Who are your favourite five conductors, seen live.?

[Alison]

No, not at all - I'm just gutted that he decided years ago that he didn't want to be some great big music director of a whacking big orchestra like the BPO. I wanted him to get the job after K, but he has said that has no such ambition. Those Dutch dudes can be too laid-back sometimes!

Somehow I never saw him as a serious BPO candidate. He doesn't even have a website.

Occasional returns to Covent Garden and the London Philharmonic would have sufficed for me!

[Beef Oven!]

Somehow I never saw him as a serious BPO candidate. He doesn't even have a website.

Occasional returns to Covent Garden and the London Philharmonic would have sufficed for me!

Saw him conduct the BPO in London a few years back, Bruckner 7. He was standing in for Abbado who had caught a cold!

[Petrushka]

Saw him conduct the BPO in London a few years back, Bruckner 7. He was standing in for Abbado who had caught a cold!

It was a bit more serious than a cold though we didn't know that at the time. I was also present at that Prom and count it the best of the several Bruckner 7s I've seen Haitink do. The finest Haitink performance I've ever heard was the Mahler 3 with the BPO in the Barbican in 2004. Stunning in a word.

[Beef Oven!]

It was a bit more serious than a cold though we didn't know that at the time. I was also present at that Prom and count it the best of the several Bruckner 7s I've seen Haitink do. The finest Haitink performance I've ever heard was the Mahler 3 with the BPO in the Barbican in 2004. Stunning in a word.

Can you remember the year of the Bruckner 7?

I think I may have been at that BPO Mahler 3 at the Barbican - you'd think I'd remember something like that, though!!!

Saw him do a stonking Mahler 2 a few years back too.

[Richard Tarleton]

I think I may have been at that BPO Mahler 3 at the Barbican - you'd think I'd remember something like that, though!!!

27.9.2004, Beef - I was there too. Anna Larsen the soloist. I had booked seats in Row B - there wasn't a lot left - which I thought would be, er, one row from the front. Only, as the Barbican stage was too small for the BPO plus choir (it was as is well known designed by architects who had never designed an arts venue before, the wide, shallow design of the Barbican Hall being appropriate for shareholders meetings) they had extended the stage. We sat with our knees under the stage, the floor of the stage at chest height. Our view was limited to the front rank of second violins, one of whom we got to know quite well. We could just see the conductor by craning our necks, the statuesque Ms Larsen invisible As we only came in and discovered all this 10 mins before kick-off, there wasn't time to make a fuss.

(The architects made no provision for a choir, nor an organ, nor did they consider how to get a piano on stage.)

(My third Haitink Mahler 3)

[Maclintick]

[QUOTE=s the Barbican stage was too small for the BPO plus choir (it was as is well known designed by architects who had never designed an arts venue before, the wide, shallow design of the Barbican Hall being appropriate for shareholders meetings

The architects made no provision for a choir, nor an organ, nor did they consider how to get a piano on stage[/QUOTE]

I'm now a bit off-topic, but your comments are especially relevant in light of the rumours that one of our top 5 conductors may be returning to London in 2018. If Sir Simon does succeed Valery Gergiev at the LSO, I find it hard to believe that he would do so without attaching conditions to rectify the situation at the Barbican - inadequate platform space, no organ, & horrible acoustic not substantially improved after the much-vaunted re-furb. In evidence of the latter point, a colleague who attended performances of Beethoven 9 with identical forces (LSO/Gardiner) first at the Barbican & then at Symphony Hall, Birmingham felt he experienced a musical event in the latter venue & an aural battering in the former.

Realistically, it's hard to see how anything other than a knock-down-&-rebuild scenario in EC2 would offer much improvement. This would need mega-bucks from the City & in the current climate phenomenal feats of arm-twisting by the great & the good. Is this likely to happen ?

[Lordgeous]

Stravinsky (Symphony of Psalms)
Britten (Gerontius)
Kempe (Hindemith Symph Met.)
Barbirolli (Sibelius 5)
Levine (Mahler 2)

I'm cheating a little because the Barbirolli was him rehearsing the LSO in the Dukes Hall, RAM - an experience that all of us students who were lucky to be there still talk about!

Wish I'd seeen Beecham 'live'.

[Petrushka]

27.9.2004, Beef - I was there too. Anna Larsen the soloist. I had booked seats in Row B - there wasn't a lot left - which I thought would be, er, one row from the front. Only, as the Barbican stage was too small for the BPO plus choir (it was as is well known designed by architects who had never designed an arts venue before, the wide, shallow design of the Barbican Hall being appropriate for shareholders meetings) they had extended the stage. We sat with our knees under the stage, the floor of the stage at chest height. Our view was limited to the front rank of second violins, one of whom we got to know quite well. We could just see the conductor by craning our necks, the statuesque Ms Larsen invisible As we only came in and discovered all this 10 mins before kick-off, there wasn't time to make a fuss.

(The architects made no provision for a choir, nor an organ, nor did they consider how to get a piano on stage.)

(My third Haitink Mahler 3)

I was in the front row of the circle, the best place to be in the Barbican in my opinion and the place I opt for whenever possible, From that position I have few complaints about the Barbican acoustic but found it, shall we say, challenging in the days when I was down in the stalls. McLintick is right. I can't see Rattle taking on the LSO in such a hall when he's had experience of being in Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Back on topic; that BPO/Haitink Mahler 3 was one of the great musical experiences of my life.

BeefO: The BPO/Haitink Bruckner 7 was on August 28 2000 http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/s...ugust-28/11841

[Ferretfancy]

The management of the LSO were largely to blame for the Barbican disaster, when the City Corporation offered them a residency there before the hall was built. They accepted, but decided to take no part in the design and were quite happy to leave it to others, turning down the opportunity to study what was planned or offer suggestions.
The improvements in recent years have helped a little, and I enjoy going there, especially because of the friendly staff. One of them told me that John Tusa knew the name of everybody there, and made it his business to make the public's experience as good as the poor design would allow. At least you can find your way around the building these days !

[Petrushka]

At least you can find your way around the building these days !

Don't know about that! I've been going to the Barbican since the month it opened, March 1982, and still, on occasion, completely lose sense of direction. But I do enjoy going there.

[Dave2002]

I'm cheating a little because the Barbirolli was him rehearsing the LSO in the Dukes Hall, RAM - an experience that all of us students who were lucky to be there still talk about!

Were you in the audience, or playing?

[Lordgeous]

We were just listening - I didnt play an orchestral instrument. Some time later, unbeknown to me, Barbirolli was sat in the hall while I was rehearsing one of my own student pieces and was very kind afterwards with helpful comments and encouragement. A nice man.

[Beef Oven!]

Thanks Petrushka and Richard T.

All I can say is, HOW FAST THE YEARS DISAPPEAR!!!!!