ONE topic generated wide discussion at Sir Alex Gibson's concert with
the RSO on Saturday night: where on earth was the audience at one of the
most poorly attended RSO concerts in a long while?
Some blamed the weather; others the recession. Several suggested the
presence of a modern work on the programme. More controversially, there
is another possibility. That the programme itself might have been a
factor. Martin Dalby's attractively romantic work, The Mary Bean,
notwithstanding, the programme was solid traditional fare: Bruch's
Scottish Fantasy, warmly if rather demurely played by Korean violinist
Dong-Suk Kang, and Elgar's First Symphony, given the broad, long-range
Gibson treatment.
I can't prove this, but I have an instinct that such a safe programme,
which might have worked in parochial London, is of little interest to
Glaswegian palates -- which are more adventurous and sophisticated than
some folks think. A diet of Bruch and Elgar is stodgy, and for
Glaswegians -- who do like a bit of danger -- to turn out en masse,
there would have to be something special about its presentation.
That said, I would have expected more folk because of Sir Alex, who
does have his own following. It's a big discussion this one, but for
sure, with the box-office implications alone, the RSO cannot afford more
than a handful of similarly-attended events. Let me know your views; it
could be worth a column.
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