It was going to be a good night out…..so we started with a meal at the Elgar restaurant on the third floor of the Royal Albert Hall. Ok – but that may have been influenced by the glass of champagne. Next time try the Coda restaurant Just along the corridor and looked a better menu.
This was Prom no 17. We started with Debussy ‘Prelude a l’apres midi’ which was a lovely haunting piece. Initially I thought I’d got it wrong and we were listening to ‘a lark ascending ‘ but no it was Debussy at his most ethereal . Then what I thought was the main event. Vaughan Williams and ‘Sancta Civitas’ complete with the massed Halle choir of what looked 400 – 500. Surely not. The choir was behind the orchestra , a semi chorus behind them and a distant boys choir up in the Gods behind us with the occasional tenor solo and solo trumpet bouncing towards the orchestra in front. Energetic and rousing and the best piece of the night but even so it was ten minutes too long . By comparison the Elgar after the interval paled in to insignificance .
Sancta Civitas was the first performance at the Proms, and was originally premiered in 1926 at the Oxford Festival . The baritone was kept busy but the poor tenor in the Gods just had one very short solo nearly at the end and as it said in the programme this was not loved by cost conscious promotors
We left just before the prolonged cheering clapping and various accolades ended which meant we got a taxi pronto. Bliss!
