First, and only, visit to the Proms this week; the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra playing under the baton of spritely, septuagenarian Yuri Temirkanov a programme of sophisticated Russian music. Or as I subsequently found, a programme described by the condescending BBC as “classical for starters”.
Well, I prefer that to hearing a World Premiere of something that nobody is ever going to hear again. The evening really encapsulated everything special about the Proms Experience. “Heave-ho” being chanted as the piano lid was raised, an audience of which most of the male members looked like Jeremy Corbyn and that paid rapt attention to the music.
I was first taken by my uncle when I was a teenager. I have forgotten the programme but I remember enjoying the stuffed cabbage at Daquise, still open by South Ken. tube station. The most memorable one was Claudio Abbado conducting Mahler. After 15 minutes of applause he left the stage and wept – my mole in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra told me. He was mortified that there had only been ten seconds of silence before the applause began: he expected a reverential ten minutes, something that was not at all likely in the Albert Hall. Here he is is conducting as a young man.
We had three encores on Monday which was a plus, even if it made dinner at the Polish Hearth Club a bit late, the record for the Proms is nine. The Polish Club trades under the name Ognisko Polskie and it is not necessary to be a member to eat there. There is a terrace overlooking an attractive garden square with no traffic and mature plane trees, a Polish-themed menu including plenty of vodkas and it stays open late, so perfect for post-Proms dining.