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Post by martindn on Dec 11, 2009 19:14:57 GMT
Wow, thanks for that Peter. I'm sure it was lovely to meet Hayley like that. We are already in Bath ready for tomorrow, so .. you never know!
Martin
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Post by Richard on Dec 12, 2009 8:55:19 GMT
Well done Peter!  Thanks for the good news about the Barbican!  Richard  |
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Post by postscript on Dec 12, 2009 13:25:40 GMT
Okay, folks. Back to the front!
No charge for the programme, all laid out on the pre-booked seats at the outset.
Jimmy Tarbuck, a true Liverpudlian had a page devoted to him. During one of his addresses he told us of his personal connection with the RAF, a serving uncle was buried in a foreign field whom he regarded as his hero and for which reason they were all heroes to him, especially the families left behind at Christmas. Some 2,500 families were missing a loved one this Christmas. The promotion was to try and extend the initiative of giving officers serving abroad the chance to record professionally a message, or read their child's favourite bed-time story, for their child or other members of the family to have with them while they were away. Surprisingly, this is not that novel. Somewhere, in my family archives I haven't yet sifted through, is a disc requiring a thorn needle, although I suspect modern equipment won't damage it. An uncle of mine had recorded it in a very stuffy booth, like an 'end of pier' attraction, in Cairo during the Second World War. A message home, sent by sea. I have a feeling he might have arrived back before it did!
At one point we gave a round of applause for three little girls representing these families. For one of them the emotion was a bit too much. I could not see clearly but with the sweet dexterity of a girl so comfortable in the public view, Hayley handled it superbly.
Hayley was on a dais and was clearly in view to me but for those further back there was a large screen centre aisle. Seemingly perversely I watched the screen more than her live! She is a really beautiful young woman and can withstand a camera's close-up gaze. I hope she is aware of how intrusive the camera lens can be but in being simply herself her simplicity speaks volumes. Add to that the clarity of her voice and there she was, just as I had envisaged her four years ago when I first visited that cathedral, because she had been at the Philharmonic Hall.
The greatest joy was the opening of "Once in Royal David's City". The first verse was hers alone and she sang it a capella, her voice ringing out to the apex of the transepts, just as I had imagined when I first visited four years previously. For the second verse the choir joined her and for the third verse the audience too. Picking up on a comment in one of the Irish threads, this is the way it should be handled if audience-participation is to be encouraged.
There was no interval, about which the audience had been pre-warned and it is a cathedral for which adequate lavatory facilities are included within the building. It was a superbly balanced programme, with readings from poetry: Longfellow, one poet unfamiliar to me, whose name I did not catch and Betjeman.
Chief technical Officer Stringer played the "Ashokan Farewell" superbly on the violin, his mother was in the audience!
What can I say about Hayley that isn't simply and fully expressed in the phrase, "She was Hayley"? In concert after concert there is no doubt she is really in top form with superb continuity and consistency. Four years ago I had feared she could be dwarfed but no, sound amplification was of the highest quality and she was up to the job, the clarity of her voice soaring to the heavens. To think that the design of this vast building was the prize in a national competition, won by a young man, twenty-two years old, the age Hayley is today. He became Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, arguably the greatest British architect of his generation. He was the equivalent then of today's Lord Foster, both men in my view being to their age what Sir Christopher Wren was to his. Like the mediaeval masons he too seemed to be trying to reach heaven, as they did with their soaring spires but in his case he seemed to be trying to reach heaven within the building!
It is a vast colossus of brick and stone, appropriate to encompass one of the largest organs in Europe. So large that even with the Band of the Royal Air Force one felt the organ was not unleashed to full forte, it would have drowned out even them. This was apparent in the closing numbers, a superb medley of Christmas music with the cathedral choir and then the magnificence of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, the deeper notes of the organ seemingly presenting a force as strong as the walls themselves. Yet, this extraordinary building seemingly way beyond human scale is a very human entity.
This was apparent in the little touches, such as Hayley tending to one of the children; the full forte magnificence of the Hallelujah Chorus and perhaps was most fulsomely expressed in "The Little Drummer Boy".
It has been quoted here, I think from a Tweet Hayley did, that she was 'just a little mad'. She meant it in the context that she is irrepressible. There is an impishness about her that expresses itself when she is off stage by pulling faces but also, occasionally when she is performing. It came to the fore with "The Little Drummer Boy".
I have previously commented on the skill required to arrange music. It is a job requiring a deep knowledge not only of musical scoring but also of instrumental ranges. "The Little Drummer Boy" was an example of this in the subtleties required but also highlighted the high standard of everyone around Hayley.
Remember, the camera was there, mixing full body shots with face close-ups. The dimples in her cheeks deepened; an impish smile played across her face; it seemed as if call and answer was playing between them, two entities together and yet teasing each other separately. Musically, it sounded as if the band was swaying to her body rhythm, their tempo and volume rising and falling to match her interpretation. This moment; the moment with the young children; the rousing Hallelujah Chorus, all proved this vast building does not dominate, it encourages the human spirit to reach out and up, to be as great as this great building. It is indeed an inspiring building.
As they played the RAF March Past I glanced across the aisle to a young girl who had caught my eye earlier. I suspect she is strongly self-willed and occasionally a bit of a handful. She reminded me of the sort of tomboy girl I loved to play with as a child. She instinctively marched on the spot, then glanced my way and blushed self-consciously. I grinned back at her and winked. She grinned back and resumed her marching. Whether or not she was missing a family member this Christmas I have no idea but she was part of a much larger family. We all felt a part of that family and of an even larger family--the family of all humanity that would continue to march ever forward and upward, rising, like this great building to higher challenges.
This was a great evening.
