in Royal Festival Hall - 1953

from Southbank Centre Archive:

My concert-going in my formative years had all been at the Royal Albert Hall, before the work had been done to tame the famous echo. My first visit to the Royal Festival Hall was in 1953 when I saw and heard Artur Rubinstein play four piano concertos in one evening, two formal concertos plus Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody. This was a magical evening - a rare opportunity to hear a piano giant who even had enough stamina for an encore - 'The fire dance by Falla'. In addition, the acoustics allowed one to hear the music in incredible detail, that I had not …   more >>

cite as

Southbank Centre (ed.), Southbank Centre Archive. In Southbank Centre Archive. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1447325395165 accessed: 13 October, 2024 (Southbank Centre Archive, http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/about-us/history-and-archive/southbank-centre-archive)

location of experience: Royal Festival Hall

Listening to

hide composers
Paganini Rhapsody
written by Sergei Rachmaninoff
performed by Arthur Rubinstein
Nights in the Gardens of Spain performed by Arthur Rubinstein

Experience Information

Date/Time 1953
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Originally submitted by Liz Ford on Thu, 12 Nov 2015 10:49:55 +0000
Approved on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 16:10:31 +0000