October 16

We arrived safely home last Tuesday and have finally come back down to earth after our whirlwind tour of the UK.
    When we left you, we had just played in Trosa and we were on our way to Skipton. We arrived in Skipton and checked into the Woolly Sheep hotel. (The quartet took great pleasure in writing that address on our immigration forms!)
    The town of Skipton is incredibly beautiful with flowers everywhere and a very picturesque canal. The church where we played was quite old and had a great atmosphere – in particular a fantastic acoustic. Next door to the church was a castle built in 1066 by William the Conqueror… There was a very large audience and as it turned out, they were very talented. When Zoe announced the encore, she happened to mention that it was Erica’s birthday. They immediately burst into song (and beautifully so).
    On Wednesday we made the stunning journey to Glasgow where we dumped our bags and headed to Edinburgh and made a quartet trek down the Royal Mile in the rain (a novelty given the current drought in Australia) At this point we did realise that we had not had a day off since leaving Melbourne except for travel days.
    The following day, we were met and taken to Milngavie (of course, pronounced Mulguy… we still don’t quite understand why…) After rehearsing we went to Loch Lomond for dinner– we just caught the end of the light and we were all very taken with the Scottish countryside.
    By a strange set of coincidence, Trevor Green, managing director of MSO, happened to be in Glasgow at the same time visiting the organisers of the Kilmardinny Music Club. Trevor was very generous in showing us around (among other things, where Billy Connolly lived!) It was quite an honour having the managing director fix our lights for us and we felt very much at home having him in the audience. The concert was in a grand old house dedicated to the arts – a perfect venue for chamber music.
    The following day was a big one – we decided to fly from Glasgow to Gatwick (to avoid a 7 hour train trip and as it was a Saturday there would inevitably been track works). After arriving in Haywards Heath, we had a bit of a race to get ready for the concert. Most bizarre was that Zoe and Matt were staying with someone whose first name is Knighton! The venue had a very flattering acoustic and the organisers have a wonderful series there.
    Our final concert was in Cheltenham was part of a contemporary series. We presented an “All Australian” first half and premiered a piece called “Flinders refrain” by Hywel Davies. An extremely poignant piece, it set up the Ligeti string quartet number 1 superbly and another return invitation cemented the planned return tour in 2009.
    By this stage we were all thoroughly looking forward to going home so the 5:40am train the next morning was a small price to pay!

October 2

It has been 2 weeks already since the last news letter and time has flown by!
    Each time Zoe checks in with her cello, it is a major challenge for the airline to issue a boarding card because, of course, the cello has no identity. Geneva airport was a record with it taking 30 minutes. (The poor man gave up in the end and just sent her to the gate!)
They obviously weren’t taking any risks as the cello was tied into the seat with ropes attached to the floor…

Australia Week, Stockholm and Uppenbarelsekyrkan
After arriving in Stockholm, we checked into our hotel and met our dear friends from La Soave Melodia (whom we met in Banff in 2003). We met the Australian Embassy officials at the Hilton for the celebrations of Australia Week. With Australian art on the walls and lots of familiar accents around, we felt quite at home! The quartet met Ambassador Brown and played Sculhtorpe’s 11th string quartet (with lots of sounds from home – didgeridoos, rhythm sticks and a menagerie of birds)
    After a few days to rehearse and absorb our lessons with Gabor, we performed at the Uppenbarelsekyrkan in Hägersten. The concert was enthusiastically received with a few audience members excitedly telling us that they had decided to hear us in Trosa the following weekend as well!!  (Quite a few requests for cds so we have firmly decided that a new cd is definitely high on our priority list) The Australian works were particularly well received which was great!

London
A quick side trip to London meant we were able to meet with Robert Gilder Artist’s management (which was extremely productive) and have some lessons with David Takeno. The quartet was able to rehearse in Tony Wingate’s cottage. Tony has fast become a dear friend and looked after us so well with Zoe and Matt also staying there. The lessons with David were incredible and well worth the trip. He seemed to carry on from where Gabor had left off and we will have lots of fond memories of the lessons.
Some David Takeno moments…
    David taught at the piano, with a violin and viola handy, ready to demonstrate. Once, when Zoe was leaning over his shoulder looking at a score, a nearby toy cat suddenly started breathing. David quickly turned it over and turned it off…!
    David teaches at the top of a tower overlooking the courts of Wimbledon. The walls are lined with many books and he often referred to copies of the original manuscripts of Schubert etc.
    He gave quite an avid demonstration of the differences between Beethoven and Brahms’ walking styles. (Amazingly, it did affect the way we played the two pieces!!)

