On Saturday night we went to the Royal Albert Hall for 'The Nation's Favourite Prom'. I was a little surprised to read in the prgramme that it was only the Halle's 3rd visit to the Henry Wood series. I attended so many Halle Proms in the 70s & 80s. Incidentally, I have been to their concerts in the Free Trade Hall, The Bridgewater Halll, Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall and now the Albert Hall, which may be a fairly unusual achievement.
You know, the Royal Albert Hall is one spectacular building. It looks impressive on the TV, but in the flesh it is stunning - this masive sweep of an auditorium. And our tickets were only ten pounds each.
There had been a vote to establish the favourite overture of the nation. The programme began with the second favourite, Le Nozze di Figaro. I was dismayed that it seemed so quiet - we were high up and in the wings, plus I need my ears syringing. Nevertheless, it is a lovely piece, and what I would have voted for if I had got round to it.
Next, Jonathan Lemalu sang a couple of Mozart's arias: Figaro's Non più andrai, and Madamina, il catalogo è questo. The former is one of my desert island arias; I also enjoy the latter. I had mixed feelings about Jonathan Lemalu. I rather liked his voice and he seemed to have considerable dramatic credibility, but the Albert Hall is a formidable space, and I didn't feel that he yet has the instrument to fill it - he's 28.
Mark Elder gave an introductory talk to the next piece, Delius's Walk to the Paradise Garden. He did make some reference to Delius not being universally popular, to some laughter in the arena, and I certainly am no fan. Still it was impressive to wach the orchestra, which, by this point, had grown to include eight double basses.
The final piece before the interval was the deeply familiar Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with Louis Lortie on piano. Such a familiar piece, and a pleasant piece, but strangely, it seemed to drag. Jimmy really loved it, and we had the added bonus of an almost birds' eye view of the piano keyboard.
After the interval, Mark Elder issued a Health and Safety warning for the final piece. He mentioned cannon shot, so had the programme. There were also notices outside the auditorium. I was very excited, because although I have a video indoors of cannon, I have never been to a live performance of it.
But, first the Nation's favourite overture, the Lone Ranger William Tell, by Rossini. It is a wonderful piece, and although it was presented as a fun piece it did make me ponder my preconceptions of Rossini.
Jonathan Lemalu returned to sing two arias from Gounod's Faust and one from Boito's Mefistofele. I was more impressed by these than by the Mozart. I enjoyed the music of his voice, and even more the drama and dark nature. I visualised him as a future Iago or Scarpia - two of the villians of opera.
And to the final piece, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. I just so love that piece, especially the contrasts between the lyrical and belligerent passages, a lively orchestra, under a lively conductor. And two bursts of pyrotechnical explosions. Despite my excitement, they made me jump, and I ended up clinging scared to Jimmy. I still enjoyed the final flourish of fireworks. I normally deplore applause that begins before the conductor lowers his baton, but I joined in the spontaneous delight at the pyrotechnics. I suppose it's all psychologically important in healing my firework-phobia!
We happened to be on the Tube with Brian from my ward Labour Party and his partner Sharon. They were waxing lyrical, especially about the Tchaik. At the bar they had bumped into the Vice-Chair from the school where Brian's Chair of Governors!
The concert - presumably edited highlights - will be shown next Sunday on BBC1.
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