Performed by Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough
At a Musica Viva Concert, May 9th 2002
A little story behind the video, written by Steven: (click show more)
This recording was made in the Australian city of Newcastle, towards the end of a long tour with my great friend Stephen Hough (whom I always call PH, on account of his misspelt first name - he in turn calls me V). It had been a long, eventful tour, and the Newcastle recital came towards the end of our trip. We were tired - and PH was in a STRANGE mood. I could tell that especially during the performance of the Rachmaninov sonata which closed the programme. I heard musical voices that I’d never even realised were there, inexplicably and slightly surreally emerging from the middle of the piano range - a sure sign that I should be on my guard, because anything could happen with PH in that mood. But I still wasn’t prepared for what did happen.
At the end of each recital on the tour, we had played the same two encores, both written for my son Gabriel: PH’s lovely ‘Angelic Song’, and a deeply profound masterpiece (!) of my own entitled The Haunted House, which involves narration. I had to say most of the lines; but the last sentence was spoken by PH, in the voice of the mother from Psycho: ‘It’s good to have you home, my son”. All was going quite well, the audience laughing where they should - until we reached the moment, having played some Psycho-inspired chords, at which PH was to utter his immortal line. At that point, to my surprise, the audience started guffawing immoderately - and he hadn’t even said anything! This went on for some time - and still no sound from PH. Eventually, I looked around - and encountered a sight that reduced me to utter imbecility. In a moment of madness, PH had grabbed the white cloth which he kept by him in order to wipe the piano keys - and put it on the top of his head. The reason for the non-appearance of his line became all too clear: he was laughing so much that he could hardly breathe, let alone speak. And of course I joined him.
I wish I could say that PH and I were both glamorous, decorous laughers, white teeth gleaming, eyes charmingly crinkled, heads cocked attractively. But alas, that is not the case. Our eyes stream; our noses twitch; our mouths take on lives of their own; we honk like a couple of geese having a nervous breakdown. For the next few minutes, that was exactly what happened, as we fought unsuccessfully to control ourselves - by no means helped by the gales of merriment emanating from the audience. As anyone who has had a similar experience onstage can tell you, there was far more pain than pleasure involved. At one point, I managed, in a strangled, pitiful voice, to inform the audience that ‘He’s got a line!’ But then it was back to gasping for breath, wiping our eyes, hooting and crying and generally losing our collective dignity forever. Eventually, we just had to leave the stage, tails between our legs. Actually, PH had managed to gasp out the famous line, after a fashion, sounding rather like a hyena having a nervous breakdown; but by that point, the cause was lost anyway. And that was it for the evening - the concert was over.
Enjoy
13 янв 2017
