August26
‘The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington, London.’ – Wikipedia
Last night Loverboy took me to the BBC Proms at The Royal Albert Hall to watch the London Symphony Orchestra and it was amazing. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision but I am so glad we went!
The Royal Albert Hall is a gorgeous building which Queen Victoria named in memory of her beloved Albert. It truly is a wondrous testament to that love but more importantly it honours Albert’s ideal that the appreciation of culture not be limited to the upper classes but made available to all. It was built in 1871 and is feted as one of the more architecturally memorable buildings in London.
We met outside at 7.15pm and took our seats in the the stalls directly behind the orchestra pit which afforded us sweeping views across the entire room – we were sat up quite high too so the view was breathtaking. Luckily for us we were the only one’s sitting on our row at the top which immediately made my carnal mind run wild with the possibilities…
The first act was a piece called ‘Nagasaki’ which was, incidently, the first time it was performed in the UK. It was truly mesmerising; the way it built up with the violins and separate male and femal choirs to the unavoidable brass climax which symbolised the destruction of Nagasaki in WW2. There was also a performance by mezzo-soprano Elena Zhidkova which was beautiful. We only saw her from behind but she looked gorgeous with long flowing gold hair crimped and falling past her waist in a clingy maroon costume. I was really moved and it was so special to be sitting next to Loverboy taking it all in. We stole glances and smiles at each other throughout which created a nice warm feeling in the tummy.
At intermission we each had a glass of wine (or should I say a plastic cup!!! And almost £11 too no less – shocker). We tried going outside with the wine so I could have a smoke but were stopped by one of the goons security on the door (apparently in all their near 150 years they have not sought a liquor license…). So we basically had to neck the wine (no ways could I not smoke).
The second half was siginificantly longer than the first and was a performance of the 8th – one of Shostakovich’s three ‘war symphonies’. It was a sobre affair – less flashy but more complex and delicate than the first piece – less compelling but certainly with more technique and a more subdued tone. In fact, and it does not shame me to admit this, there were times in the performance where I was crying from the sheer beauty of it all. It was overwhelming to hear, see and feel what I did. I was there with the suited and booted Loverboy and it was all rather a little too wonderful for me.
If you want to feel better about yourself, about humanity or life in general then go and see an orchestra performace. In fact I may even try and sneak in another performance before the end of the season. The way human beings can come together to create something so creative, beautiful and evolved is inspirational and you will walk away feeling better for it.
Last night was a perfect memory.
