"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth" - Franklin D. Roosevelt,

"If you don't sue, repetition of the lie [makes it credible]. It will be believed"

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I attended a performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto on Friday. It was a very popular programme, which might've explained why so many personages (including the [NUS] President and his wife) were there. I'm not complaining though - at least there was no horrible 20th century music.

The Suppé was alright, though the brass was a bit squeaky (I rarely hear pure notes from live brass performers).

In the Elgar, the soulfulness of the soloist's playing varied directly with how much he was closing his eyes and not looking at the conductor. The distance the soloist's hand had to roam to reach the range of notes was quite extreme. At one point the brass stumbled again, but the moment was quickly gone.

For an encore the soloist alternately played the cello like a guitar and bowed it normally. I don't know what the piece was.

I've no comment about the Brahms, but the encore was Hungarian Dance 5, hurr hurr. The fast part was rushed, and the slow part was too legato.

The orchestra didn't look very happy at the end of the concert. At the very least, they should've looked happy that it was over (as at all the others I've been to), but most of them had very sullen looks. Maybe they played badly and got a bad grade. Or maybe PRCs have no sense of humour.

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Beside the Conservatory there's this restaurant called 'KR-50', which offered a $15 nett concert menu, with a free flow of salad, a main course and coffee or tea. Although the salad was excellent - well tossed with red wine vinaigrette and with many types of vegetables, the main course was ridiculously small, and the buttered rice on the plate had hardly any butter (SAF buttered rice is better). To add insult to injury, the coffee/tea came in paper cups smaller than those the Arts canteen drinks stall used to have for takeaway, with a plastic stirrer inside.

On the upside, the restaurant there sold Dutch food products - I saw Calve peanut butter and mayonnaise, 5 types of hagelslag and similar sprinkles (like vruchtenhagel), poffertjes mix, katjes drops and fritesaus ($12.50 for 850ml of Gouda's Glorie)! All this was imported by "Gourmet Cellar Singapore - 64637604"