Toscanini ICON box

[Bryn]

Really? What large concert halls did London have in the 50s, apart from the RFH and RAH (with unbearable echo at that time)?

Is/was Croydon considered to be part of London?

O.k., so it only became part of London in 1965. Prior to that it was in Surrey.

[amateur51]

Really? What large concert halls did London have in the 50s, apart from the RFH and RAH (with unbearable echo at that time)?

The Palladium?

The Coliseum?

Sadler's Wells?

[VodkaDilc]

The Palladium?

The Coliseum?

Sadler's Wells?

I'd call these theatres; different, surely!

[amateur51]

I'd call these theatres; different, surely!

Musicals and ballet appear at all three de temps en temps. And Royal Opera House Covent Garden is another one that does orchestral concerts

[P. G. Tipps]

Musicals and ballet appear at all three de temps en temps. And Royal Opera House Covent Garden is another one that does orchestral concerts

Churches and cathedrals sometimes host orchestral concerts so does that make them 'concert halls' ... ?

And is Glasgow Airport now a 'concert hall'?

http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/music/video-rsno-perform-at-glasgow-airport-1-3056259

[amateur51]

Churches and cathedrals sometimes host orchestral concerts so does that make them 'concert halls' ... ?

And is Glasgow Airport now a 'concert hall'?

http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/mu...port-1-3056259

Errm Glasgow Airport?

Not in London, that's for certain.

Did anyone mention changing the goalposts?

[Ferretfancy]

In the immediate post war period, cinemas were sometimes pressed into service as concert halls. Does anybody remember the Trocadero Elephant and Castle ? I saw my first ballet there with the International Ballet Company in Sleeping Beauty. This would have been c.1948, and I think Mona Inglesby was prima ballerina. The International was a large company that attracted performers like the young Moira Shearer, but the part it played in the war years into the 1950s seems to have been forgotten. I can still rember the Rose Adagio, lots of dry ice and purple lighting!

[amateur51]

In the immediate post war period, cinemas were sometimes pressed into service as concert halls. Does anybody remember the Trocadero Elephant and Castle ? I saw my first ballet there with the International Ballet Company in Sleeping Beauty. This would have been c.1948, and I think Mona Inglesby was prima ballerina. The International was a large company that attracted performers like the young Moira Shearer, but the part it played in the war years into the 1950s seems to have been forgotten. I can still rember the Rose Adagio, lots of dry ice and purple lighting!

Great memories Ferret and reminded me of the hall at Golders Green from which BBC orchestras used to broadcast back in the day.

[Don Petter]

In the immediate post war period, cinemas were sometimes pressed into service as concert halls. Does anybody remember the Trocadero Elephant and Castle ? I saw my first ballet there with the International Ballet Company in Sleeping Beauty. This would have been c.1948, and I think Mona Inglesby was prima ballerina. The International was a large company that attracted performers like the young Moira Shearer, but the part it played in the war years into the 1950s seems to have been forgotten. I can still remember the Rose Adagio, lots of dry ice and purple lighting!

Not such a regular venue as those in the cities, but I remember an enterprising cinema manager of the Rex in Haslemere having several Sunday piano recitals in the fifties. I still count myself lucky to have seen and heard Pouishnoff, Smeterlin and Moiseiwitch there.

[Barbirollians]

Talk about off topic !

[amateur51]

Not such a regular venue as those in the cities, but I remember an enterprising cinema manager of the Rex in Haslemere having several Sunday piano recitals in the fifties. I still count myself lucky to have seen and heard Pouishnoff, Smeterlin and Moiseiwitch there.

What remarkable enterprise and great memories. What I'd give to have heard them

[Don Petter]

Talk about off topic !

All three were icons in their time!

[PJPJ]

Not such a regular venue as those in the cities, but I remember an enterprising cinema manager of the Rex in Haslemere having several Sunday piano recitals in the fifties. I still count myself lucky to have seen and heard Pouishnoff, Smeterlin and Moiseiwitch there.

I heard the King's Singers (in their first incarnation) there what is now depressingly many years ago. And, sadly, the Rex closed in 1986 and was demolished, exactly 50 years after it opened (around the time AT was giving concerts and recording with the BBC SO.)