Khatia Buniatishvili at LSO St Luke's

And so the second cultural event event of the week

Off to the LSO St Luke's to see the Georgian Pianist Khatia Buniatishvili play some Beethoven Piano Sonatas.

Before the concert we had lunch in the Crypt and then up to bag a front row seat (although you get tickets seating is first come first serve)

The programme was:

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No 17 in D minor (‘Tempest’)
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No 19 in G minor
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No 23 in F minor (‘Appassionata’)

Interestingly Beethoven No 17 I saw in July played by Imogen Cooper, I enjoyed it then and I enjoyed it today.

The second No 19 is an early work, it lacked the depth of the other two but in Khatia's hands it was an engaging listen - using a first name always strikes me as pretentious but much easier to spell :D

All this led up to No 23, the Appassionata, which was superb. It wasn't someone playing a piano, it was if the keys were an extension of Khatia's fingers.

For all three sonata's she had no score and she probably couldn't see the keyboard through her hair!!

The audience obviously loved the concert but alas no encore.....

I should comment that she looked gorgeous in her dress but frankly it was her playing we came to see and that was even more stunning.

Daniel Hope and Sebastian Knauer

Well a few cultural treats this week :D

Today I was meeting up with Trish at the Wigmore Hall.

Before the concert we had a lunch in the Wigmore' restaurant.Salmon with beetroot to start and fish cakes on a bed of spinach with 3 way cooked chips. Very nice.

The concert featured Daniel Hope on violin and Sebastian Knauer on piano with a programme exploring the milieu of violinist and composer Joseph Joachim and his friends and colleagues.

The programme was:

Grieg
Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor Op. 45

Joachim
Hebrew Melody Op. 9 No. 1 (arr. violin and piano)

Brahms
Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Op. 100

Brahms/Joachim
Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor

the encore was a the first movement of a Bach Violin and Piano (Clavier) Sonata

The two Sonata's were very good and the Hungarian Dance was a nice concert finishing piece  but the Hebrew Melody felt like a bit of a filler.

I enjoyed the Bach but it felt "modern", I'm using modern in a 19th century sense :D

The concert was good, very good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Trish thought it was the best we had been to this year but I have to disagree. It was consistently good but it lacked a piece that made my jaw drop.

Out and about in Norfolk

Well I met up with Trish today and we headed to Titchwell, surprisingly the weather was lovely!!

This chap was trying to work out how to get at the feeders.

There were birds about but they were not exactly camera friendly! Superb views of Bearded Tits which annoyingly I didn't get a pic of, Trish did.

Still 3 Little Stints amongst the Dunlin which were a year tick.

At the beach we saw Grey Plover, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Bar Tailed Godwit and Gannet amongst others.

Bar Tail in flight

A Common Lizard

The new hide.

From which we saw

Linnet

Meadow Pipit

There was Twite amongst the finches. Another good find was a Whinchat.

Teal

So on to Hunstanton.

Whilst Trish was getting the sausage and chips I took a picture of this chap.

Trish enjoying a chip!

So onto Sandringham home of the Queen.