Sir-John Barbirolli at the City Hall 1947-50.

[Antijammer 10]

Any students attend the Halle Orchestra concerts at the City Hall in the late 40's ?

 

I remember as a student that we were able to obtain inexpensive tickets (from Wilson Pecks) to even the most popular concerts.We all sat on seats behind the platform and had a great view of the members of the orchestra. Since we all faced Sir John, we could see when he pulled a face because some section was too loud or too soft. Providing cheap tickets for a world class orchestra was a great way to give school kids a love of music that would last a lifetime, I know in my case it did.

[Texas 10]

Toward the end of my education at good old 'Burny' we were taken to the City Hall to see the Halle. Now don't get me wrong, I'm strictly lowbrow in my taste for music, but I enjoyed the event and even remember that they played 'Caprice Español'. I wish I could remember the rest of the programme. My greatest memory was of hearing an orchestra in a concert hall for the first time, it was like 3 dimensional sound. My father was bordering on a musical intellectual, and when I showed him the programme he pooh-poohed it in no uncertain terms. Still, what the hell?

Edited December 10, 2009 by Texas

[RobertDSmith 10]

Before the Halle concert my intended and I used to have 'tea' at Davy's in Fargate !

Does anyone remember the unforgetable aroma of roasting coffee !! ?

Then the exquisite opening note of Beethoven's 4th.piano concerto.

We were poor but the finer things of life did not seem beyond us then.

Bob.

[Kidorry 189]

Before the Halle concert my intended and I used to have 'tea' at Davy's in Fargate !

Does anyone remember the unforgetable aroma of roasting coffee !! ?

Then the exquisite opening note of Beethoven's 4th.piano concerto.

We were poor but the finer things of life did not seem beyond us then.

Bob.

I do. I lived in the wicker and smelled it almost every day.Along with the brewing hops in the Tennents brewery.

[Bushbaby 11]

Sir John is guilty of the demise of the City Hall's lions. Story goes that he disliked them that much that he wouldn't let the Halle play unless they were gotten rid of!!

[Jazzman 10]

I remember Graeme Bell's Australian jazz band sitting on the lions during a concert way back when.

[DUFFEMS 51]

Any students attend the Halle Orchestra concerts at the City Hall in the late 40's ?

 

I remember as a student that we were able to obtain inexpensive tickets (from Wilson Pecks) to even the most popular concerts.We all sat on seats behind the platform and had a great view of the members of the orchestra. Since we all faced Sir John, we could see when he pulled a face because some section was too loud or too soft. Providing cheap tickets for a world class orchestra was a great way to give school kids a love of music that would last a lifetime, I know in my case it did.

 

We went with our school which was Carfield though it would have been later than 1947-50. It was the first time any of us kids had heard any live music having been brought up on a diet of radio/gramophone. I can still remember the sheer volume of the orchestra and being astounded by the way in which the conductor could moderate certain sections, I was in awe.

I went away from classical music as a teenager then rediscovered it later in life.

Edited December 11, 2009 by DUFFEMS

[CHAIRBOY 10]

http://www.halle.co.uk/publishedSite/siteFiles/dcincludes/catalogue/images/PR21897_A.jpg

 

You can probably look at the names in the archive, I am familiar with half a dozen who plugged on until the mid-60's when I wacthed them big time in Sheffield, London and Manchester. Sport and orchestral music are my main interests and I know many who have come and retired/died.

[peterw 10]

Ah! The Hallé and its eminent conductors. I was not in

[Kazpa 10]

My mums claim to fame is that she sang at the city hall with Sir John Barbarolli and the Halle orchestra at the city hall

[peterw 10]

I also remember Sir Macolm Sargent who I think was Sir John’s successor. One joke circulating in Manchester at that time was: Man promises wife he will make her something special for her tea. He asks grocery shop proprietor if he can suggest anything better than the usual beans or fried egg, and proprietor asks: “Does she like Spaghetti Bolognais?” Man replies: “Only when Sir Malcolm Sargent plays it.”

 

From its conception the Hallé has had a succession of conductors who, when born and bred in the U.K., have received knighthoods. Alas,even today the U.K. does not appear to have anything comparable to present to those conductors who have originated elsewhere.

 

And especially for RobertDSmith who is never going to believe it: In my teens I paid a regular, once-a-week visit for a wartime meal at Davy’s. Its slightly posh decor and similarly designed clientele (I boasted a white, silk scarf, a Macclesfield silk tie and a Barney Goodman ‘whistle’ in those days) was a big attraction to me, and it was in Davy’s that I became chummy with an alleged wartime black-marketeer whose perceived bank balance just after the war was twice that of the National Debt.

 

Such was the power of his purse that despite his Saturday evening flat cap and moleskin trousers, he was never thrown out.

 

On one of those evenings he and I and his slightly less than educated wife were shown to our regular table while the waitress hung over us, pencil and pad in hand, to await our esteemed order.

 

Said the wife to the waitress, “What’s nice?’”

 

“Battered cod’s beautiful,” the waitress replied. “Don’t fancy fish,” says wife

“have you got any salmon?’”

Edited December 14, 2009 by peterw
grammar

[carosio 185]

My mums claim to fame is that she sang at the city hall with Sir John Barbarolli and the Halle orchestra at the city hall

 

Out of interest, can you please give us further details?

Edited December 15, 2009 by carosio