Botanic music

My final concert of four in the Chamber Music Festival took place in the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. It was on a par with, if even better then, the first of my concerts.

This was the concluding concert of the Festival, so there was a general air of celebration about it. We learned as we arrived that there had been high dram during the day. The Quatuor Ébène are one of the finest string quartets on the circuit these days, so I was anticipating something rather special. The drama caused the start to be delayed by over 40 minutes. Their flight from London was cancelled, the festival organisers had great difficult arranging an alternative, and when that was sorted the musicians found that the cellist's instrument had not made it onto the same flight. As if all that wasn't enough, not a taxi was to be found at Dublin Airport to get them in to town, so other means had to be organised. The Festival people laid on a wine reception to compensate for the delayed start, so there were no mutterings.

How the quartet managed to deliver a truly outstanding concert after all that upset I do not know, but deliver they did, wonderfully. A brilliant end to the first extended music experience I've had in a very long time. I'll be back for more next year.

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I've done some much-needed back-blipping, beginning here.