We were treated to a drinks reception, a talk by New York economist Nouriel Roubini who had many interesting insights into the post 2008 crisis world.
Then a delightful recital performed by the City Of London Sinfonia with Dame Felicity Lott. Writing this up more than three years later (February 2018), I nevertheless can report on all the pieces we heard…
…because my memory is so superb…
…especially when supported by some scribbled notes on my programme:
Elgar – Serenade For Strings;
R Strauss – Morgen!;
Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending;
Schubert – The Shepherd On The Rock.
No video from the actual evening, of course, but below is a short video of the City of London Sinfonia performing something else (a charming Mozart presto) somewhere else…
…and here is a live performance of Felicity Lott (with a different lot in a different grand setting) performing Strauss’s Morgen! which will give you a reasonable idea of the sounds we actually heard:
I think we must have been experimenting a bit at The Wigmore Hall for this one, as I don’t think of this music as being Janie’s taste. Perhaps I was especially keen to encourage her to hear the Richard Strauss songs…or at least i was keen to hear them performed live. Olaf Bär certainly gave them some baritone oomph.
We heard:
Ludwig van Beethoven – Trio in B Flat Op 11 for Clarinet, Cello and Piano
Gustav Mahler – Kindertotenlieder for Voice and Ensemble
Richard Strauss – Five Songs
Arnold Schoenberg – Verklarte Nacht Op 4 for String Sextet.
I sense that I enjoyed this concert more than Janie did.
We took The Duchess (Janie’s mum) with us to this one – the only Prom we did with The Duchess that year. She was partial to youth orchestras, so this Saturday evening concert was the obvious pick for The Duchess that year.
Of course Pauline (The Duchess of Castlebar & Janie’s mum) knew all about the big Norwegians. She’d have done all of that before, but, as we were suggesting it, yes, she would join us at this Prom.
Latvian maestro Mariss Jansons conducting The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in the following programme:
Magnar Åm – Study on a Norwegian Hymn
Richard Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra
Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 2 in D major
Were we excited? Were we excited!
I loved a bit of Also Sprach back then. Here is a video of Mariss conducting the Concertgebouworkest in that very piece:
Even more, I loved that Sibelius Symphony No 2. Still do. Here is Mariss conducting the Big Norwegians from Oslo in the first movement of that amazing symphony:
Bliss.
Adrian Jack in the Independent also thought the Sibelius was bliss.
My client was hugely apologetic. The only way they could arrange the three days of meetings in Amsterdam required at a delicate stage of the project I was managing was to schedule a Thursday, Friday and then Monday. They realised that this would be inconvenient for me and of course they were happy to fly me backwards and forwards to London if I wanted to spend the weekend at home or they were happy to put me up and feed me at their expense for the duration, including the weekend.
Young, free and single in September 1989, I was delighted to go for the “stay in Amsterdam at their expense” option.
Please stay at the Kras on our corporate account if you are going to stay that long…
…they said. It would have been rude to say no. I usually stayed for my short stopovers at a more modest place, the Rembrandt Classic I think, preferring the less formal and low key atmosphere.
Once work was done on the Friday evening, the weekend was my own. I didn’t keep a log of this visit but I remember most of the things I did:
an Indonesian rijsttafel meal on the Friday evening. A rijsttafel for one is a bit of an oxymoron, but the restaurant came highly recommended by my Dutch clients, for good reason;
Van Gogh Museum;
Rijksmuseum;
Rembrandt House;
Concertgebouw on Saturday evening (see below);
Anne Frank House (on the Sunday if I remember correctly);
Lots of strolling around the canals, sitting in coffee bars (the proper posh ones that serve coffee and play classical music), reading my book and feeling terribly sophisticated. I’m sure Mozart Violin Concertos weren’t playing all the time in every coffee shop, but I do remember hearing them more than once. I have, ever since, associated those concertos with this weekend in Amsterdam.
Concertgebouw, 23 September 1989
I was thrilled to be able to score a good ticket at the Concertgebouw “on a whim”. I guess it is that much easier to be lucky and get a single ticket at short notice. I liked the look of the concert and was not disappointed.
I heard/saw the house band (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra aka Koninklijt Concertgebouworkest) conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch, with
Ludwig van Beethoven – Overture “Leonora” Op 72a
Richard Strauss – Horn Concerto No 2 in E Flat Major
Jilly is listed as having joined me for this one. Her work telephone number is strategically placed in my diary on the preceding day, so she might struggle to deny this one.
I’m not entirely sure why I chose it other than the fact that I was certainly into Richard Strauss and Sibelius at that time, so two pieces by those dudes that I hadn’t heard live before probably sealed the deal. It might have been Jilly saying “you’ve GOT to see this Heinz Holliger fellow”, as that was the sort of thing that Jilly would say.
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