The Tooth Tattoo(102)

‘Which brings us back to Ivan,’ Diamond said. ‘He strikes me as the sort of guy who looks after number one. I can’t imagine him going to you for help.’

‘You’re right in a way,’ Douglas said. ‘There’s never an emergency. When he requires an advance it’s as an investment.’

‘In what?’

‘Hasn’t he told you? He’s a chess player.’

‘That much I know. Does he play for high stakes?’

‘I doubt it. No, he deals in chessmen. When the quartet are on their travels, Ivan always has a few beautiful handcrafted chess sets with him. He sells them to the people he plays with – at a handsome profit. If you’re fanatical about the game, these gorgeous carved figures are irresistible, I’m told.’

‘I see. So the investment you mentioned is to stock up with chess sets?’

‘Exactly.’

‘Who is his supplier?’

‘Someone from Russia or the Ukraine he knows from years back. Must be Russia, come to think of it, because he wants his cash in roubles. It’s the black economy, I’m sure. None of this nonsense over VAT, or whatever tax they operate there. I turn a blind eye.’

‘And it’s big money, is it?’

‘Pretty impressive. And of course he’s paid in the local currency.’

‘There’s a chess club here in Bath, but I doubt if the members are in that league financially.’

‘He has contacts all over the world and some of them are very rich men. They tend not to be the sort who join the local chess club. But you’d have to ask Ivan if he’s done any business locally.’

‘I don’t want him to get the idea I’m in league with the taxman.’

‘Do you play chess yourself?’ Douglas asked.

‘A bit. I know the moves.’

‘Offer him a game. Give him a chance to show you how good he is. He never ducks a challenge. He’s a chess junkie.’

‘And do you think he’ll talk as we play? I’d like to ask him about the Russian connection.’

‘Be sure to get your question in early, then. He doesn’t take long over a game.’


The afternoon session at the Michael Tippett Centre should have felt flat, coming, as it did, the day after the concert at Corsham Court. But Ivan suggested they were ready to play the Grosse Fuge in its entirety and, strange to relate, the challenge energised them all. The Everest of quartet music was written originally as the finale of String Quartet Opus 130 in B flat major, but Beethoven’s publisher persuaded him later to substitute a less demanding movement, and the Fuge was republished as a stand-alone work. Unlike anything else Beethoven created for strings, incomprehensible to many of his contemporaries, this overwhelming piece leaps forward musically into dissonance. Stravinsky famously called it “an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever.” Strident, tempestuous, uneven, it makes huge demands on each player. Only in the fifth and final part does the composer relent a little and show harmony emerging from the skewed rhythms and variations.

They finished exhilarated, their spirits lifted.

‘I’ve got the shakes,’ Mel said.

‘Tell me about it,’ Cat said. ‘This must be an electric chair I’m sitting on. Hey, no one ever got a better sound out of the Amati than you did just then. Listen. I swear it’s purring.’

‘Thanks.’

‘And you guys on the end weren’t rubbish, either. What do you say, Anthony? Was that the best yet?’

‘I was playing, not listening,’ Anthony said.

‘Not waving, but drowning.’

‘What?’

‘Ignore me, sweetheart. Just something that popped into my head as you spoke. I know exactly what you mean. I wish we’d recorded that. Personally, I think the composer himself would have clapped. D’you think God has fitted Beethoven with a hearing aid? I hope so. Ivan, have you taken a vow of silence? We’re all waiting for your verdict.’

‘You’re right. We should record it,’ Ivan said.

‘Do you mean that?’

‘It’s a step on from the recording we made with Harry. A significant step.’

‘Count me in.’

‘If only for ourselves we should do it,’ Ivan said. ‘I can book the studio and the technical people. Let’s go for it tomorrow.’

‘All agreed?’ Cat said.

The others nodded.

‘Better call those taxis, then. I’m getting an early night. I suddenly feel bushed.’

The unexpected sound of a cough came from above them. They all looked up. The rehearsal studio had a gallery. Nobody was in sight, but they heard a door closing.