The end of 'Last Night of the Proms' brought tears to my eyes.
It was about the close feeling between the British and the Americans
as arms were linked for 'Auld Lang Syne'. Leonard Slatkin is a great
man and he handled the evening beautfully. Making a fine speech
early on to counter the considerable criticism of the justified
change of programme, but still preserving the tradition by
finishing with Blake's Jerusalem. Leonard asked for a minute's
silence before Barber's Adagio and sixty thousand people at
the concerts across the country stood. He requested no applause.
Tippet's pacifist negro spirituals from 'A Child of out Time'
and Beethoven's greatness with Schiler's words were apposite.
Leonard Slatkin is an American and the new chief conductor
of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and this was his first Last Night.
It was a very moving experience to feel a part of it.
Although born in England my thinking is that of a dour Calvinist
Scot hence my directness in poetry and criticism. My personal
relationship with America can be seen from my 'Mary-poems' at
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/poetry/library/ark1.html
I dont like to think about what is going to happen now.
Douglas Clark, Bath, England mailto: [log in to unmask]
Lynx: Poetry from Bath .......... http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/lynx.html
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