Concerts with Sir Charles Mackerras

We had all been looking forward to the week with Sir Charles Mackerras performing the mainly Strauss programme with great anticipation. This week was to be followed by a CD recording of Strauss' opera, Ariadne auf Naxos and Le Bourgeouis Gentilhomme, also conducted by Sir Charles. Alas, due to ill health, Sir Charles had to pull out of the recordings, though thankfully he was still able to perform the concerts with us. He has handed over the reins of the recording to Sir Richard Armstrong, who will continue the project as planned.

The performance week itself was wonderful. Sir Charles is much loved by the SCO and the feeling is thoroughly mutual! We had a great time with Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, which was brought to vivid life by Sir Charles along with his colourful verbal descriptions of the unfolding events. Right now I am actually listening to the piece on the BBC iPlayer Listen Again transmission of our Glasgow concert, and I can recall how he described the passage that I just heard, during our rehearsals. It is a passage in the final movement "Das Diner", a presentation of delectable dishes, where he thought that the harp's contribution " is possibly supposed to depict the burps!"

A special mention should be made for our Guest Leader, Bradley Creswick, and our own Cello Principal, David Watkin, for their exquisite solos throughout Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Although to be fair, the whole piece was full of beautiful solos from players throughout the orchestra.

The rest of the programme was equally enjoyable with a welcome revisit to Mozart's 'Haffner' Symphony, having recorded it onto CD with Sir Charles just a few months ago. And a joyous performance of Strauss Horn Concerto, played by the most wonderful Radovan Vlatkovic. It was great to see our newly-appointed Principal Horn, Alec, chatting with his mentor during the breaks.