An Unforgettable Drive in the Trossachs

[gamba]

With the Edinburgh Festival pending, BBC Scotland decide to provide a performance on TV of Max Bruchs ' Scottish Fantasy ' as background music to film of the ' wild & rugged ' Scottish landscape. No need to travel far, there's always the Trossachs just north of Glasgow.
It is arranged I shall meet up with someone else involved in the programme. A magnificent house just off Great Western Road, the door opens & behold - Sir Alexander Gibson. A person to be feared by many. Must tread warily ! We talk for a while , so far so good. He goes to a piano, sits down, plays a few notes, swings round sharply, stares at me & says " You didn't like that, did you " Oh God ! so it's true what they say about him.
Whilst I'm still wondering how to answer he says, " Too ladylike !" ( it was Chopin, whom I cannot stand ) then begins to play something else which I can identify by it's theme, as a fragment from one of the late Schubert sonatas. I then provide what must have been a very weak smile. We agree to meet later & for me to use his car - fair enough - or so I thought.

The car was a Jaguar. Same model as used in ' Morse ' TV programmes. We drove North. I became a sort of very junior partner in an extremely interesting conversation about the Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera, the BBC & so on. Eventually a convenient parking place amongst 'wiggly ' roads with hills all round. Filmed the car with him driving, all directions, backgrounds & speeds. Now to film from the car. Oh dear ! Apart from rather boring shots through the windscreen, it is usual to go on to the roof. Climbing up from the back bumper I lay flat & spread myself as widely as possible. The roof was shiny, slippery & rounded. I shouldn't even be considering it. Doing only 30 mph., should he touch the brakes, I'm dead ! I warned him of the consequences. Also that I'd have his windscreen wipers on the way down !! Which, I think did really upset him.

Ultimately all went well, I hooked part of my feet & legs plus a little rope through the open back windows, which Sir Alex then gently wound up until I squealed - perfect !!

I always found since joining the BBC that initiative is one's saviour on so many occasions.

[HighlandDougie]

What a great reminiscence. I suspect that it would be too much to hope that the tape still exists. Alexander Gibson was an under-rated conductor - taken for granted and sometimes patronised - but without whom Scottish Opera would never have happened. He was the first conductor I heard/saw in the flesh - with John Ogdon. I can still remember them but have no recollection whatsoever of the music. I suspect Grieg - I wish I could say Bartok but Ayr audiences would have thought that to be rather modern. Any more stories to tell?

[mangerton]

Ayr audiences? Alexander Gibson was the first conductor I saw in the flesh - in Ayr. It was c 1960 on holiday. He was conducting the SNO in a concert "for children".

Also appearing was Scottish tenor William McAlpine, who my father had known as a boy in Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire. I cannot remember what was on the programme, but I do remember that Gibson and McAlpine both signed my copy.

[amateur51]

Once again a great story beautifully told, gamba.

I do hope that you're collecting these pieces, and many more, for publication - you're a natural and as with the justly popular James Herriot, there is a ready audience awaiting them

[alycidon]

I expect that he was smoking all the while, eh?, gamba.

[gamba]

Once again a great story beautifully told, gamba.

I do hope that you're collecting these pieces, and many more, for publication - you're a natural and as with the justly popular James Herriot, there is a ready audience awaiting them

Alas, no. They are just bits & pieces, as I've said before, there is a compulsion within us to share one's experiences before it's too late. Am glad to have like-minded people to talk to. So much time to spend but wish not to waste. Yesterday, lay from 08.30 - 15.30 in a hospital ward whilst on a drip - feed providing me with an extra 2 pints of blood. Anyway, thank you for your very kind feelings, they are much appreciated.

gamba.