Living Music 2007 Event 4: Improvisations and Ligeti's "Etudes"

This was in the John Field Room of the National Concert Hall, and was essentially two concerts in one, separated by a long interval in which they fiddled with the piano.

Rolf Hind went first, playing the Ligeti pieces, explaining them as he went along to buy time to rest his fingers. I found them very enjoyable, so much so that I almost fell asleep during them (As you know, I love falling asleep to classical music). I think some of this music might have been Gamelan influenced.

In the interval we met well-known composer Raymond Deane, and he said something about how he finds live concerts quite stressful. I know what he means – I am always TERRIFIED that in the middle of a classical music concert I will find myself bursting for a piss or possessed by an irresistible urge to cough and cough and cough, or that I will go mad and start shouting "VADGEMONKEY!", or my phone will switch itself on and someone will ring me, etc.. This has never yet happened, but one day it might.

Interval coffee meant there would be no sleeping when Simon Nabotov did his stuff. He was an amiably chubby Russian fellow who did a bit of the old jazz improv, combining this with putting stuff inside the piano to add to its funny noise potential. Deadly.

This was also the last thing I went to in this year's festival.