This happened a couple of weeks ago and I have been suffering RoundTuit on the writing-up side of stuff. I took fifteen pictures of the concert and a dozen of the fireworks, so they should appear in about a couple of weeks time. I currently have 80 unprocessed before I get to those - you'll know the time is approachingwhen you see the ones appearing which I took as we walked three times around Hampstead Heath looking for Kenwood. I know Hampstead is supposed to be a bit of countryside in the middle of London, but the lack of signage and maps is a pain - at the end of the day it's just a public part in an Inner London Borough and, thus, should have signs...!
Eventually we found the Kenwood Estate; even then it wasn't very clear where the concert venue was; even then it wasn't entirely clear where the stage was...I know I know, it's a long established venue; my father went to concerts there when my grandparents lived in Belsize Park (and they retired to Ireland in 1959 - my grandfather packing it all in weeks before a certain M. Thatcher became his minister...! I always digress...), but I'm afraid the ability to find the place doesn't come implanted in DNA.
Once we got there we discovered it to be an excellent venue in very many ways. Lots of freebies going. Faye said something later about free apples; Jimmy and I took a certain amount of pleasure in free sherry. We had feared that the catering would have been typical outdoors concert - rancid burgers - but turns out it was Marks and Sparks doing their picnic specials. We were sitting in the premium deckchairs; the cheap seats consisted of bring your own blanket and sit on the ground.
The stage was on an island in the lake; we were safely on shore. Jimmy was hoping that the more ardent Brynettes might make an attempt to storm the stage, sadly no such attempt was made.
We were inflicted with the most egregious Classic FM-lite arseholes as immediate seat mates. It would have been possible to have moved seats but I'm always scared of doing that in case you end up with even worse!
The concert started with the Stella Artois music incorrectly billed as the Overture to some foreign thing called La forza del destino, as the middlenglanders in front of us pointed out to each other; they swayed their deckchairs to the waltz from Carousel, which would have been fine if they had been in a discrete group, but I'm sure it must affected everyone else in their row. Needless to say, they talked through all the quiet bits, pointing out aeroplanes that flew over - hello, this is a big city, we have 'planes. Get over it! In Meditation from Thais , played by Chloe Hanslip - she could have "Not as Annoying as Catrin Finch" as her marketing slogan - there is a pause just before the end. Anybody who actually knows the piece will know that; those that have just clippets on Clas-smugFM applaud at the pause...
The talking couple behind (also Stella Artois connoisseurs) got up to go immediately the concert finished, thus missing the encores.
But my favourites were the the two women just over my right shoulder who were yelling "Bryn, Bryn," like Groupies, and when he announced there would be encores "Something Welsh, something Welsh", when he announced Suo Gan cheered like maniacs. And then clapped before the music finished, obviously not quite as knowledgeable fans as they wanted us to think!
But you know I love a good moan; besides, the more I blog about the ignorant notice-me behaviour of the smugly ignorant the more sustainable will be my insanity plea when charged with Murder in the Concert Hall!
But apart from the ignorant twunts, the concert was really really enjoyable. I would have wished for Bryn to do more operatic stuff and less crossover, but that's the way it does; the way it goes with all of them. It's like opera singers have this deadly addiction to crossover, like they see a microphone and a sound system, and they're like a child in a chocolate factory...That having been said, it kind of sorts the men from the boys. Bryn has a fabulous voice, which made he crossovery bits bearable, indeed I'll Walk Beside You was one of the highlights. I could imagine that with one of those pretend, crossover popera singers, it would be unbearable.
But that's the point of a concert like this: to hear a great singer at his prime without having to sit through a boring opera, or extricate intellectuality and meaning, or pretend that you love the programme. It's for the voice.
There is something quite magic about sitting in an open venue on a balmy summer night, listening to good music performed well, often with the accompaniment of water-foul, but the trouble with open air venues is that the stage tends to be a long way from the audience, which rather reduces the artist-audience interplay. And of course, it goes without saying that proceeds were miked and amplified. I did find the amplification rather tinny especially for the high strings and woodwind. Very enjoyable.
Programme: Bryn Terfel, Chloe Hanslip, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Owain Arwel Hughes
Overture, La forza del destino: Verdi (orch)
Votre toast from Carmen: Bizet (Bryn)
Scintille, diamant from The Tales of Hoffmann: Offenbach (Bryn)
Tzigane: Ravel (Chloe)
Intermezzo, Manon Lescaut: Puccini (orch)
Ah per sempre io ti perdei from I puritani: Bellini (Bryn)
Eh! paggio!..L'onore!Ladri! from Falstaff: Verdi (Bryn)
Interval
Chanson de matin: Elgar (Chloe)
En aranjuez con tu amor - Rodrigo/Cameron (Bryn)
Cinema Paradiso: Morricone (orch)
I'll Walk Beside You: Murray (Bryn)
Theme From Schindler's List: Williams (orch)
Carousel Waltz: Rodgers (orch)
Some Enchanted Evening, South Pacific: Rodgers (Bryn)
Little Prince: Loewe (orch)
Stars in your Multitudes, Les Miserables: Schonberg
Plus encores which included Suo Gan and Thais' Meditation
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