Orchestra National de Lille/Bloch/Lu - Sheffield 31/1/20

[Barbirollians]

Rather poignant for a French orchestra to be playing here in this night of national self-harm.

Eric Lu is the soloist in Beethoven 4 his Leeds competition winning piece plus the orchestra plays La Valse,Mother Goose Suite and Iberia .

[Barbirollians]

Rather poignant for a French orchestra to be playing here in this night of national self-harm.

Eric Lu is the soloist in Beethoven 4 his Leeds competition winning piece plus the orchestra plays La Valse,Mother Goose Suite and Iberia .

Heavens above no wonder he won the Leeds what a fabulous pianist he is - his first movement cadenza was in the Perahia class ! To be honest rather too good for the orchestra and its period mannered rather plain accompaniment

[bluestateprommer]

Cecile Bidault had this article from France Musique on the Orchestre National de Lille's UK tour, dated on "the last day":

https://www.francemusique.fr/actualite-musicale/l-orchestre-national-de-lille-en-tournee-au-royaume-uni-en-plein-brexit-80987

Bidault wrote of Alexandre Bloch speaking from the stage at Cadogan Hall. Kind of ironic to "back-translate" his comments from a French-language article back into English, especially as Bloch most likely addressed the audience in English, but here goes:

"Despite Brexit we want to stay connected with you...This is a very special tour for us. We are and we will remain neighbors...

"When we are going to leave this country, we will go through customs and there will be something symbolic. It will not be an iron curtain in Saint Pancras, of course, but symbolically it will be different...."

Bidualt also adds a condensation quote from Bloch about music being an "international language, always there to unite, to unify".

Graham Rickson reviewed the subsequent performance by EL, AB and the orchestra at Leeds Town Hall at The Arts Desk:

https://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/lu-orchestre-national-de-lille-bloch-leeds-town-hall-polish-and-precision-ravel-and

Rickson did say that:

"That Leeds’s ornate Town Hall was so full was probably down to a starry soloist."

There's probably another, quite obvious reason and subtext, which underpins this passage from Rickson, where he quotes Bloch:

"Leeds has been twinned with Lille since the late 1960s, and there’s a long tradition of cultural collaboration between the two cities. After thanking the musicians, Bloch turned to the audience and payed tribute to the importance of maintaining strong links, whatever the future might hold. “'e absolutely want to come back!'""

It's unfortunate now that traveling back and forth between the UK and the Continent is now, or really will become, more like Europeans and UK citizens traveling to the USA, so to speak. Given the proximity of the UK to the Continent, does seem silly, to state the obvious. At least with the USA, we're 3000 miles away.