The Menai Wind Quintet premiered the wind quintet last night In Conwy. An audience of about 75 people each seemed to have their favourite movement (there are four) and the performance gained in confidence as it went forward. They took a risk by placing the piece at the start of the concert, when nerves are on edge, and inevitably there were a few hiccups. Dewi the horn player realised he was looking at the wrong part, about 10" into the 2nd movement, but he skilfully juggled the music and found his way back in. I bet he's a good card player. The quintet are pictured just after the gig, looking justifably pleased with a hard night's work.
Now we move forward to the recording. The venue has had to be changed by the sound engineer, Will. He had found a school hall with lovely acoustics, but later realised that the school's food supply for their pet reptiles was kept there. He has concluded that the cacophony of crickets won't be in time with my metronome markings. So the search for a new venue has started - with just eight days to go!
