Royal Albert Hall
Date: 17th August (Thursday), 6:30pm
Seats: Rausing Circle, Row 3, Seats 123/124
Program: El Amor Brujo (Falla), Symphony Espagnole (Lalo), Symphony No 3 in C Minor 'Organ' (Saint-Saens)
Performers: Stephanie d'Oustrac (mezzo-soprano), Joshua Bell (violin), Cameron Carpenter (organ), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Notes: Well, we got tickets to this concert because of the final piece, but I will talk about the others first. We got to this one quite late (with only 10 minutes to spare), but because we had seats it didn't matter so much.
The first piece was okay. The orchestra was quite excellent, but I felt like the piece was let down by the mezzo-soprano. She couldn't be heard often, and only sang in a couple of sections anyway. It was fine, but nothing special.
Then Joshua Bell came out! I didn't realise that he was in this concert until I read the program again... JOSHUA BELL! I've never heard him perform before, but he is a super famous violinist... And he was incredible! So amazing, emotive, flawless playing. He was so good and he got so much applause he even did an encore - the Meditation from Thais! So so SO great.
Then after interval (and dinner) it was time for the thing we were waiting for. Having played the symphony in the last few years, I remembered it very well. It was so fantastic - really well put together, and the organ was very well balanced. El Husbando was a bit disappointed that the organ wasn't more impressive, but I thought it totally went with the rest of the orchestra. It was so so so great, and it was a lovely flashback to hear something I enjoyed playing so much back in the day.
Prom #10 for us (#4, ticketed)... 10 Proms! Woo!!! And this morning, we lined up and got tickets to the LAST NIGHT!!!
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