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 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.