So, I headed along to the Royal Festival Hall last night (very close to where I was the night before) to a Sibelius concert by the Philharmonia. (Seems it's the 150th anniversary of his birth.) There was a Meetup group going, but I'm not with them, and just went on my own. Booked one of the cheapest seats in the house - back row of the stalls, where I've been before and which I know is fine.
So off I went, on a lovely warm and sunny evening. There's a "Festival of Love" at the Southbank Centre at the moment (of which the Royal Festival Hall is a part), and I had to skirt a kind of maze folly to get in. The lobby was quite fetchingly attired, with coloured strings hanging from the ceiling and blowing in the breeze. Also part of the festival, I believe. Anyway, I already had my ticket, so I checked (blue or green - I was blue) and headed over to the blue section, which is at the far side of the building, picking up a free performance schedule at the programme desk as I passed. I skipped taking one of their mints though - thought that might be a bit cheeky when I wasn't buying anything.
Now, my ticket also helpfully informed me that I was to go to Level 5. Bummer - I was only on Level 2. And then, just beside the foot of the stairs, I noticed a lift. Lovely - I wasn't sure whether there was one on this side. And this one was glass. So I waited, and piled in with a whole load of other people when it came. Turned out it was going down first- well, no problem. Except there was something funny.. and when we started going up again, it was confirmed. Yes, the lift was singing to us. The tone went down as the lift descended, and up as the lift climbed again. And when we got to a floor - yes, the lift sang merrily Level Five.. or whatever.
It's quite an easy building to navigate - the doors are all lettered, and well signposted. The ushers had performance schedules too. So I moseyed on in and took my seat, munching on the cashew nuts I'd bought in the lobby café. Perfectly fine seat, good view. However, there were several spare seats, and most people near me decamped closer to the stage. I was quite glad of this after the interval, when the rather tall people in front of me vanished, and now I didn't have to lean to see everything!
The concert was preceded with a trailer for a film they've made about Ashkenazy, who was conducting last night, travelling to Finland to learn about Sibelius. This was displayed on a screen that dropped at the back of the stage, which must have been awkward for those sitting in the choir. Anyway, we were soon into the music.
I have never been that familiar with Sibelius, but liked what I had heard, so said I'd give it a shot. Well, I was not expecting it to be this good! I was blown away.. lyrical tunes developing into sweeping, dramatic scores. The concert opened with four movements from the Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, each more dramatic than the last. A singer came on for several numbers - I liked these somewhat less, mind.. and it didn't help that the surtitles were tiny enough from where we were that we had to squint!
What the hey, the second half was the highlight of the evening, with his Symphony #2 in D wafting us on a wave of drama and emotion. Really, I'm planning on adding some of these to my music collection. The standing ovation at the end was well deserved, although I didn't join in, conscious that what I had enjoyed was hearing the composer's work - and he wasn't there to witness my standing ovation. I did clap until my hands stung and my arms ached, though - the hardest I've ever clapped, I believe.
Coming down the stairs to avoid the crowds in the lift, I came across another Festival of Love exhibit - some rather cool, enormous, fake lotus flowers with LEDs wrapped around them and palm-shaped handrests at the bottom. The idea was, you put your palm to the handrest, and the LEDs pulsed up the flower to match your heartbeat. And if two did it at the same time, it synchronised their pulses. Looked very cool - there were several!
And home quite early - but there was still enough other stuff to do that I didn't get time to blog! What the hey - better late than never. Off to Ireland tonight, back on Sunday. And on Monday, I'm headed - with a little trepidation - to my first Meetup with the Post Apocalyptic Book Club, who are discussing The Running Man by Stephen King/Richard Bachman. I love the story - with not enough time to dig it out again before then though, I'll have to grab as much info as I can in the meantime.
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