Reunions

I met up with Chikako Goto at Snape this afternoon, and handed over the artwork I've stored for her for the past year. She's setting up her new exhibition in the Pond Gallery, based on the performance last year of Owen Wingrave, and already she's planning her return next year with The War Requiem. She loves Snape! And Benjamin Britten's music!!! Her enthusiasm and optimism know no bounds. After we'd greeted each other with a hug her friend, a very pretty Japanese lady, put her hands together and did a formal bow. It felt very graceful returning her salute.

It was very hot at Snape, and so I decided to treat myself to an ice cream. As I wandered through the emporium I spotted the young Swiss mezzo from Tuesday, Veronique Rapin, browsing through some postcards. I couldn't resist it, and spoke to her again. She remembered me, and at once thanked me again for my kind words the other day. I told her I had gone home from the masterclass in an altered state, and had found a clip of her on Youtube singing Rodrigues in Handel's Alcina. "Oh, but that was years ago and I was so young then." Yes, I agreed, and her voice has become richer and more mature, but it was still wonderful then. I also told her I had found a recording of another mezzo singing the Tamburlaine aria she had so memorably performed, "and it was great but it wasn't thrilling like your piece was," I said, "or at least was at the end once you had relaxed." "Oh I was so nervous, singing for Andreas Scholl whom I admire so very much. It was terrifying." We discussed how he had made her work by dancing in front of her and getting her to copy him. He is a very good teacher, and a very kind and sensitive man, we agreed. I left her then and wished her luck in the future. I don't suppose she'll have given me another thought, a beautiful young girl on the threshold of a great career I hope. But I won't forget her. Music: I could talk about it and think about it and listen to it all day. It fires me up, it churns up my emotions, it calms me down, it relaxes me. It has all the answers to all the great questions. It is everything.