Great encores you have loved...

[pastoralguy]

In answer to my own question, I remember going to hear Phillip Herrewegher conduct a concert at the Edinburgh Festival. Alas, I'd missed the first of his concerts which featured the Schubert 'Unfinished' symphony. No matter, he and the orchestra played it as an 'encore'!

[Zucchini]

Have to say one of the best encores ever, was the one Barenboim and Argerich gave at The Proms last year. Tge two gave a sublime,intimate reading of a Schubert duo Rondo. So touching to see and quite moving as well

I agree. Very moving. Wonderful.

[gradus]

Steven Osborne often gives memorable and sometimes unexpected encores after the (invariably) memorable performances eg My Foolish Heart played a la Bill Evans.
I seem to remember Stokowski repeating the entire last movement of the Shostakovich 5th at a Proms concert, he was of course a great interpreter of the piece.
Those of us old enough to have attended Beecham concerts were particularly fortunate when it came to encores ('lollipops' often) which I understand Sir Thomas often introduced at some length and very amusingly. Sadly however I somehow managed to miss his performances, perhaps others on here can oblige with personal memories?

[seabright]

I seem to remember Stokowski repeating the entire last movement of the Shostakovich 5th at a Proms concert, he was of course a great interpreter of the piece. Those of us old enough to have attended Beecham concerts were particularly fortunate when it came to encores ('lollipops' often) which I understand Sir Thomas often introduced at some length and very amusingly. Sadly however I somehow managed to miss his performances, perhaps others on here can oblige with personal memories?

Actually, Stokowski stopped the roof-raising applause after the Shostakovich 5th and asked the audience, "Would you like to go home?" In answer to the resounding "No!" he said "Would you like to hear a little more Shostakovich?" and with the equally resounding "Yes!" he gave them the coda of the work's finale. That still wasn't enough, so he stopped the applause again, asked them "Would you like to go home now?" and with the second "No!" he promptly played Vaughan Williams's "Greensleeves." This second encore caught out the announcer (Tom Crowe, I think it was) as will be heard if you click the link below ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv8aRtlwUrs

Apropos Beecham: I wonder if there are any of his speeches-and encores that are also extant on tape or disc too, that could find their way onto You Tube? ...There is this clip of a 1932 newsreel in which he gives a quite sensational account of the closing moments of Tchaikovsky's 3rd Symphony. It's a work not often played but when it is I doubt if it will be any better than this! ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JagoH8-7jw

[pastoralguy]

I remember Neemi Jarvi conducting the (R) SNO in Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony back in the 80's in the Usher Hall. What I knew was that the Jarvi and the Orchestra had been recording all week and hadn't looked at Tchaikovsky 4 before the concert so it was a real 'seat of the pants' performance. Jarvi encored the last movement but pulled the tempi around so that the band REALLY had to watch him! Not idiomatic Tchaikovsky but incredibly exciting!

[Conchis]

I wasn't in the RAH last night but I thought Barenbom's marvellous speech, effectively disinfecting P&C 1 was pretty spectacular! :)

[cloughie]

I remember Neemi Jarvi conducting the (R) SNO in Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony back in the 80's in the Usher Hall. What I knew was that the Jarvi and the Orchestra had been recording all week and hadn't looked at Tchaikovsky 4 before the concert so it was a real 'seat of the pants' performance. Jarvi encored the last movement but pulled the tempi around so that the band REALLY had to watch him! Not idiomatic Tchaikovsky but incredibly exciting!

I would have loved that!

[pastoralguy]

I would have loved that!

The Jarvi/SNO years were pretty special!

[BBMmk2]

I was there too. It was unforgettable (as was the performance of the Eroica.

On the previous day, Abbado conducted the same orchestra in the RFH, with a more predictable Johann Strauss encore.

A rather young Abbado? Would have been good to see that too but not the encore!

[Sir Velo]

I was fortunate enough to have been in the audience in Chichester cathedral to catch one of Richter's last solo performances in the UK, back in 1988. After a Schubert sonata for which the term heavenly length could well have been coined, followed by the four introspective Schumann Nachtstucke, he proceeded to toss off the three Bartok burlesques with a kind of nonchalant aplomb as if to say "watch me, I can turn my hand to anything at anytime."

[gurnemanz]

In the early 70s we went to a concert in Leipzig with the Radio Symphony Orchestra and Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question was played with I suspect many people (like us) hearing it for the first time. It is not a long piece and was so enthusiastically received that they played it again as an encore. As far as I remember we still didn't get the answer. We didn't hear the work live again till last year at the Gürzenich in Cologne.