Corbridge Chamber Music Festival

I usually go to all the concerts, but it was not possible this year because I was in Iceland until yesterday and I knew I would be very tired on my return.

This morning I managed to get going and collect Margret from Corbridge at 1000 for an 1100 concert in Hexham Abbey.

She still has a horrid cough from her recent cold and nasty bruises on her face and right wrist from a recent fall.

It was Farmers’ Market today and a Bluegrass Festival, but we were lucky with parking.

Margret had been allocated a wheelchair space in one aisle. Since the pews are all a step up, she could not see anything. Thankfully, one of the church stewards saw her plight and helped me to help Margret onto a cushion in the pew.

We heard Air by J Widmann for solo horn. It was written as a competition piece in 2025. I felt that he stitched together lots of very tricky, virtuosic techniques, but I did not find meaning in it.

The soloist was Benjamin Hartnell-Booth of Lumas Winds. He was brilliant.

Next we heard Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A, K581. This was an immaculate performance and quite restrained (or was it the Abbey’s poor acoustic that created the effect?)

After the interval, we heard the famous Schubert Octet for stings and wind. It’s a great piece that is not often performed.

We were both rather uncomfortable by the end and it had been too long for Margret.

We drove to Chollerford for lunch. Margret has been before, but not in her wheelchair. There is a ramp at right angles to the door but it is narrow and there is no room to turn the wheelchair. We nearly gave up, but made it.

The leek and potato soup was delicious.

As we were leaving, 2 bikers arrived, so I approached and said that I needed a man! One disappeared, but the other helped me to manoeuvre the chair to my car.

The it was back to Corbridge where I raided Stobo’s greengrocers for fresh food, then returned Margret to her home. We both had a nap in our respective beds!