Soloist in the audience?

[Petrushka]

Maurizio Pollini came and sat behind me in the RFH for an LSO/Abbado Mahler 5 after he had just performed in the first half. Pollini, Brendel and Uchida make/made a habit of doing this.

My favourite such occasion was to see Bernard Haitink in the audience at a Concertgebouw Mahler 9 in the Barbican, June 9 1985. I went backstage afterwards to see Haitink seated amongst 'his' orchestral players as I went to get Lenny's autograph. Two great Mahler conductors in the same hall! Gilbert Kaplan was there too. Does that count as a third?

[Flosshilde]

Maurizio Pollini came and sat behind me in the RFH for an LSO/Abbado Mahler 5 after he had just performed in the first half. Pollini, Brendel and Uchida make/made a habit of doing this.

It must be the aftershave

[amateur51]

Gustavo Dudamel is in a blue shirt to the right of the conductor in this Venezuelan performance of Elgar's Second Symphony. Maestro Abreu, the founder of El Sistema, is to Dudamel's left also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ-W1QTlsWc

[Sapere Aude]

Andras Schiff is often in the hall after playing. You sometimes see him there even during rehearsals, long after he finished rehearsing the concerto! For example a couple of weeks ago with the Halle/Mark Elder, he was sitting there, until the end, for an entire half of a rehearsal with Beethoven 1st Symphony.

Alban Gerhardt usually likes to play at the back of the cello section during the second half of the concert. Apparently Zuckerman when younger also used to do a bit of that.

[rauschwerk]

Lat Friday marked my first visit to the Festival Hall since the makeover. Jonathan Biss (standing in for an indisposed Paul Lewis) sat in the stalls for the second half.

It's a long time since I went to an orchestral concert there, but the sound from box 9 (Green side) was very pleasing to my ears. Stokowski used to complain that in that space one could not hear the double basses and I know what he meant, but that aspect does seem to have been improved. The conductor, James Gaffigan, was making his debut with the LPO - very successfully, it seemed to me. The programme - Strauss Don Juan, Mozart K453, Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances - was by no means new to me, but it was the first time I had heard the second and third items live. Jonathan Biss gave a superb account of the Mozart. The timpanist used harder sticks for the Strauss than for the Rachmaninov, presumably influenced by HIPP.

I found the whole event immensely enjoyable, though it saddened me to observe the state of the organ (see http://www.pulloutallthestops.org/

[amateur51]

Lat Friday marked my first visit to the Festival Hall since the makeover. Jonathan Biss (standing in for an indisposed Paul Lewis) sat in the stalls for the second half.
[/URL]

I'm sorry to hear about Paul Lewis's cancellation rauschwerk but you had a first-class stand-in - I like what I've heard of Jonathan Biss!

I agree, sad about the organ.

[Ferretfancy]

rauschwerk

I'll be in a box at the RFH for the next Philharmonia concert with Salonen, so thanks for your comments. As we've said before, I still find big variations in sound depending on where you sit. As for the state of the organ, they are still trying to raise millions for restoration. My partner and I have got tired of the endless appeals from the South Bank Centre. They have a running deficit of about £4 million a year, and are asking previous small donors like us to subsidise it. This suggests that they didn't have a properly worked out business plan before the RFH changes went ahead.

[Tony Halstead]

Stokowski used to complain that in that space one could not hear the double basses and I know what he meant, but that aspect does seem to have been improved.

I found the whole event immensely enjoyable, though it saddened me to observe the state of the organ (see http://www.pulloutallthestops.org/

very many years ago I played for Stokowski at the RFH several times.
He was the only conductor I know of who succeeded in persuading ( bribing?) the hall's 'jobsworth' stage staff to close the huge doors that screened off the organ pipes. Stokie explained to the orchestra that all the broken-up air space around the organ pipes acted as a 'sound absorber', dulling the acoustic.
With the doors shut, the sound was reflected into the hall, much brighter and more immediate, with, yes, more bass!

[rauschwerk]

very many years ago I played for Stokowski at the RFH several times.
He was the only conductor I know of who succeeded in persuading ( bribing?) the hall's 'jobsworth' stage staff to close the huge doors that screened off the organ pipes.

As I recall, in the days when I went to the RFH regularly to listen or to sing (1963-1969) it had become standard practice to close those doors when the organ was not required. I guess we have Stokie to thank for that.

[Tony Halstead]

Not sure about that as my concerts with S were about 1970-1973 and by then the doors were always open unless a strong-willed conductor made a god-almighty fuss about it!

[rauschwerk]

Not sure about that as my concerts with S were about 1970-1973 and by then the doors were always open unless a strong-willed conductor made a god-almighty fuss about it!

Ah well, my memory is not what it was. I sang some concerts there during the period you mention, but maybe they all required the organ (I remember Mahler 2, Holst Choral Symphony, RVW Dona Nobis Pacem).

[Osborn]

Jonathan Biss (standing in for an indisposed Paul Lewis) sat in the stalls for the second half [and] gave a superb account of the Mozart./[/URL]

IMO he's absolutely outstanding. His intellect, impeccable good manners & rock solid technique put him at the forefront of young pianists. A protege of Barenboim. I would have been very happy to find he was replacing Paul L (for whom I have great regard).