News from the mountains

I didn't do anything interesting today, so here's what S was doing. He set off on Friday in order to witness the release of some ibex in the Pyrenees, part of a reintroduction project (the last genuine Pyrenean ibex died in 2000). Unfortunately, the weather was terrible; rain and thick mist. So after an hour and a half's wait, the reward was a view of some faint brownish blobs rushing off into the distance. However, after everyone had packed their cameras away and given up, one of the ibex got confused and came back, so S got a snatched shot with his phone (see extra). For the rest of the weekend, he was yomping up and down peaks with the walking club.

Meanwhile I engaged in the more sedentary pursuit of going to a concert in a nearby village: the Antoinette Trio. I went because when I read the description of the concert, the words "bass clarinet" leapt out at me. I love the sound of it, and you don't come across them that often. The trio was a combination of guitar, several varieties of flute, and clarinet, playing "lusophone" music -- inspired by Portuguese tunes and rhythms, but in an original way. When it worked, it was brilliant, a sound-world quite different from anything else I've heard. Other parts were just, well, tunes. At one point Arnaud Rouanet played two clarinets simultaneously -- something I've only seen once before (George Ricci, the Hothouse, circa 1992). Here's a sample.