Three concerts

On October 25th, Shoko Inoue, born in Tokyo, played the piano at the National Gallery of Canada, this concert sponsored by the Embassy of Japan. Elva and I were there to hear her perform Bach's French Suite in G major, Chopin's Ballade in G minor, Op 23, and Schubert's Sonata in B-flat major, D 960, written right at the end of his life, the one with the wonderful Andante Sostenuto slow movement, that my mother loves so much. (You can find Alfred Brendel's famous interpretation of it on YouTube). Ms Inoue played her instrument in bare feet, as does the more extravert Evelyn Glennie.

On November 7th, "in honour of the 90th Anniversary of the Republic of Estonia", a concert (organised by my friend Ülle) was put on at the First Baptist Church: operatic arias sung by Heli Veskus (soprano) and Oliver Kuusik (tenor) of the Estonian National Opera. On tour in Canada, the two soloists were met at the station by Ülle, who also presented each of them with bouquets of flowers to vigorous applause from the assembled diplomats and friends at the end of their performance. Richard Todd (music critic for the Ottawa Citizen) gave them a glowing report. There was only one operatic duet on the programme, an extract from La Bohème, at the end of which the two performers wandered off suggestively into the "wings" (of the church) together, still singing. Ms Veskus' finale was Giuditta's song, by Lehár, you know the one: Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss..., but then the tenor came back to join her so that they could finish the concert by singing an Estonian "prayer" in unison. Apparently there's a great film about how "singing has always brought Estonians together," as the Ambassador told us, called The Singing Revolution.

The following day, I went to the third concert, this one a Strings of St John's performance at St John's church, a couple of blocks and across the road from the other one. I had a friend involved in that concert, too, who plays in the 2nd Violins (scroll down the page for Regina's photo and biography). This ensemble, with the young soprano Alexa Wing as soloist (obviously battling a cough and sore throat, more's the pity) gave an unusual programme of music: Corelli's Concerto Grosso in C, a secular cantata by Bach, then Britten's setting of Les Illuminations (poems by Rimbaud, of which Peter Pears probably gave the most understanding rendition, although it was originally composed for a soprano, not a tenor) which work has a good deal more depth to it than the last item on the programme, a Psalm and Jubilation for strings and harp by an American composer, Tracey Rush. Easy listening, but too bland. I much preferred the Britten.