Tony Duggan ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>And if there is any doubt as to the reverence in which JB is held then note
>that the soloist in the Brahms Concerto in that concert is to be Daniel
>Barenboim.  Yes, you read that right: Daniel Barenboim is playing (not
>conducting) the Brahms First Concerto in Manchester in honour of his old
>friend.  The conductor is Kent Nagano.
>
>A good time for the BBC to have started web broadcasting.

Unfortunately I can't do sound yet and anyway, when I look at the BBC's web
site earlier today at work (where I have a 100MB LAN connection to a high
speed net connection) I was getting only a few hundred cps downloaded, so
I can't imagine the audio quality would be much to write home about.

However, I heartily endorse your sentiment, having seen JB live several
times in the 60s, including a spectacular Mahler 6 at the 1967 Proms and a
Schumann cello Concerto with Jacqueline du Pre (don't recall the year), he
was a great conductor indeed.  And when one recalls that for the last 25
years or so of his life he was in almost constant pain....

My favourite JB story is in Micahel Kennedy's book on the Halle: one
morning, while rehearsing the finale of Mahler's 9th JB noticed that at the
close there were tears in ehe eyes of the leader of the orchestra, Laurance
Turner.

"Yes, it's terribly moving isn't it?" said JB, sympathetically.

"It's not the music, John. Our cat died this morning."

Deryk Barker
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