Saturday, August 13
Ölandet, 17:40
We stayed up late last night waiting in vain to see the perseid, the meteor that the clouds completely hid. At some point during the waiting I realised that Ken Yellow is an anagram of Owen Kelly.
We got up late today because it was very cold and the promised downpour lasted all morning.
We have arrived at the old church early. The concert starts at 18:00 but we don’t want to be squashed at the back. Monica Groop has bought a summerhouse here and decided to organise Pellinge Musikdagar. The church holds 104 people.
We get seats in the second row.
The concert consists of Monica Groop, Elina Mustanen on harpsichord and the Tempera Quartet. The music is strictly eighteenth century: Rameau, Telemann, and Haydn. We will hear a harpsichord piece, two long songs, and a string quartet.
The Tempera Quartet will be persuaded to do an encore and will perform Andante Festivo by Sibelius, in its original string quartet form, which will be the highlight of the evening. Their version is unusually passionate and brings out the energy and melody in a way that other versions I have heard simply don’t do.