Tag: John Mitchinson

City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle At The Proms, But Who, If Anyone, Accompanied Me?, Royal Albert Hall, 19 July 1992

One of the great mysteries of my diaries and logs. Normally I would leave a clue as to who accompanied me. This time, there are no clues. Did I book this one as a single ticket – so keen to see Simon Rattle and the CBSO I decided to go it alone? My electronic financial records don’t go back far enough for me to be able to tell.

OK, let’s round up the usual suspects. Jilly. Annalisa. Bobbie. (Were it anyone other than one of those three, I’m sure there would be clues in my diary/logs).

I had written the following NewsRevue piece, destined to be a hit, the day before this concert and would have been full of it that evening, if accompanied:

Come Back Labour, NewsRevue Lyric, 18 July 1992

But I digress.

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

I/we heard:

  • Roberto Gerhard – Don Quixote (complete ballet: 2nd version)
  • Leos Janáček – Glagolitic Mass

Here is a more recent Simon Rattle with the Berlin (rather than Birmingham) lot, doing a short extract from the Gerhard…

…and a short extract from the Glagolithic Mass:

If you want to see what Simon Rattle looked like in Birmingham in the 1990s, the following is his farewell gig there from 1998, with the CBSO & CBSO Chorus:

Edward Greenfield in the Guardian loved this concert:

Rattle Prom Greenfield GuardianRattle Prom Greenfield Guardian 22 Jul 1992, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

OK Jilly/Annalisa/Bobbie. A confession would be much appreciated if one of you remembers being there.

An Heroic, Massive Cast For A Sunday Evening Prom, Royal Albert Hall, 2 September 1990

This was a big concert with a massive cast. Two big works:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, ‘Eroica’
  • Leos Janáček – Glagolitic Mass

One heck of a lot of musicians: The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir & BBC Symphony Chorus, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & the (now) late, great Czech conductor Libor Pešek. Not to forget soloists John Mitchinson, Michael George, Jane Eaglen, Ameral Gunson and Ian Tracey.

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

Jilly accompanied me on this occasion, according to my log, which is usually pretty reliable, as long as I wrote the details down at or near the time, which on this occasion I guess I did.

However, I returned to the scene of the crime, for a different rendition of the Glagolitic Mass, a couple of years later and did not log the name of my companion, which has resulted in one of the greatest mysteries in the entire history of Ogblog postings about 1992 classical concerts – click here or below.

City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle At The Proms, But Who, If Anyone, Accompanied Me?, Royal Albert Hall, 19 July 1992

The prime suspect for the 1992 evening is now Bobbie, who has gone very quite on that topic.

Jilly wrote to say:

With regards to the concert in 1992, I must admit that my memory does somewhat fail me. I can hardly remember what I did yesterday, let alone 30 years ago, but all I can say is that I don’t remember ever seeing the Glagolitic Mass performed, and I’m not sure that I’ve actually ever seen Simon Rattle conducting in person, but if it’s helpful for you to put me down as having been at the concert with you I won’t object!

Well, Jilly, what do you have to say now that the log has fingered you for a different performance of the Glagolitic Mass? I’m expecting a confession. No need for an apology.

To be fair, Jilly also says:

Thank you for attaching the review at the bottom; how that choir managed to sing a Slavonic piece without the score just baffles me. Reading and pronouncing the transliterated version of Rachmaninov Vespers utterly did my head in, and that was with a good number of rehearsals.

Well all I can say to that is:

Glagolitic script: Лобачев Владимир, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Joking apart, I remember this 1990 Prom as being a big one in every way, including the audience response at the end of a long Sunday evening concert.

I think Jan Smaczny in The Independent liked it:

Pedek Prom Smaczny IndyPedek Prom Smaczny Indy 04 Sep 1990, Tue The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Tom Sutcliffe in the Guardian absolutely did.

Pesek prom Sutcliffe GuardianPesek prom Sutcliffe Guardian 04 Sep 1990, Tue The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Does this bring any of it back to your memory, Jilly?