On the last Sunday morning of April, with weak sunshine suggesting we should have a walk, we pottered off to Snape Maltings, where we had been the previous evening for a simply beautiful concert. After a stroll out towards the reed beds and a good listen to some of the instrumental and vocal rehearsals going on in the Britten-Pears building, we returned to the car park. There we passed the time of day with the attendant and remarked to him what a wonderful concert we had enjoyed. “Oh ah”, he said, “It was full up”. “Did you manage to get in, then?” we enquired. “No..”, was his answer, “It was car park that was full”.
The concert was greatly to the liking of a full house. As we settled ourselves on the bum-numbing rattan seats of the auditorium, twice we heard husbands asking wives: “Have you brought the cushions?” Both simply said “No”. You see, we are not yet at the stage of equality-of-the-sexes in which the answer should have been “No, did YOU?”
The music was some of the finest we have ever heard at the Maltings, played by the City of London Sinfonia, directed by Michael Collins, who also performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, a familiar work, but this time with a difference. Mr Collins was master of an A clarinet, similar to those played in Mozart’s time when they were called Basset Clarinets, because their extra length enabled the playing in a very low register. The original score was known to contain many “deep” notes for this instrument and it was re-created here. Mr Collins is a very considerable virtuoso and the orchestra, more than half of whom were young women, was excellent, providing a rounded togetherness of sound and sympathetic backing for the soloist. This concerto was a difficult act to follow, but a rich performance of Beethoven’s sixth symphony, the “Pastoral” did the trick. A perfect and appropriate finale to the 2014 RSPB Concert with its orchestral renditions of cuckoo, quail and nightingale within a complex and changing score.
Classical music may not be to everyone’s taste, so what about a Hollywood musical dating from 1932, in glorious black and white and mono sound? “42nd Street” was undoubtedly a forerunner of the many great musicals that poured out of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. A bit of a curate’s egg in terms of the acting, singing and dancing with a vestige of a plot, but fascinating because of two lavish dance routines choreographed by the great Busby Berkeley (he’s worth Googling!) A screening of the film was the conclusion of the annual outing of fish-and-chips-on-the-pier followed by a visit to the “flicks” organised by the Aldeburgh Cinema club. The cinema, of course, is the Southwold Electric Picture Palace, the marvellously eccentric re-creation in miniature of an early 20th century movie theatre complete with 70 authentic cinema seats, a box office, kiosk, circle, even an electric organ played enthusiastically during intervals.
Above left: Unique! A cinema queue in 2014! With just 71 seats, best to book in advance! Above right: In proper cinema style, the manager is “on the front” in evening dress to welcome customers, and his “sales girl” is ready with the ices, drinks, nuts and sweeties.
The Electric Picture Palace is owned and run by Southwold Film Society and shows films in ‘Seasons’ throughout the year (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Seasons), with a short break in between each season. Southwold Film Society members receive a printed programme/newsletter ahead of the start of each season. Membership is £10 a year and seats for the shows are £6 Stalls, £7 Circle. The Electric Picture Palace was opened by Michael Palin in May 2002. It is named after the first Southwold cinema which began to operate in 1912 (in York Road where the Surgery now stands).
…then Fish and Chips are Soul Food
A propos this enjoyable event, I have to record the excellence of the cod and chips at the Southwold Pier restaurant (which has a very good à la Carte menu, by the way, and a good wine list. Fish: seldom had better; chips a bit stocky and not as crisp as might be. But then, after two weeks enjoying the Chippies in Cyprus, I am a bit spoilt.
One happy outcome of our trip to Cyprus is my joining forces with my former publisher to re-start the “Cyprus Gourmet” website, which will be available shortly on his Blog. Sunshine recipes, reviews, photos and tourism notes. And heaven knows, we could do with a bit of sunshine!
Have a good month, and if this weather remains like it is as I write, “cast not your clout till May be out”.
Patrick Skinner
