Now for something unusual...

From keys to strings, this time. Purely out of curiosity (and the love of wine), M and I went along to this year's Swiss Ambassador's Award Concert at the Reardon Smith Theatre in National Museum Cardiff. According to the inclusive programme, this is the 2nd year of the Award, which is aimed at promoting Swiss culture and Swiss artists and involves, in the UK at least, 3 or 4 'tour' dates, Cardiff being the last for 2009. The winners, the Gémeaux Quartett, originated in Basel in 2003.

A lot of the concert audience were local and other dignitaries, and we assume that the other tickets (i.e. for people like us) were sold for numbers and not aimed at profit! The programme: Haydn Quartet in C major Op.50 No.2; Bolens String Quartet 2006 'Tempus Fugit' and lastly Janáček Quartet No.2 'Intimate Letters'. By far the most interesting and enjoyable piece (for us, though I'm sure some of the older audience members would disagree) was 'Tempus Fugit', which was based around 1 or 2 musical elements. It makes more sense listening than on paper -highly recommended listen! I'll certainly be finding it on Spotify. The Leoš Janáček piece was also good. The wine was too! - also included in the price was 'a glass' of Swiss Sekt (champagne), which turned out to be around 3 as the serving staff kept topping up!

A short lull in concertgoing for a holiday -we are trying out a free Radio 3 Discovering Music evening in early October, eagerly followed by Bat for Lashes at Cardiff Students Union.

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