)

The second fab event was going to see the Leicester Symphony
Orchestra play last Saturday night, with Rainer Hersch conducting
his 1977 New Year's Day concert ... a brilliant comedy show, which
was mainly based on the Vienna NYD's concerts, with lots of extra
fun thrown in, including the first performance of Rainer's Windows
(XP) Sounds & Waltz ... yes, the Windows XP music, plus the
orchestral members doing some great moves (while playing).

Those of you who are oldies like me are likely to recall Victor
Borge, who was brilliant at remixing the piano classics with
modern tunes, with lots of witty remarks. Well if you combine
Victor Borge with Jim Carrey, you've got Rainer Hersch ... the
guy's a comic genius.

Our third event was going to see the new film "Before The Devil
Knows You're Dead" ... you may have seen the trailers ... if you
haven't, it's all about two brothers who plan a diamond robbery
which goes horribly wrong, and then things just go from bad to worse.
It's a modern-day Greek tragedy. Although it's not a lorra laughs,
I think it's a must-see film ... great acting and a great
production.