Park, American music and Igor Stravinsky

Monday to Battersea Park for a walk and passing Carter's steam fair with carousel. Went to branch development team meeting and had a moan about lack of staff. To the hospital after work to see Grandma and Mary Joyce. The prom was on BBC4 - interesting arrangement of Brahms Piano quintet by Schoenberg played by the Frankfurt Radio orchestra (Proms debut). Today was miserable and wet. I swam 42 lengths! The prom was again on BBC4 - Petrushka, Bernstein On the Town dances.BBC Scottish conducted by Robert Spada making his Proms debut. The Morton Rogers trip joined the orchestra to improvise Rhapsody in Blue. Not quite to my taste at times. It was full! Aren't audiences strange!
When I was 14 Stravinsky visited Johannesburg on his way to the Kruger National Park. Robert Craft conducted all the concerts. Mum and Dad were invited to a civic reception as Dad was acting as mayoral organist that year! I went instead of Dad and was appalled at the way the great composer was treated. A large tub of cement was brought and placed on a Persian rug in front of him and he was expected to put his feet in this cement and sign it. The cement spilled over onto the beautiful rug. It was so small town and yuk! Stravinsky smiled through it all! The local music critic emerged from the scrum saying "this is the hand that shook the hand".