"Hallé dazzles with birthday display"

This is the Telegraph headline for its review of our concert. There's also a great review in the MEN. And, just in time for me to post this, a 4-star review in The Times! (Thanks to those of you who sent me links to these - as usual I'd already seen them but hadn't had time to do anything about it!) No actual review in the Guardian as yet (EDIT: here it is!), but they have made up for it by devoting a leader to us, and also a major feature the day before the concert (which included some interesting tidbits of info that I didn't previously know, plus comments from people like Lesley Garrett, who actually came to the concert on Wednesday). We even made the BBC News!

EDIT: The FT review is now up too, and they thought our bit was best \o/

EDIT: The Independent has finally joined the party, and they said we were on top form - "like a harmonic time bomb"!

Great concert, although the Telegraph reviewer was wrong when he said it was nearly 3 hours long - - it was MORE than 3 hours, finishing at 10.35pm. I think they could maybe have shortened it a bit, especially as quite a few people left early, presumably to catch last trains or buses. (If it had finished that late on a Saturday or Sunday I would have had to leave myself.) But it was all good stuff, and the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it, and there WAS a standing ovation at the end, although it wasn't until the choir stood up that most of the audience did too - before then, there were just a few people on their feet. I also expected a few more cheers at the end, but maybe everyone was just tired!

Our Vaughan Williams went well, and was a fitting end to the first half. I bet I wasn't the only one who wished we could have sung more, but they did have a lot to fit in. I do wish we could all have joined in the Rio Grande with the Youth Choir though - I love that piece!

I didn't realise, till it was announced, that Dmitri Hvorostovsky was ill, but then it wouldn't be a proper Hallé concert if one of the soloists wasn't ill! Sir John Tomlinson was a great replacement, even if I didn't recognise any of the things he sang. And I thought it was definitely a good thing to have TWO mezzo soloists and no sopranos or tenors! (Yes, I AM including Dame Janet Baker. Very fitting that an alto was in charge of proceedings!) And the lovely Jonathan Scott was as fantastic as ever in the Rio Grande. But the other pianist - Polina Leschenko - probably made the biggest impression. I've never seen a performance like it! Her playing was great, but it was the other aspects that grabbed even more attention.

For a start, she didn't use a piano stool, but just a normal chair, in which she slouched and fidgeted somewhat. Then, there was one of the buttonhole roses on top of the piano - I presume she put it there herself, although I didn't see that. And during several of the rests in her piece, she picked it up and smelled it a few times, and fiddled with it. She also spent quite some time examining her nails. None of this affected her very dramatic cadenza-type interspersions though. (For those who weren't there, she was playing the Weber Konzertstück.) And then, at the end, she took her bows very spectacularly, blew kisses to everyone (including Mark) and then shoved her bouquet under her arm as she strode offstage. We all found all this very entertaiing indeed - just what was needed at that stage of the evening!

The only sad note was that Lady Barbirolli wasn't there. I was really shocked to hear of her death - I had met her on many occasions, because when I was at school she was the visiting oboe professor (that wasn't her title, but you know what I mean). She used to visit all us oboists every term or so, to give master classes and other special sessions (e.g. on reed-making - my reed-making manual is signed by her, in fact, and I have been meaning to scan it all week to show you, but it's been rather busy!)

Here is her Wikipedia entry, and various obituaries: Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Independent, and BBC Music Magazine.

Now, all I have to do is get over my cold in time to sing at this wedding tomorrow. And then, next week - Bach!