Guest Lee Blick Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 Is anyone else going to this concert? It is the first time I will have heard the instrument since restoration. It should be quite a fun lollipop concert. This is the programme: Mascagni: Intermezzo and Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana Handel: Zadok the Priest, Hallelujah Chorus Elgar: Land of Hope and Glory Saint-Saens: Organ Symphony Bach/Gounod: Ave Maria Walton: Crown Imperial Bach: Toccata & Fugue Pachelbel: Canon Widor: Toccata John Birch & Stephen Disley - Organ Deborah Norman - Soprano London Philharmonic Choir Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Robin Stapleton - Conductor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcnd5584 Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 Edited blank. (Duplicate.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcnd5584 Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 Not with that programme! However, I would like to hear the restored organ live, so I will look out for something with a little more substance to it (and no BWV 565 or Widor Toccata). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Jones Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 Is anyone else going to this concert? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Not with the ticket prices the RAH and Raymond Gubbay are charging. I'll wait a month for the Simon Preston recital on 30 June where top price tickets are £15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lee Blick Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 Well it is a concert with an orchestra and chorus so it is bound to cost more. I'm looking forward to it especially the Saint-Saens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lee Blick Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 I took four of my organ students to the concert this evening. Well, I don't think I have been to an organ lollipop concert before, but the kids certainly enjoyed it. The organ sounds wonderful. I maybe wrong, but the Great division seems much brighter than before (really works in the Bach and Widor), the 32' flue and reeds have much more of a presence. I used to remember full organ of sounding a bit like a harmonium before the restoration as the biggest two reeds never seemed to be in tune. Today, it sounded like a 'fiery beast!' IT really is an organ for the RAH, and London to be proud of. I'm looking forward to the organ recital in June, and I noticed there is a performance of Mahler VIII in September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willy Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 Nice one Lee! I was there in Box 83 (sound like the Phantom of the Opera), and really enjoyed it. Better than last year's although the music was much the same. I think Stephen Disley's playing was superb, and unlike some organists, wasn't out to drown out everyone else on stage. It was restrained, fitted into the ensemble well (and we were VERY close to the organ), and came out of its pen at just the right moments to roar. The tubas were kept under lock and key until the entire hall was singing their heads off in Land of hope & Glory, when the whole lot came on like a thunderclap. Great fun. Not for the starchy stuffy brigade (but their loss). Glad you enjoyed it. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lee Blick Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 At the very end of the concert they did Pomp and Circumstance No.1 and when it got to the "Land of Hope and Glory" bit for the first time, an elderly bald-headed man in front of us started waving his little union jack flag. But he was the only doing it though in the whole concert hall and it raised a lot of supressed titters around us. When that section ended down went the flag, only to come back up all over again. I suppose it is easy to mock the jingoism of it all, but it was funny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan taylor Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 We were there too. It was much better than last year. Next year will be even better if John Birch doesn’t play. His sole aim seems to be to drown the orchestra. He has little idea of balancing organ and orchestra. There again, one of the first things he did, when becoming organist at the Temple church, was to unenclosed the big reeds. Thalben Ball presided over an organ that was right for the building. Full organ at the Temple is now a dreadful sound. Stephen Disley was first class. His only problem was the position of the soloist in the Bach. She was so far away and organ and singer were not always together. I watched, with interest, the conductors beat during this item. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with what was being performed. More audience this year I think. Well done again to Manders. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Richell Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 We were there too. It was much better than last year. Next year will be even better if John Birch doesn’t play. His sole aim seems to be to drown the orchestra. He has little idea of balancing organ and orchestra. There again, one of the first things he did, when becoming organist at the Temple church, was to unenclosed the big reeds. Thalben Ball presided over an organ that was right for the building. Full organ at the Temple is now a dreadful sound. Stephen Disley was first class. His only problem was the position of the soloist in the Bach. She was so far away and organ and singer were not always together. I watched, with interest, the conductors beat during this item. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with what was being performed. More audience this year I think. Well done again to Manders. Alan <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Richell Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 Both John Winn and I enjoyed most of the concert, but not the ticket prices! The soloist was disappointing, perhaps she should have used the microphone. As to the organists, Stephen Disley was as always excellent. and the organ behaved impeccably. I do not know what the attendance was, but we are talking about an organ recital. and the hall was almost full. So who says that people are no longer attending organ recitals ? Mind you we are talking about the Albert Hall which seems to attract people, whatever the event. I am looking forward to the next one, Colin Richell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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