31st July

Played with All Angels and Will Martin last night in the Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton. We started the show with our version of Traumerei, from our ‘Dreaming’ album. The day before, we did a lunchtime recital in St Martin in the Fields, in Trafalgar Square and played the Bax Quartet that we’ve recorded. We started with a Mozart Divertimento and also played Elgar’s ‘Lullaby’. The audience was fantastic – not just in number, but in enthusiasm. We sold lots of CDs, and many people gave us their email addresses to join our mailing list. It would be great to do some more London concerts.

Jen and I had a performance in Amsterdam with Adele last week. I had no idea what the weather was going to be like in Amsterdam, so arrived wearing wellies and a sundress. Having risen at 4 am, I must have looked quite frightening all in all. Adele, in Amsterdam, decided halfway through the show that she didn’t like her bass guitar anymore – and threw it out to the crowd. I hoped she wasn’t expecting us to do the same with our violins!! We then had to get a train to Paris, and met the other two Pavaos there, so we could hire a car and drive to Normandie for a week of recitals. Why is it always so complicated?! Jen and I laughed a lot when we discovered to get a bus in Amsterdam to the airport, required buying 2 ‘Strips’ on a ‘Stripenkart’. What on earth did that involve? When we finally managed to arrive in France without mishap, I treated myself immediately to a chocolate crepe outside the Gare du Nord. True to form, we had arranged to meet the others by the Pick n Mix stall!

Our week in France went very quickly. We have done a tour in the Normandie nearly every summer for 9 years now, and this was one of the best. We were looked after very well, staying in a beautiful gite in a manoir. We played Schubert’s Quartetsatz, the Bax G major and Mendelssohn’s last quartet every night, including in a wonderful abbey, and we finished with an outdoor concert of our jazz arrangements whilst everyone picnicked on the lawns of a beautiful house.Our music kept blowing away, so I had to hold it to the stand with my hair clip, which unfortunately had a big flower attached, so attracted some bees! Bryony and then went off in a friends truck to watch a silent movie that was being screened outdoors with French subtitles. The evening was quite eventful, as I got an electric shock from a fence I climbed over, and then had to eat sea snails afterwards. And during the interval, we just quietly asked a steward if there was any chocolate available to buy, and next thing we know he’s announcing over a loudspeaker ‘Chocolat! Chocolat pour les anglais!!!’ How embarassing.

After one recital, we were enjoying wine on the lawn, and someone asked Jen and I if we would like flat or sparkling. When I replied ‘flat’ and Jen said ‘sparkling’, Jen commented ‘true to form!’. Jen, do you mean that I always play flat and you always sparkle? Haha!! One concert really made us laugh; just as we were raising our bows and drawing breath to start the moving slow movement of the Mendelssohn, an elderly gent in the audience, not realizing how loud he was speaking suddenly announced ‘The second violinist’s AWFULLY pretty!’

We had a fun day off at the end of the tour, and went to the beach. It was colder that day, but being true Brits we sat on the beach covered in scarves and towels, eating chips!! I found some fake kiddies tattoos in a seaside shop, so we had lots of fun applying those. You are supposed to use a damp sponge, but we had to make do with my bikini dipped in the sea.

I have finally had time (but only at 2 am) to change the strings on my violin, and polish the poor thing. I spend so much time packing and unpacking, and emailing concert organizers, that the poor instrument must feel very neglected except when I’m on stage. How do people have time to learn Beethoven Quartets, organise concerts, AND keep their bedrooms tidy?!