1st May 2018

On 1st May Anne and I enjoyed the life-enhancing experience of Simon Rattle conducting (using no score) the LSO in Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, at Symphony Hall in Birmingham—the hall Sir Simon himself brought into being during his glorious years with the CBSO. Notwithstanding the five-star review The Times had given its Barbican performance the previous week, nothing could have prepared us adequately for the impact of this masterwork, played by the greatest of the UK’s orchestras in the finest UK hall, under the most sensitive imaginable direction of the UK’s leading conductor. It doesn’t come any better than that. The photo was taken just before Sir Simon entered.