Two live performances we have attended this last few days:
The Endellion Quartet, four musicians at the peak of their powers, after 35 years of playing together; Massive Dad, three comic actors three years together, playing their way in.
Showcase of 18th- and 19th-century string quartet music at the Wigmore Hall; showcase of 21st-century absurdist sketch comedy at the Courtyard Theatre, Shoreditch.
A cashmere audience, most benefiting from free travel around London; a winter cotton audience, most sharing flats.
The Wigmore Hall virtually sold out; the Courtyard Theatre had set out too few seats.
The Endellion played for two hours or more, and responded to the applause with an encore; Massive Dad did a one-hour show, and the audience wanted more.
The Endellion are the finest exponents of the string quartet repertoire; Massive Dad write their own material, at the beginning of their own organic repertoire.
The Endellion and Massive Dad played, created rhythm and pace, developed musical and verbal ideas, moved together, played off each other, made journeys for and with their audiences, connected and expressed. We were enriched and entertained by them both.