Peter S.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 12, 2009 14:57:03 GMT
Thanks everyone for your concert reports, not only for Liverpool but for the other ones too (for Winter Tour and the others). Some of them make it seem like I was there myself! Peter, I should mention that I've edited out the latter part of one paragraph and the start of the following paragraph in your excellent report, pending discussions among the management team. Some may feel that your elaborate description of how Hayley looked on stage was a tad too "detailed" shall we say, for a concert report. The spot is marked with an asterisk in case you wish to tidy up the punctuation. Cheers, Dave |
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Post by Paddy on Dec 12, 2009 14:59:16 GMT
Peter, a brilliant and uplifting review!  |
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Post by comet on Dec 12, 2009 15:02:05 GMT
Thank you Peter,
That was a lovely review of Hayley's performance and appearance , the building and its architects, the organ, and of those souls gathered within to witness this wonderful performance and their participation in it.
Quite touching in places
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Post by postscript on Dec 12, 2009 15:13:31 GMT
Thanks everyone for your concert reports, not only for Liverpool but for the other ones too (for Winter Tour and the others). Some of them make it seem like I was there myself! Peter, I should mention that I've edited out the latter part of one paragraph and the start of the following paragraph in your excellent report, pending discussions among the management team. Some may feel that your elaborate description of how Hayley looked on stage was a tad too "https://i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifetailed" shall we say, for a concert report. The spot is marked with an asterisk in case you wish to tidy up the punctuation. Cheers, Dave Interestingly, Dave, I do mull things over having posted a complex post and came back to review. I doubt we need to think further on it! yours aye. Peter S. |
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Post by comet on Dec 12, 2009 21:50:19 GMT
Ok . this is an impulse reaction. But what has been cut from Peter's post was a fine description of what he saw, and of what any of us have seen in numerous videos here on HWI, Is it just that he used the proper descriptive words....FFS  even the Nuns in the Sound of Music would not have been offended by this description.................. Is the only place we can post a report in peace on the OFFICIAL FORUM. FFS |
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Post by Roger-G on Dec 12, 2009 22:49:33 GMT
I agree with Comet.
Although I haven't been a member here for very long I am a long-term lurker, having loved Hayley's music from the release of Pure. I have read every concert report and review on HWI and I think the report in question was the most sensitive and insightful so far.
Of course the site must be moderated, but if excellent reports like this one are going to be 'censored' for no good reason then I want no part of it.
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Post by mihizawi on Dec 12, 2009 23:39:10 GMT
hmm... Yeah, I also read the review before Dave edited it, and was nicely surprised by that ddescription, reflecting Hayley's beauty in such a poetic view. And, yes, it wasn't offensive at all, so I first was disappointed about editing it...
But, come to think of it... I think the problem may not be that it was offended, but that it had too much passion... I am not critisizing Peter for writing in such a beautiful way, and, of course, I am not saying he lacks respect for Hayley... but the way he described Hayley could lead to mistakes. Someone who read the review could easily think that it was written by someone who felt more than just admiration for an artist. Of course, we all think Hayley's beauty is special, and we are all a little in love with Hayley, but in a quite different way, as a very dear person who gives us with her music so much. But, for our own's sake, it shouldn't go further, the reasons are obvious...And I am sure Peter didn't wrote it with that meaning, but it was easy to think the wrong way.
Also, we have to keep in mind that Hayley comes around here from time to time and reads what we write. I am sure she wouldn't get offended... but at least it would cause her a blush, XD, I can imagine.
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Post by comet on Dec 12, 2009 23:53:46 GMT
 row, row , row yer boat gently down the stream, if you see a crocodile , don't forget to scream...
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Dave
Administrator
HWI Admin
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Post by Dave on Dec 13, 2009 0:12:43 GMT
Comet and Roger-G you are entitled to your opinion but in my opinion there was simply too much detail in one section of Peter's report for a music forum intended for a family audience. The concern is that a minority of the membership would be made to feel uncomfortable when reading it. The high literary quality of Peter's precise and detailed description of Hayley's personal appearance does not change that and taken as a whole, it crossed the line. The seven lines I removed were summarised neatly by Peter himself in seven words, which remained in the report.
I copied the relevant section for the rest of the forum staff to see and comment on and several have done so. I said at the outset that I was willing to put some back if its removal was felt to be unnecessary or inappropriate. We regularly do exactly that (put stuff back) after removing debatable material like this but in this case, none of the staff has so far suggested restoring it. We have a job to do, it is not easy but it is done by discussion and consensus among the staff.
But this side-issue is detracting from the excellent and informative concert reports in this thread, including Peter's. Let's get back to the main topic in hand please, before the thread becomes disrupted.
Dave
PS: mihizawi thank you for your measured response, it helps to explain some of the thinking behind this type of decision that occasionally, we have to make even though we know it will be unpopular with some members.
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Post by Ross on Dec 13, 2009 4:32:07 GMT
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif Lovely report Peter. It makes me think that it has been two years since I have seen Hayley at a concert. But hopefully I will see Hayley in January. Of course there are no guarantees with outdoor concerts. Just this week a winery concert was cancelled because of high winds.
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Post by Libby on Dec 13, 2009 5:51:41 GMT
row, row , row yer boat gently down the stream, if you see a crocodile , don't forget to scream... You're funny, comet, although I'm not sure I get how it relates to the discussion... Can't we at least know which dresses she wore? That's all I need to know. |
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Post by comet on Dec 13, 2009 13:13:20 GMT
row, row , row yer boat gently down the stream, if you see a crocodile , don't forget to scream... You're funny, comet, although I'm not sure I get how it relates to the discussion... Can't we at least know which dresses she wore? That's all I need to know. Oh ! A paddle can be used for more things than just rowing a boat.. There are two words strung together I will never use unless I mean it. They are "Yes , Sir" |
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