It was Nathan’s birthday recently. I won’t say which number it was but it wasn’t a very major one…..more like a stopping point between major ones. Nevertheless, we’ve made the most of the celebrations, starting with an outdoor cinema trip in August to see Blur: Live at Wembley:
It was a lovely warm evening at the Barbican and the rain held off, which was just as well seeing as the headsets apparently didn’t react well to water. It was fun to see the gig from last year, even if it wasn’t the night we went to. And the Barbican conservatory is pretty cool by night:
So, that was Part 1. Part 2 was Disco 2000, Part 3 was drinks at a pub in Hackney and today was Part 4 – a bit of culture. Our last classical music outing – also at the Barbican – had been a hit with the kids so we decided to push the Star Wars music theme a little further and take them to hear the source material, which was “The Planets” by Holst. For legal reasons, I should say that John Williams did not directly source his melodies directly from Holst but there is definitely inspiration there.
And what a glorious venue to do culture in! We’ve been there before, to see a Proms concert and a Chickenshed show, but it was a while ago. Plus, it is impressive on every visit.
We were way up in the Rausing Circle – the second from top row – but because of the way the auditorium’s laid out, we could see and hear everything perfectly. There was a full house, including people sitting in the choir stalls which was confusing as I knew the Bach Choir were performing. Maybe they would just squeeze in between the eight kettle drums. Yes, you’re right…that IS a lot of kettle drums.
The concert had three parts to it – the opening piece was by Wagner, then a piano concert by Rachmaninoff before the Planets after the interval. The Wagner was typically bombastic and played expertly by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. There was a little bit of shuffling around for the Rachmaninoff so that the grand piano could be centre stage and the top opened up. No one dropped a fingernail inside the piano like I almost did at the Highams Park proms, so that was good. The conductor (Christopher Warren-Green) and some of the violinists left before returning with the pianist, Tom Poster.
I’m always impressed by people who can properly play piano, as opposed to my worship -fudgery style. He really was incredible and guided the orchestra through the different moods of the piece, which must have been at least half an hour long and in three movements I think. At one point, the melody seemed to be the verse from “All By Myself” – a quick Google in the interval confirmed to me that I was not going mad and that Eric Carmen lifted it pretty much wholesale from the concerto.
We had some ice cream during the break and settled back in for the headline piece. If I had one criticism of the first half, it was that there were no kind of visuals used – with all the lighting capacity of the Royal Albert Hall, it seemed like there was more that could be done rather than just white light. The difference in the second half was evident straight away, with the war-mongering theme of “Mars” blasting while the stage was bathed in red light. This really enhanced the mood of each piece, as well as being a handy cue for when we were moving from one planet to the next. There were only applause breaks between some movements and not others, which was confusing. Once or twice people applauded at a point that was just a suspenseful pause. Including possible someone from my family but let’s not name names.
“Mars” is definitely Star Wars-esque so a good dramatic start to capture the kids’ attention right away. “Venus” was more mellow and the lights changed to a soothing peach colour accordingly. “Mercury” was described in the programme as being “playful” and I think that’s pretty accurate. “Jupiter” is the obvious crowd-pleaser with several passages that are recognisable, especially to those of us that grew up listening to “World in Union” for the rugby World Cup.
The programme also says that “Saturn” didn’t seem popular at its early performances and I can see why. It’s more difficult to get a hold of than the others and it’s a stark contrast coming straight after Jupiter. Maybe I just need to listen to it a few more times to get it. “Uranus” was a lot more melodic and then we just had the weirdness of “Neptune” to go. The Bach Choir still hadn’t appeared on the stage but at some point, I clocked that they were in the standing circle right at the top. I’ve no idea how they sang such a tricky piece without being able to see the conductor of the orchestra but Reuben suggested that maybe they turned up to rehearsal. HE4 choirsters, take note.
So a fun and cultural outing which the kids seemed to enjoy. The length of the programme was about right and being an afternoon performance meant that they weren’t too tired. I left Eva’s umbrella under our seats so she and Nathan ran back in for it but happily that meant that we were still there as the crowds cleared and I spotted an old friend taking a photo in front of the hall. I didn’t manage to photobomb him despite my best efforts but when I then offered to take the photo of him and his wife as compensation, I spotted Nathan and Eva waving out of an upstairs window. Brolly retrieved, photobomb achieved. Good stuff.
And as an extra bonus we spotted this pigeon having a poop under the baskets in Gloucester Road Tesco. How very London….
