Serried ranks of smelly old men
In dubious raincoats had fingered repeatedly
The plastic cover of this by-now ven-
erable copy from the Epsom public library
Gramophone collection — or so it seemed
To this pasty and prim 1970s ad-
olescent. A shot of the Hungarian Quartet gleamed
Weakly from the dust-jacket front, a bad
And blurred duotone; and on the back,
Ponderous pontifications — long,
Enjambed. But when I heard the cello’s four
Rising notes to heaven, I knew I was smack
Bang in the middle of the cleanest, most lucid and strong
Classical music ever to hit a score.
In dubious raincoats had fingered repeatedly
The plastic cover of this by-now ven-
erable copy from the Epsom public library
Gramophone collection — or so it seemed
To this pasty and prim 1970s ad-
olescent. A shot of the Hungarian Quartet gleamed
Weakly from the dust-jacket front, a bad
And blurred duotone; and on the back,
Ponderous pontifications — long,
Enjambed. But when I heard the cello’s four
Rising notes to heaven, I knew I was smack
Bang in the middle of the cleanest, most lucid and strong
Classical music ever to hit a score.
(5.1.1997)
