• RPS 200: Beethoven & Brendel

Last week, in the Argyll Arms pub in London, the Royal Philharmonic Society launched the programme celebrating its bicentenary early next year.  I’m delighted to be playing a wee part in its roster of events: I’ll be discussing Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto with the cellist Johannes Moser in a pre-concert talk at Poole Lighthouse on 23 January 2013.  (The RPS anniversary falls the next day, sandwiched between the Poole concert and Lutosławski’s own centenary on 25 January.)  The concert is being given by the Bournemouth SO, which gave the world premiere of the concerto on 14 October 1970, when the soloist (and dedicatee) was Mstislav Rostropovich and the conductor Edward Downes.  At the same concert, Rostropovich received the RPS Gold Medal.

The RPS published this photo from the Argyll Arms on Facebook, and my immediate and predictable response was to provide a corny caption (others followed suit).  At one point, The Guardian was going to publish both photo and caption but had second thoughts, opting instead for the punchy “Alfred Brendel poses with the Royal Philharmonic Society’s bust of Beethoven. Only one of them looks pleased about this”.

For what it’s worth (stall your groans!), here’s my original effort.

Buy us a drink, Alfie, I’m bust.