The first item on the programme was the very gentle Hebrides Overture by Mendelssohn, entirely different from the intense Verdi we had played with him up to that time. It was a great occasion, and Giulini was given a most warm welcome by a large audience at the Royal Festival Hall. After smilingly acknowledging this, he turned to us, and the familiar look of intense concentration appeared on his quite classic features. It was Falstaff all over again, and for a split second we all felt he was about to start conducting the wrong work. He raised his arms dramatically, paused in concentration, and then began what was obviously a power-packed, sizzling down beat. Half way down it suddenly changed into a relaxed, soft, gentle caress which the basses nearly caught and launched us into the smooth lines of the opening tune - because that's how Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture has to be presented. It was a strange and somewhat disturbing moment, but the start of a truly magnificent concert, full of nuance and ecstasy. << less