Muczynski Trio

A trio consisting of clarinet, cello and piano named for a Polish composer with an unpronounceable name wants Hubby to write a piece for them, and so we drove to Montreal to hear a concert of theirs last night at P0ll0ck Hall, the McGill University concert venue. They played one piece by a contemporary Canadian composer, two pieces by unpronounceable Polish composers (including the one for which they are named) and the Rachmanin0ff Overture on Jewish Themes augmented by two violins and a viola. The concert was very good, not too long, the music interesting and well played, and the small audience was generally appreciative. There were even children present who were extremely well behaved. We heard many different languages being spoken: English, French, Polish and Chinese.

Afterwards we went out for Chinese food with the trio and their friends at a place Hubby had been before with the cellist (the Chinese member of the ensemble) and his violinist girlfriend (the Polish daughter of the conductor and concert mistress of Montreal�s premiere string orchestra). The other violinist from the Rachmanin0ff and his girlfriend were also Chinese, and they ordered an array of interesting and intriguing dishes, many of which I would not touch, including the tentacles of jelly fish and and octopus-spiral things. But there was one dish they called �fried milk� which was unbelievable. I am presuming that a pudding or jelly is made of milk, sugar and agar-agar, from which chunks are cut, dipped in batter, and deep-fried in very hot oil before being served with a bowl of salt. I eschewed the salt, but really enjoyed the little balls of fun.

Did I mention that we left L�ville at 5:30 and all I had to eat was a granola bar and some carrot sticks? By the time the concert was over, my blood sugar was so low and my insides were so twisty that I was afraid I might either faint or burst into tears. As a result, when the food finally arrived, I attacked it voraciously and ended up distending my belly so that I was in pain in a whole new different way. The language spoken around the table (there were 13 of us at a round table, rather squished) was generally English (although Chinese and Polish were used as well) and I turned to Hubby at one point and commented quietly that we were the only two speaking our mother tongue.

We drove home in the rain through heaps of construction, the lights of oncoming traffic glaring off the wet pavement into our tired eyes, arriving at about 1:45 a.m. I slept in, which was a good thing, but have a wee bit of a headache and absolutely no appetite. Hmmm.... I wonder why that would be?

|

<~~~ * ~~~>