‘Was that when you found Mr. Farran?’
‘Mel? After a much longer gap. We’d just about broken up. Anthony – he’s our second violin and a whole different story – became so impossible that Doug found him a job with the Hallé. The Staccati was a forgotten group. Quartets are breaking up all the time and everyone in the music world assumed we were finished, but dear old Ivan wouldn’t accept it. He’s a brilliant player and he could find work anywhere and yet he loves quartet playing and he wouldn’t accept that we were through. He used all his contacts to look for a truly gifted player and Mel’s name kept coming up. Luckily for us he wasn’t committed to any orchestra so we pounced. Good result, too. He’s fitted in well.’
‘Better than Harry?’
She hesitated. ‘It’s early days. Harry knew the rest of us and our quirky ways so well. He was a lovely guy and I miss him. The day he disappeared I toured the streets of Budapest looking for him. I still would if there was any realistic hope. But Mel is shaping up nicely.’
‘This has been helpful,’ Diamond said. ‘A real insight into the quartet. The one you haven’t said much about is Anthony.’
‘Special case,’ she said.
‘In what way?’
She shook with laughter. ‘You name it. I’ll say this. Anthony is a terrific violinist. Technically he has the edge on Ivan, but I wouldn’t want either of them to know I said that. He could make it as a virtuoso if his head was right.’
Diamond leaned forward and almost fell off the stool. ‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘Not exactly wrong, just out of balance. He sees the world in a different way from the rest of us. Very focused. His power of concentration is amazing. But he has no sense of humour and he makes no allowance for the feelings and opinions of anyone else. Music is all-important to him. His work-rate is phenomenal. He’ll master a new score sooner than any of us. It used to worry me that he had no life outside the quartet. Over the years I’ve come to accept that he found his goal in music and he wants nothing else. Any change of arrangements can throw him. That’s why Harry going was a major crisis. I seriously feared Anthony would kill himself if we didn’t get playing again. It’s that essential to him.’
‘A personality disorder?’
‘I would say so. Have you heard of Asperger’s?’
‘I don’t know a lot about it.’
‘It’s a form of autism, but the people who get it can still function at a high level.’
‘Is that what he’s got?’
‘It’s in that area. They call it the autism spectrum, apparently.’
‘How did you recruit him?’
‘We needed a second violin to replace Yuriy.’
‘Who returned to his wife in the Ukraine?’
‘Yes. And almost at once Anthony appeared and asked for an audition. News travels fast in our little world and he’d got word that Yuriy had quit. I’m not even sure Yuriy had actually left. It was obvious at once that this earnest young man was twice the player Yuriy had been. He told us frankly that he’d pulled out of three string quartets and a trio in two years because they weren’t up to standard and we looked at each other and wondered if we would make the grade. He was so damn good that we decided to give it a whirl. In the first weeks he was with us it felt as if we were on trial, not Anthony.’
‘Did you go on tour with him?’
She laughed. ‘It was a hoot. In many ways he’s like a baby. The basic things in life pass him by. He forgets to shower, to eat breakfast, to carry money. He can’t be relied on to pack. You tell him and he’ll do it. Next time you have to tell him all over again. Between us, we cope with him and get a few laughs along the way. Anything you say, he takes as gospel truth so we have to be careful not to speak ironically. Once at rehearsal I had a noisy chair – a regular hazard for cellists – and I said in jest that I’d had baked beans for lunch. “No you didn’t,” Anthony says. “You had an egg and mayo sandwich. I saw you.” Fortunately he’s right up with the music, and that’s what counts.’
‘How is he with the audiences?’ Diamond asked.
‘I don’t think he’s aware of them. He’s immersed in the music.’
‘You meet some of them afterwards, no doubt?’
She pointed at Diamond. ‘Hey, this is the groupie question in another guise. You’re a sly one.’
‘Better answer it, then, in case I turn nasty.’
‘The leeches get nowhere with our Anthony.’
‘They’re going to try. He’s good-looking.’