Sir Charles brings Joy

What a fantastic concert on Saturday at the Albert Hall. I realised that I should have referred to it as roast beef when I mentioned I was looking forward to all the meat in the programme after the insubstantial first night.
A group of Classical Partners met before the concert for a very enjoyable meal in Cafe Consort. Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to close the Elgar Restaurant for refurbishment during the Proms?
Then it was on to the music:
Elgar’s “Cockaigne” set the tone for this evening of English music. Unmistakeably English, unmistakeably Elgar with just a touch of Wagner. A slightly sugar coated view of London in the early part of the last century but I like a bit of optimism.
Next we had Delius, The Song of the High Hills. For me this turned into the highlight of the evening. For about twenty minutes I was no longer in the Albert Hall but was transported to the great outdoors and revelled in sharing Delius’ love of nature. How strange that this man could claim to loathe England and yet write something as pastoral as this. I have never been to Norway but based on this, a visit is long overdue.
Holst’s The Planets was quite simply stunning. Despite the familiarity of the piece it was performed with a freshness that enlivened the whole audience. Venus in particular raised my spirits.
Hats off to the often overlooked provincial BBC Philharmonic whose vituosity was outstanding and to Sir Charles Mackerras in particular whose understated performance brought a great deal of joy to this member of the audience.

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