Beethoven & Bruckner, European Community Youth Orchestra Prom, Royal Albert Hall, 9 September 1997

Another trip to the Proms with The Duchess (Janie’s mum) to see the European Community Youth Orchestra. The Duchess had a bit of a thing about youth orchestras.

This concert, under the baton of Bernard Haitink, was surely interesting if for no other reason than that. A great opportunity to see the great man.

We heard:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major
  • Anton Bruckner – Symphony No 7 in E major

Emanual Ax tinkled the ivories in the first piece of the night.

Here is a link to the BBC stub for this event.

I don’t think this was the best rendition of Bruckner 7 I have ever seen…nor even the best rendition by Haitink, as we returned three years later to see the great man perform the same piece again, with the Berlin Philharmonic that time…but I think the following panning by Rick Jones in the Standard is a bit unfair.

Haitink EUYO Jones StandardHaitink EUYO Jones Standard 10 Sep 1997, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

In those days such a treat tended to pacify The Duchess for a while, so in that sense it will have been a success.

My First Live Go At Bruckner’s 8th Symphony, Royal Albert Hall, 27 August 1989

The first but by no means my last earful of Bruckner’s 8th Symphony live.

This one was Bernard Haitink conducting the European Union Youth Orchestra.

I’m not 100% sure who joined me for this one, but Jilly is my prime suspect.

Here is a link to the BBC stub for this concert.

It got a Nice review in the Guardian…David Nice, to be precise:

Haitink Prom Nice GuardianHaitink Prom Nice Guardian 29 Aug 1989, Tue The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

If you want to hear Haitink conducting this piece, you could do worse than this Royal Concertgebouw recording.

When I was sitting in this August 1989 Prom, I would not have expected to have been sitting in the Concertgebouw less than four week’s later:

Life was a bit like that for me back then.