The first two of Bristol (+ Gloucester) Choral Society’s three outings with the Philharmonia Orchestra, John Wilson and the Sea Symphony were to the Anvil, Basingstoke, and to the Royal Festival Hall, where we were joined by Philharmonia Voices. I’ll put thoughts on the programme itself in another article after the last performance, in Cardiff.
The Anvil had not been built when I was growing up a few miles away. It’s named because of its pointy shape (on the outside), which also resembles the prow of a ship, so appropriate to this programme. Inside, the ovoid shape and reddish walls of the hall give it a rather womb-like feel. It has the disadvantage that there doesn’t appear to be anywhere sensible to eat very near by; I believe such places do exist in Basingstoke but they are right over the other side of the town centre.
We spent the night at the Thistle Hotel at Heathrow. Given the timings, this really was just a bed for the night and breakfast in the morning, the latter being enlivened by a panoramic view of my parents’ former workplace.
We had plenty of time to listen to the Philharmonia in rehearsal, much of which I spent admiring the beautiful matching pair of harps. Later got into a Twitter conversation with one of the harpists (learning that the Sea Symphony has a fiendish harp part); as orchestral musicians go, harpists seem to be among the chattier ones (is it because they get a bit lonely with all the extra time on stage tuning up?)
There were several reviews, though none in the morning papers, which review far fewer individual concerts than they did even a few years ago:
Anvil:
The Classical Source
RFH:
Bachtrack
The Arts Desk
The Classical Source
Evening Standard