Back to Stockholm - Trosa
By now, we knew our way all around Arlanda Airport and Heathrow! It was back to Stockholm. Our plane quite delayed, we wound up arriving at 1:15 am – Helen’s birthday! After a good sleep and a great rehearsal, we celebrated Helen’s birthday at a French restaurant where it turns out the chef was moving to Melbourne. What a small world…
    A very pretty train trip took us to Trosa. The traditional Swedish House is red with white detailing – they looked so striking with the beginning of Autumn just making the leaves turn.
    Apparently, Trosa actually means underwear in Swedish -specifically female underwear. It is actually a very pretty town! (We had to laugh at the thought of an Australian town called knickers…)
    It was fantastic to play to a full house and a very enthusiastic audience. We have been offered a return invitation – most probably for 2009. There were a few members of the audience who we met at Uppenbarelsekyrkan in our first Swedish concert so we almost felt like we were playing for friends.
    There has been a slight cold circulating its way through the quartet but everyone is looking after each other.
    Playing in Skipton tonight – a gorgeous Yorkshire town.

Some interesting Flinders trivia
• Matt has the heaviest suitcase (well it started out that way but now the girls are giving him a run for his money!)
• There are two quartet birthdays on tour – Erica and Helen.
• We travel with special lightweight music stands – each weighing only 740 grams each.
• All four of us, including instruments and cases can fit in a station wagon taxi!
• Melbourne has been the quickest airport for checking the cello into its seat.

September 17

The Flight
Of course the long haul flight is always hideous to Europe but actually, we all managed to get some sleep - Zoe and Matt far more than Helen and Erica but then Zoe had the bonus of being able to lean on the cello which was strapped in next to the window. The air stewards did make a big point of saying “You know that if we crash, you have to leave the cello behind…” - a comforting thought???!!

Geneva and Surrounds
Once arriving in Geneva, we caught a taxi straight to Gabor Takacs-Nagy house. Amazingly, we all fit (suitcases and instruments as well) in the one taxi!
Subscribers who came to our open master class in 2005 will remember Gabor’s infectious enthusiasm. He was immediately telling jokes, excitedly talking to Matt about the Soccer (men’s talk!) and planning the week’s lessons. Lesley (his wife) does an amazing job to keep up with him and was so kind to organise us accommodation
    The quartet was ferried to the various accommodations – all delightful people kind enough to take in musicians. The house where the quartet rehearsed is an amazing big Swiss house on extremely beautiful grounds. Monique and Jean-Paul continually supplying cakes and coffee and the delightful Pamela looking after us. The two dogs quickly made Erica and Helen feel at home (both missing their respective canine companions) and we set about the business of rehearsing and having lessons with Gabor.
    What a treat – with no other distractions there were no “I have to stop, I have a dentist’s appointment” or “I have to go and teach”. This was such a wonderful experience and we all completely relaxed into the business of rehearsing.

Gabor’s Lessons
This is the 4th time the quartet has worked with Gabor. Working largely on Bartok 6, the relationship quickly picked up where it had left off. Gabor has worked (in his time as leader of the Takacs Quartet) with Zoltan Szekely who was a close friend of Bartok – we really felt like we were getting the information “from the horses mouth”.
    We really have to share some of his favourite sayings:
“The rhythm needs more alcohol in it!”
“Play as if you were drunk and trying to walk straight”
On the difference between dolce and espressivo - “It is the difference between loving a woman and loving your daughter”
   Lots of other interesting exercises like taking the music stands away and playing from memory with our eyes closed. At one stage, he said – “it should sound like you are playing forte but I am on the other side of the door. “ Then to prove a point he said “play it fortissimo!” Gabor proceeded to open the door, close it behind him and run down the hall to check the dynamic. We all really had to contain our giggles as we madly played to Gabor on the other side of the door!

The House Concert
Gabor and Lesley organised a house concert while we were in Geneva in the beautiful apartment of Christian and Nicole Meyer. An extremely generous couple, it was a very memorable event with lots of fantastic, interesting people. We met Dame Fanny Waterman who is a wonderful pianist, having played with members of the Amadeus Quartet when they were younger and she exclaimed, “You reminded me of a young Amadeus!” We couldn’t help but feel pleased and very proud.

The Ferret
One evening after coming home from dinner, we found Jean-Paul looking in the garden with a torch. It turned out that a neighbour had lost his ferret and it was in Jean-Paul and Monique’s garden. We quickly located the frightened animal and Zoe (being a keen animal lover and really missing her cats but on this occasion a little naïve and stupid!) picked up the ferret. Success!! He was so cuddly and very frightened so she carefully walked down the driveway to the road where the gentleman was still looking. After a little way, the Ferret gripped on to Zoe’s finger and wouldn’t let go. Wild screams of pain and she tried to let the animal go on the ground. It still wouldn’t let go – determined to reap revenge on its kidnapper. In the end, it disappeared into the night, and still wasn’t reunited with its owner. Afterwards, Monique tended to Zoe’s wounds – deep holes in her right forefinger and thumb. Luckily, she could still play (Although pizzing was rather painful.)
 (All healed now and ready for Australia week in Stockholm.)

Leaving for Stockholm Tuesday 18th  to play in Australia week – really looking forward to being a little patriotic!