Lollipops at The Wigmore Hall

The live music experience experiment ended in December with two recitals of what are known in the trade as `lollipops': short, familiar favourites. First up was Gautier Caucon (Cello) and Jerome Ducros (Piano) with a selection ranging from Barber's Adagio For Strings to My Way and Singing in the Rain. I was sitting eight rows back in the middle (cheap seats Saturday lunchtime). Someone had turned the volume of the piano down (or those other pianists really were ham-fisted) so I didn't have to rush to the exit to protect my hearing. Monsieur Capucon prefaced each piece with a little explanation or story, and the two of them played together as well as if they had been rehearsing to make a CD. Oh. Wait. They had. The sound was still louder than I would dare at home: one forgets how loud even acoustic music is. The performances were well-judged and nicely emotional.

Next up was what I thought was a jazz trio: Martin Frost (Clarinet), Roland Pontinen (Piano), and Sabastien Dube (Double Bass). They even had two pieces by that well-known Baroque composer Chick Corea (1655 - 1702). The only piece I knew was the Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, which they did in a spirited manner (which is a nice way of saying `a bit fast for my taste'.) Forst enjoys playing the clarinet ("an ill wind nobody blows good") and seemed to be doing most of it from memory. This time I was at the back on an aisle seat, but I didn't have the feeling that I was hearing reflections (as long as the reflection paths are less than 12 metres shorter than the direct path, you won't. The Wigmore is a long rectangle, so it's not likely.). perhaps I had had enough practice at listening to live music by now, because I got carried away by the whole thing. I didn't even listen to any music on the way home, but used the ANC on the in-ears.

So in summary (so far)

The concert hall sound experience is not the hi-fi experience. Hi-fi is quieter, the soundstage is clearer and more defined, and the sounds are more precise. The live sounds don't have a sense of reflection or echo, but that 35ms buffer gets used, with the result that the sounds are very open and slightly blurry round the edges. Soundstage is not really a thing unless you're right in front of the players, and for acoustic chamber music, it was never intended to be. The music should come as one piece. Nothing involves quite so much as volume - as long as it stays below wince level - and live music can and is be played at more involving levels than I can get in my 'umble mid-terrace house, where I tend to listen at around 60dBA, which is less than the volume of my acoustic guitar or the human voice.

Will I be listening to more live music in 2023? Almost certainly. Orchestral rather than chamber, I suspect, and since I need to defend what's left of my hearing, I won't be going to see Above and Beyond at Printworks in April.