At Home with London Mozart Players: Timpanist Ben Hoffnung
The London Mozart Players timpanist on his work building the archive of cartoonist Gerard Hoffnung, and looking after chickens
The last few weeks have been peculiar to say the least.
The prologue, for me, before all this began was when I managed to step physically into a void. An unobserved three steep stone steps void, in the dark unlit corridors of the Stationers Hall EC4. I took a tumble tearing a number of ligaments in my ankle.
At this stage I would like to say don’t twist your ankle if you can possibly help it. It hurts a lot and it prevents you from completing the hundreds of mundane tasks normally taken for granted.
Thankfully in the last few days there has been a slight improvement brought about by rest and some serious stretching exercises provided by my physiotherapist on FaceTime. Where would we all be without FaceTime and Zoom? Would it have made the Black Death any more bearable, or the 1919 outbreak of Spanish Flu any less terrible? I doubt it but it does make a difference to us and now we take it for granted. I’m sure some of you have been joining in the quizzes, virtual pubs, parties and various get togethers or just the odd chat with friends now even more established on the media map as a result of the lock down.
Highlights for me have included witnessing my one-year old grandson Teddy in Manhattan taking his first steps and observing him close up eating his first Easter egg!
Here in North Nibley, Margie, Becca, Ellie and I have settled into a new routine. With the world immersed in a hub of doom and gloom there is a positive side to this. The earth in many respects is receiving a well-deserved rest. The skies are without vapour trails, the air is as clear as it was in the 1950’s (apparently) and animals and birds are returning to the most unlikely of habitats. It is beautifully quiet on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment. At times the air is almost silent aside from the wind, the odd tractor going up the lane, the cawing of the crows and the wood pigeons cooing in the trees. Despite the fact that there is now plenty of wild food songbirds, oblivious to the human concerns around them, continue to flock to our feeders. We have gold finches in droves, blue tits, great tits, bullfinches, greenfinches, nuthatches, woodpeckers and small brown birds that I’m not sure about.
The good thing about this government-imposed isolation is that I, like many others, are getting lots of extra time to do the things that often there isn’t the time to do (this blog for example). Also, I am working as part of a team on a brand new dedicated Hoffnung website, a digital construction of the entire Gerard Hoffnung archive. We are hoping to launch this within the next month and are very excited.
Since I was a very small boy, I have always been very keen on fishing and I spent some time going through my fishing tackle, some of which I have had for decades. I also collect antique rods and reels. Last week I caught two very nice fat trout (on the dry fly) in the pond at the bottom of our lane - my interpretation of self-isolating exercise - which I then cooked in olive oil, lemon juice and capers. They were delicious. Surely, I couldn’t have been contravening any government rules as there was nobody else to be seen?
I’m very much enjoying ‘At home with the LMP’. If you haven’t already visited may I suggest you do.
There are some great ‘At home’ performances, interviews and photos The LMP website is loaded with all sorts of information and well worth exploring. Have you ever thought of become a ‘Friend of the LMP’? If you haven’t might I suggest that now might very well be the time!
Along with having had all my work cancelled I was very sorry myself to have to cancel this summer’s Wotton Concert Series. This would have been the LMP’ 5th summer pilgrimage to my local town here in deepest Gloucestershire. The good news is that we are intending to reschedule the same concert with the outstanding violinist Júlia Pusker on June 26 the 2021which is some consolation.
On the playing front there is no escaping. it is clearly downright depressing. As working professional musicians this new silent world is devastating. It has abruptly stopped our life blood and our livelihoods. Though of course the industry will recover it is clearly going to take a long time and inevitably there will be casualties along the way. I do know however that when we do finally get together again it will be a unique time for the LMP and its members.
Though I am enjoying aspects of this lockdown I miss my colleagues and I need to get back to work and to play. That is after all what we are hardwired to do.
I’ll sign off now as it is time to put the hens to bed. Then I think I’ll read my book - what a luxury.
Every cloud….