The first thing to celebrate is that it is still here, and remains London's number one concert venue despite its unloveable acoustics and surroundings guaranteed to put off all but the most determined concertgoer. "Going to the royal gala, sir? Elbow your way across Hungerford Bridge, splash through the puddles, dodge the beggars and skateboarders, and there you are."
Happily, renovation of the hall and its immediate area are on the cards yet again. So the gala concert on Thursday was more than just a birthday party; it also launched the fundraising appeal with a goal of Pounds 30m to match a similar sum from lottery sources.
As galas go, this one trod a careful political line between tax-haven exclusivity and free-for-all access. Those in the hall (Pounds 400 a ticket for concert and dinner) received a free glass of champagne, while the event was televised for the world at large. Joanna Lumley's short fundraising speech, apparently penned by Edina and Patsy after too many bottles of Bolly, undeniably had fizz.
It was a shame that almost nothing about the concert itself had any relevance to the hall's history. Why plan a programme that could have been anybody's concert anywhere? Or were the organisers worried they might botch their gala, like the one at the re-opening of the Royal Opera House, when a black-tie audience was bored rigid by "the wrong sort of music"?
This gala evening started with a specially composed Fanfare by Harrison Birtwistle. Then Valery Gergiev jetted in to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in Beethoven's Leonore No. 3 Overture and a big-boned performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto with Murray Perahia as the soloist.
The second half was billed as a tribute to Verdi. That did not stop Angela Gheorghiu choosing to sing Catalani's La Wally, but her impassioned aria from La forza del destino was the best thing of the evening, even if she and Gergiev had not found time to agree on a tempo. Marcello Giordani always has top notes even when the rest of his voice is not behaving, and Dmitry Hvorostovsky made up in vocal elegance what he lacks in cut-and-thrust.
In artistic terms the venue has wisely moved with the times. It has four resident orchestras and ensembles these days, two of which did not exist when the hall was founded, and each was given a showcase over the weekend's birthday celebrations.
Bad luck dealt three blows to the London Philharmonic Orchestra's concert on Saturday, when first the planned conductor, then the soprano and baritone soloists dropped out of Britten's War Requiem. In the event John Eliot Gardiner took charge of a literal performance that was all cerebral accuracy and no feeling. Orchestra and chorus were on good form, but the soprano Melanie Diener sounded ill-suited to her role and tenor Ian Bostridge wanted clear and unmannered enunciation. Young baritone Christopher Maltman struck closest to the heart of the work.
On Sunday afternoon the other two resident ensembles - the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the London Sinfonietta - shared a concert. Fifty years ago perriod-instrument orchestras did not exist, but what a shot in the arm they have given musicmaking in the UK. The OAE's performance of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 under Simon Rattle was positively electric. In its own field of contemporary music the London Sinfonietta is equally impressive. Conducted by Martyn Brabbins, it performed works by Oliver Knussen and John Adams with irrepressible brilliance.
Richard Fairman
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