Another early start had us on a train to
Kingussie where we gave another Live Music Now concert in a care home, which
was a lot of fun – Jessie’s vocal rendition of Summertime had everyone in tears… some day she’ll manage to sing it
in tune!
After a spot of lunch and a quick catch up on the Olympic curling (#lovecurling), we had a short trip to Newtonmore for our last
concert of the tour. We were met by our host Roy and shown to our lovely B&B
accommodation. After a quick cup of tea, we headed straight up to the church to
rehearse – no rest for the Jacquins! Charis did very well with the fourth
upright piano of the tour, and Jessie and Zoe worked hard to try and avoid
drowning her out! A glutton for punishment, the ever industrious Charis stayed
behind after rehearsal to practice, while Jessie and Zoe headed for a pre
concert power nap. After a quick meal in the Newtonmore Grill – a bizarrely
American style truck stop with pretty good food, we got ready for our final
concert. As we have come to expect, our contemporary works divided audiences
the most, with one of our hosts announcing “If I was Schumann, I wouldn’t want
that kind of tribute. It was horrible!” after our performance of Kurtag’s Hommage a R. Sch, but another audience
member saying that the Huw Watkins work was his favourite in the whole
programme. It’s been so interesting to see the different reactions to our more
contemporary works in our programme. We’re delighted we’ve brought some music
that might never
otherwise made it to places like the Isle
of Skye and Newtonmore – a reaction of disgust to a piece of music is as
artistically important as rapturous adoration! After the concert we were
treated to a little party, and had a great laugh with our hosts into the wee
hours. Tired and bleary eyed, but happily full of a proper Scottish fry up
(complete with haggis) we are finally making our way back down to London, where
the scenery is certainly not as impressive, but the phone signal and wifi will
at least make up for some of it’s greyness!
Thanks to all of our amazing hosts this
week, and to the Tunnell Trust for a brilliant itinerary that saw us take in
some of the most spectacular scenery the country has to offer, and play some
great music to some very appreciative Scottish audiences.
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