Deb and I were at a fantastic Nash Ensemble concert last night at the Wigmore Hall. The Royal Philharmonic Society (the outfit that commissioned Beethoven 9, no kidding!) gave Henri Dutilleux, who is now 92, its Gold Medal, after a concert of his music (along with works by Ravel, Stravinsky and Debussy). Yan Pascal Tortelier conducted and made a wonderful speech (his dad was some cellist apparently and went to the Paris Conservatoire with HD, along with a few other nonentities like Messaien) and M. Dutilleux gave an understandably quite slow and quiet but very VERY moving response. I felt like I was seeing actual musical history right there in the room in front of us. No trumpets, but I could forgive even this. An incredible and unforgettable evening.
I'll write more about this when (if) I get a moment but I just wanted to post this while the memory was so fresh and I still feel so excited and moved to have been there.
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