All our programmes were designed with a first half of varied, lighter pieces and a second half consisting of one big chamber work. Presenting the first halves was quite a problem but we capitalised on our experience in Germany and insisted on 'walking through' the programme before every concert, as well as deciding who was going to introduce each piece, and exactly who was going to move the chairs and stands into their appropriate positions while others were speaking. It really seemed that fifty per cent of the success of these first halves depended on the skill with which we stage-managed them, and we noticed that the audience responded much better to the music if it was presented with flair and smooth timing; a banal thing to comment on, perhaps, but still a surprise to use who have in the past relied on the quality of our playing to endear the work to the audience. Here we did not rely on it because we were not sure that the Scrubs audience would be sensitive to it, and we were right, not only about the Scrubs audience but about audiences in general, all of whom perked up when they felt they were in the presence of skilled programme architects. << less