Liberated from hosting The Duchess at The Proms, Janie and I went along to this concert on a Sunday evening planning nothing more than a light supper at my flat after the show. It was a Sunday evening and we both had ridiculously early starts the next morning.
Here’s the running order:
Johann Sebastian Bach, Singet dem Herrn, BWV 225
Joseph Haydn, Symphony No. 49 in F minor ‘La passione’
Joseph Haydn, Non nobis, Domine, Hob. XXIIIa:1
Joseph Haydn, Insanae et vanae curae
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Requiem in D minor (compl. Süssmayr).
This was an excellent concert. You don’t need to take my word for that – it seems it got rave reviews afterwards. It has taken me 25 years to check out those rave reviews, but that’s me.
…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.
Another Sunday evening concert at the Wigmore Hall, this time to explore the church music of Haydn and his contemporaries with Peter Holman, Psalmody and The Parley of Instruments.
We heard:
Joseph Haydn – Three Psalms from Improved Psalmody (Ps 31, Ps 41, Ps 69)
Charles Burney – The Dialogue Hymn: Tell Us, O Women
John Stafford Smith – Horrible is the End of th’Unrighteous Generation
Joseph Haydn – The Emperor’s Hymn: Poco Adagio from the String Quartet in C Major, Op 76/3
Joseph Haydn -Give to God Our Thankful Songs
William Gardiner of Leicester – Give to God Our Thankful Songs
John Foster of High Green, Yorkshire – The God of Gods the Lord Hath Call’d
Johan Arnold Dahmen – Three Songs from Eleven Sacred Songs
Johan Arnold Dahmen – Two Psalms from Improved Psalmody
Samuel Webbe Senior – Where, Lord, Shall My Refuge See
William Shield – My God, My King with Joyful View
Thomas Greatorex – This is the Day the Lord Hath Made
Samuel Webbe Junior – Variations in A Major on “”Adeste Fideles”
Joseph Haydn – Three Psalms from Improved Psalmody (Ps 61, Ps 26, Ps 50)
Jolly good it was too, in the hands of these experts.
Kate Fricker: “Would you like me to drive, Professor?” Watson Fuller: “No. Why do you ask?”AI actors images provided by DeepAI.
One of my most memorable Keele days, right at the end of my time there. Kate (now Susan) Fricker and I were invited to join the University guest pack at the Lichfield Festival, courtesy of Peter Held of industrial textiles behemoth Marling Industries plc.
Ironically, Marling Industries was best known for seatbelt materials. Ironically, because Kate and I were treated to a rollercoaster ride from Keele to Lichfield with Professor Watson Fuller and Mrs Fuller.
I was very fond of Professor Fuller. And I think he was also fond of us. He’d certainly heaped praise on one of my least challenging pieces of research a few month’s earlier, in his capacity as Chair of Foundation Year Committee:
Professor Fuller was Professor of Physics, so he really should have had a profound grasp of the potential physical effects, were a large object travelling at speed – e.g. a car with four passengers doing 60 mph on a duel carriageway – go out of control and hit something. Yet, he did not seem to have a profound grasp of the steering wheel most of the time, nor did he seem to be paying much attention to the road when, frequently, he turned around to us, waxing lyrical about this, that, or the other.
I suppose, as Fuller was a biophysicist, credited with vital supporting work on X-Ray diffraction with Watson & Crick, that his head was always in far loftier thoughts than mere road safety. Or should I say that driving without paying fuller attention to the road was in Professor Fuller’s DNA.
Mrs Fuller did not look terrified. Perhaps she was used to it. But apparently, on arrival, Kate and I looked a little ruffled. I remember Professor Philip Boden and his good lady taking us aside before the lunchtime concert.
Has Watson offered to take you home after the evening concert? Thought so. Not many people want a second lift from Watson, bless him. Reputation precedes him. Would you like us to rescue you? Thought so. I’ll tell him we’ve invited you back to our place for coffee after the concert. Easiest that we take you back.
We were grateful. And Professor Boden was good to his word, not only giving us a lift home but also providing us with some warm hospitality and enjoyable chat at Chez Boden before taking us home.
To the concerts. First up was a lunchtime concert at St Chad’s Church, Lichfield.
Joseph Haydn – String Quartet No 3, Op 33 (“The Birds”)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – String Quartet in G (K 387)
Very charming it was too. The setting. The fine quartet and the non-challenging nature of the music.
After plenty of hospitality in the afternoon and a migration to the Cathedral, we enjoyed a bigger deal concert in the evening. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, under George Malcolm, supported by András Schiff, Yuuko Shiokawa and Heinz Holliger.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Wind Serenade in C Minor
Alban Berg – Chamber Concerto for Violin, Piano and Winds
George Frideric Handel – Concerto Grosso, Op 3 No 2 in B flat
George Frideric Handel – Music for the Royal Fireworks
I must confess to have struggled with the Alban Berg. Always have, probably always will. The rest was easy listening by serious music standards.
Pinnock Telegraph Norris 09 Aug 1999, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Pinnock Sutcliffe Standard 09 Aug 1999, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
