PROMing
This week I attended three of the BBC Prom concerts at The Royal Albert Hall. The RAH is a wonderful building whose only black mark is the appalling aircon, but luckily so far this hasn't been the bane of previous, hotter years.
On Saturday there was music by Holst, Elgar and Delius, and we had a similar line-up on Sunday. All very competently played by the relevant orchestra. But it was on Tuesday we have something very special, courtesy of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. They played a 20 min plinky-plonky piece by someone who's still alive (always something that gives my sister and I pause for thought when booking, as invariably it will be an atonal piece. When will the organisers learn that people go for classical music, which has a tune, rather than the orchestra playing some great tunes, but not necessarily the same one?). That aside, they followed it up with a fantastic performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.2 in G major, with Simon Hough on piano. Absolutely marvellous.
Then after the interval we had Stravinsky's Firebird, and again the orchestra excelled themselves, especially the thrilling climax. A very good evening.
If you're quick you can still hear this concert by clicking here, just skip through the first piece.
On Saturday there was music by Holst, Elgar and Delius, and we had a similar line-up on Sunday. All very competently played by the relevant orchestra. But it was on Tuesday we have something very special, courtesy of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. They played a 20 min plinky-plonky piece by someone who's still alive (always something that gives my sister and I pause for thought when booking, as invariably it will be an atonal piece. When will the organisers learn that people go for classical music, which has a tune, rather than the orchestra playing some great tunes, but not necessarily the same one?). That aside, they followed it up with a fantastic performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.2 in G major, with Simon Hough on piano. Absolutely marvellous.
Then after the interval we had Stravinsky's Firebird, and again the orchestra excelled themselves, especially the thrilling climax. A very good evening.
If you're quick you can still hear this concert by clicking here, just skip through the first piece.
It's possible that this will be the last Prom season I will attend, and I have two more concerts ahead of me before I might have to bid farewell to the RAH. There's not much that gives me pause in my quest to get out of Blighty, but I shall miss going to the Proms. Hopefully I might be able to squeeze one more season in before I go!
I love the RAH. Was the organ playing when you went? Once when I was a teenager I went to a concert there and sat right at the back by those massive pipes - fortunately the organ wasn't playing or I would have probably been blasted into oblivion!
ReplyDeleteYes, the organ was playing on two nights. A magnificent instrument which is very powerful, if a little noisy once the pumps get going, let alone the sound from the pipes!
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