The ŠkampaQuartet at Wigmore Hall
I must say that three-times lucky was how I felt after the Škampa Quartet’s performance at Wigmore Hall. This incredibly talented Czech string quartet played Mozart and Brahms and provided a lovely Czech traditional song as their encore. Two violins, a viola and cello, all played with great expertise provided an hour of absolutely delightful music for a rapt audience. Like most of these concerts, this one was a full-house of classical music fans.
The Silk Roads
I am fortunate to be staying in a flat very close to the British Library, a large modern brick building with a lovely courtyard in front that holds its own against its Victorian neighbor, the Saint Pancras Hotel and the massive Saint Pancras International Train Station with which it shares two city blocks on Euston Road in London. The library gathered an incredible collection of manuscripts on various materials and objects of interest that demonstrated how the international trade that was carried out along the silk roads, brought together people, languages, and cultures from around the ancient world.
The cultures and lives the above items represent cover great portions of the ancient world. There were also things like a letter from a wife, left behind in a silk road trading town when her husband returned to China and never came back for her or their daughter. They were left in dire straits. As real as life is today.
The Wallace Collection
Culture has just been pouring out of my ears recently. I decided to revisit the wonderful Wallace Collection on another dreary day.
The Wallace Collection is in Hertford House on Manchester Square. I have written before about this unique collection of furniture, sculpture, china, paintings, all in the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Herford. The townhouse has an interior courtyard that has been covered to keep out the elements and turned into an elegant restaurant. Here are just a few of the incredible pieces you will see when you visit this wonderful place.
I could spend hours just looking at the furniture and objets d’art. That china cabinet alone knocks my socks off every time I see it.
Then there are the paintings.
I’ve covered a lot of ground here. So, I am going to save my return to the Esoterik Collection for my next installment.
Mark In London 