Please can I have some more

March 10th, 2009

Before I ask for more, there are a couple of questions I would like to know the answer to:
On Saturday we went to the Cadogan Hall for a great concert by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and the hall was only half full: I am an optimist so it was definitely not half empty. Where were the people? The programme was interesting, the soloist young but well known and ticket prices around average for a touring orchestra. I know they are the other Berlin orchestra but they were good. Is this a sign of the credit crunch biting the concert world? If so the promoters need to do something fast before half full halls become the norm in London. The next concert we are going to is at the Barbican and is sold out, so maybe it is just a Cadgan Hall problem??
The other thing I do not understand is why some conductors feel the need to shuffle the orchestra around. I like my violins to be where the violins are supposed to be. For the Haydn the second violins swapped their normal position with the cellos. As there are more violins than cellos this had the added effect of shoving the basses around to the back on Cadogan’s relatively small stage. To make matters worse the second violins, in order to be able to see the conductor, had to play with their backs to the audience.
Anyway on to the music.
The Haydn symphony No 88 was played beautifully with the emphasis on the strings rather than the woodwind and brass that is more commonly associated with this piece. Perhaps this was the result of the seating arrangement mentioned above, but once I had got over my view of the second violins backs I was drawn in to the music.
For the Beethoven piano concerto No 4 Natasha Paremski played beautifully: she ranged from rapturous to introspective and was suitably dramatic in the finale.
To round off the evening we were treated to Mendelssohn’s Scottish symphony. With the orchestra now up to full strength and seated in their “correct” places we were off. The whole piece was played at great pace and this seemed to add to what I always consider to be a great piece of music. I was transported. I could almost see the rolling mist over the heather of a glen before the sun broke through and lit up the landscape. Superb. More please.
The citizens of London who stayed at home missed something special.

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