I was a little surprised that neither of my guests on Thursday evening had been to the Proms before, especially as one is a little older than me, but they do live in Ireland.
What astonished me more was that they had never been to the Albert Hall. They rounded off an evening of new experiences by dining at the Polish Club. (Damn, I forgot to show them the photograph in the hall of the Queen arriving for the Duke of Kent’s birthday party.) There was at least one other Proms first-timer on Thursday: our Colombian conductor, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the LPO with precision and complete command although at times he was so energetic that I wondered if he might perhaps have had a snort of his national crop. Our scheduled mezzo-soprano was indisposed and Dame Sarah Connolly stepped in. We were fortunate to get such a classy substitute.
The LPO were out in force and supplemented by the 200-strong London Philharmonic Choir. There was a yoke in the brass section that I’d never seen before – and another first for my guests I think – a cimbasso. It made a lot of noise and was unmissable. It looks like a trombone on steroids.
Gosh, I haven’t told you what we heard but you may have guessed: Verdi’s Requiem. It was a stirring rendition, starting almost inaudibly and then opening out with terrific contrasts and shading. When the percussionists got going for the first “dies irae, dies illa” our rib cages reverberated. By the way one guest was one-up on Robert and me – he knew all the words from childhood exposure. It was not the best Prom I have ever heard (that’s Claudio Abbado conducting Mahler) but it was a bravura performance and a sold-out Albert Hall was spellbound for ninety minutes.
After a shot of bison grass vodka, I had chlodnik (cold beetroot soup with dill and a hard boiled egg) and salt beef. It was a super-plus satisfactory evening that left me wanting more Masses by Italian composers. You will scarcely believe it but the very next day I was told that I’m to be invited to Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle when I’m in France in a few days.
On Friday I listened to Thursday’s Prom again on the radio through a good speaker. It was good but it lacked the drama of the live performance. Here is an excerpt from Verdi’s Requiem at the Proms a few years ago with some good cimbasso action.
No doubt bison grass vodka – or zubrowka as it is called in Polish – was also a first for your irlandais ingenus friends. Loved the extract recording at foot of your account of what was clearly a great evening.
What a pleasure to read of the evening, thank you for the detailed recounting — it sounds wonderful. The Verdi Requiem has been one of my favorite pieces since high school, when I first heard a recording with Leontyne Price. There is almost nothing to beat hearing it live (except perhaps singing it? I have only ever sung one or two of the choruses, but someday, the full work, perhaps). It is a marvelous thing to live in a town where Dame Sarah is available to fill in at the last moment (though one tends to imagine her more in Handel than in Verdi). From your vivid description, one can easily imagine the reverberation around the Hall.
As for your two Irish friends, I am sure the title of the blog post is cause for much amusement. Prom virgins they may have been, but I would be surprised if it was the first time they had had zubrowka. (On hearing of your dinner plans, I looked up the club — what a fascinating history.) Having been a chorister in my youth in Texas — though there were girls in the soprano section, we boys could sing higher, and certainly louder — I had the words drilled into memory by dint of repetition. I may perhaps share with the gentleman in question the understanding that knowing the words does not necessarily make one any more likely to heed their warning when faced with the temptations of life. But it is good to give oneself periodic reminders, I suppose, especially when set to music and thrillingly performed!
Vivid despatches from the musical front. Thanks. Italian masses? Try Zipoli’s Mass of St Ignatius. Jesuits always a bit dodgy but Zipoli one of the best both in Rome and lTer in Latin America.
Great Baroque banquet of sound.