Tag: Gordon Nikolitch

Janie, Me & MTT At The Barbican, 18 April 1999

As if being spotted by Elvis Costello at the theatre wasn’t enough celebrity stuff for one weekend…

Plenty by David Hare, Albery Theatre, 17 April 1999

…we also went to The Barbican Hall to see Michael Tilson Thomas, at the behest of Josh Robison, Michael’s partner/business manager and latterly husband. Janie had started to treat those two a year or so earlier.

MTT more recently

It seemed only polite to go, not least because there was to be a reception after the concert etc.

We heard:

  • Symphony No 21 in A, Joseph Haydn
  • Viola Concerto, Bela Bartok
  • Symphony No 2 in D Major Op 43, Jean Sibelius

We hoity-toitied a bit after the show at the party. I got to meet Josh but only saw MTT from afar.

All good stuff.

Unfinished Business With Schubert & Bruckner, London Symphony Orchestra Under Lorin Maazel, Barbican Hall, 28 February 1999

Another Sunday evening, another trip to the Barbican to see a cracking concert.

Janie thinks that one of her generous Lebanese clients gave us the tickets to this concert and the one the week before, because she had been called away at short notice. Sounds plausible and also most fortuitous, as I might well have chosen both concerts myself.

Schubert’s Symphony No 8 in B Minor, “Unfinished” followed by Bruckner’s Symphony No 7 in E Major.

London Symphony Orchestra under Lorin Maazel.

This was a terrific concert.

The Schubert would have sounded a little like this – a live recording of Lorin Maazel conducting Sonorum Concentus:

The Bruckner would have sounded a bit like this – a live recording of Maazel with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra:

Thanks again to the lovely lady who kindly gave us her tickets.

Resurrection With Myung-Whun Chung & The London Symphony Orchestra At The Barbican Hall, 21 February 1999

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No 2 in C Minor “Resurrection” to be precise.

This was a very good concert. I hadn’t heard of Myung-Whun Chung before I booked this concert but was mightily impressed with what we heard and saw.

It possibly looked and sounded a bit like the following – Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by that chap:

Rick Jones in The Standard lauded it…

Myung-Whun Chung StandardMyung-Whun Chung Standard 22 Feb 1999, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

…while berating the fact that the hall was far from full. Lorin Maazel was coming later in the week, which might have held some people back.

We most fortuitously got to enjoy a bit of both…

…see next!