Standing Ovation

This week has been a very very good week for live music. A trio of excellent performances was crowned at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford when I was lucky enough to be given a ticket to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's "rehearsal" for their 1 May concert. Details can be found here.

The "rehearsal" meant that it was a slightly less formal performance - camera people making notes on their positioning etc, and, just before the Concerto, Maestro Barenboim kicking his rostrum to get it into the correct position!! Furthermore, about half of the orchestra were held up and arrived late so we got to sit listening to practice and lots of snippets.

However, there was nothing "rehearsal-like" about the performance. The Brahms (First Symphony) in particular was SPECTACULAR!! Absolutely PHENOMENAL performance. Totally breathtaking. It's one of my favourite pieces anyway and to hear such a top-class orchestra play it so brilliantly at such close quarters was absolutely amazing.

The concert was broadcast on German TV, and is, I believe, to be shown on BBC4 at some point in the future. I shall be looking out for it.