A couple of nights ago (the evening of Holocaust Day) I attended a concert
given by the largest orchestra I have ever seen or heard.  To raise funds
for the Tsunami Appeal, Manchester"s two "rival" orchestras, the Halle
and the BBC Philharmonic, joined forces with the Halle choir and the
Halle Youth Choir in the Bridgewater Hall.  Despite its having been
arranged at very short notice, it seemed to me that every seat had been
sold, and, since nobody got paid, not even the hall authorities, over
$40,000 went to the appeal.  But there was more to it than that.  The
sight of two symphony orchestras getting on to the same platform, with
a veritable forest of double bases packed so closely into one corner
that it wasn"t clear from where I was sitting how they could actually
wield their bows, was something in itself.  So was the sound they made.
And, in the midst of the orchestral extravaganza, when the Youth Choir
sang a couple of unaccompanied part songs by Brahms, one could feel the
kind of breathless hush that you only get when the hall is full and there
is a shared feeling of something important.  The music surely brought
"thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears".  At the end the audience
gave a rare (in Manchester, anyway) standing ovation.  I guess this had
less to do with praising the performance than with expressing a sense
of solidarity.  The power of live music.

George Marshall
Cheshire, England