Beecham was invited to lend lustre to one of these Galas by conducting a performance of "Tamara" by Balakireff [sic]. It was a favourite piece of his in the concert hall but natural the dancers needed it to be taken at a fairly moderate tempo. It immediately became apparent that Sir Thomas had not the slightest intention of making any concessions, in fact I suspect he whipped us up a little more than usual and the wretched dancers were tumbling about in their efforts to keep pace. As they took their bows, gasping and streaming with sweat, their regular conductor, Effrem Kurz, could be seen peering down, ashen-faced, from a box while Tommy murmured to us with a happy smile: " That made the buggers hop!" I went down in the lift at Covent Garden station afterwards with Effrem Kurz who had still not recovered and kept staring and muttering: "It was terrible, terrible!" << less