Symphony No.4

This is a picture of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as they received rapturous applause from a very delighted audience at the end of their performance on Tuesday Night.

It was the first time i had seen an orchestra perform. I had always wanted to go but the tickets were a bit much for my liking. The young lady got wind of a special offer of tickets for just £5. That is a stonking good deal. We got to sit in the gallery and normally those tickets would have cost £35 each. So it was a very good deal indeed.

They are the resident orchestra at the cadogan hall near Sloane Square. Sloane square kicks ass for so many reasons but the most important of them all is that it is home of Peter Jones. The store itself looks really really good following a makeover in the last 5 years or so. The single most important reason why Peter Jones rocks is the top floor cafe. The views across london are fucking awesome and the scones...oh my fucking word...the scones. Without an absolute shadow of a doubt they are quite simply the best scones in all of London. If you live in london and think you have had better, try theirs and let me know if you still think you have had better.

I digress. The orchestra performed Symphony No.1, 'Classical' (Sergei Prokofiev) and Piano Concerto in A minor (Edvard Grieg) followed by a break. The conductor (David Parry) was very enthusiastic and moved with the music. While this may not mean much to some purists, i always like conductors who put a bit of life into the performance. Janina Fialkowska was superb on the Piano and got a very hearty applause from the audience when she was finished (plus a bouquet of roses).

The piece after the break was Robert Schumann's symphony no.4. In the programme it was described as "one of the most concise, exhilarating and original symphonies ever written!". Talk about hyping up a piece of music. My girlfriend and i agreed that such description was atypical of the classical world and their love/undying loyalty to composers who lived hundreds of years ago. We didnt think it was appropriate to describe it in such colossal terms.

Robert Schumann i deeply apologise. Fuck me and all. That piece is so fucking awesome that words cant do it justice, it really cant. You simply must hear it for yourself (preferably performed by a good orchestra). Symphony No.4 IS one of the most concise, exhilarating and original symphonies ever written. Symphony No.4 is all that. It is all that and a bag of chips. It does exactly what it says on the page, it exhilarates and just kicks ass on a level that kicks more ass.

I had a really good time on tuesday night and i am glad that music exists in so many different forms.

Schumann, you rock.