Kirill Karabits; now that’s a name to roll round your tongue; born in Kiev on St Stephen’s Day, 1976.
We will get to KK in a mo. First I’d like to tell you about a weekend I spent near Cambridge ages ago. On Sunday morning we went to sung Matins at King’s College. Of course by the time we found a car park we were late and were put the wrong side of the rood screen, below the salt. It was like being at a Russian/Ukrainian Orthodox Service. But, oh joy, in a gap in the liturgy we were allowed to move forward beside the choir. Quite unexpectedly they swung into action and I jumped out of my threadbare tweed coat. It was the Gloria from Janáček‘s Glagolitic Mass. It blew my socks off – was I inadvertently playing strip poker.
Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass was on the menu at the First Night of the Proms last Friday, when I was at a wedding. On Sunday evening chlodnik (chilled beetroot and radish soup with egg) was on the menu with poached salt beef and more beetroot to follow. Afterwards the tablecloth and my napkin looked like an operating theatre in WW I but I managed to keep my white linen shirt unscathed. If I may digress, when we took Bertie for a weekend with friends in the country recently our hostess, always one to speak her mind, expressed disapproval saying she wouldn’t let her husband wear such a thing. She was as censorious as if I’d worn a gold medallion or a tattoo.
On Sunday we heard Holst’s The Planets at the Proms. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kirill Karatbits served it up with support from the Trinity Boys Choir. Like the Glagolitic Mass, the Albert Hall is the place to hear such an ambitious symphonic suite.
For those interested, here’s my instant chlodnik recipe. Pour a large tub of plain (runny) yoghurt into a bowl. Add a tub of M&S tzatziki. Whizz a tub of M&S balsamic beetroot salad & add that. Chop in a few radishes. Chill & serve with hard boiled eggs. Hey presto!