Rehersals
On Monday the 23rd, the day before the concert, the orchestra under the baton of Robert Ziegler held their rehearsal at the well known BBC studios at Maida Vale in London. The place was studio 3, on October 11 1977, Bing Crosby did his final recordings at the same studio (he died two days later in Madrid). Usually the rehearsals would have taken place at the Hippodrome in Golder’s Green, the home of the Orchestra, but due to refurbishment works they had to go to Maida Vale. The rehearsals took a full working day. The emphasis was logically on Chris Gunning’s Thames Rhapsody, with the composer present. It was quite an experience to hear the Rhapsody developing. The rehearsal started with the full orchestra forces, after each piece, no longer needed members of the orchestra left. Logically Psycho was the last piece played, with just the string section remaining.
The “dress” rehearsal was held on Tuesday afternoon at the Queen Elizabeth Hall before the concert started in concert order. Amongst the tiny audience in the large hall was the occ. orchestra member and Tommy Pearson, an avid film music fan, who would later present the concert on Radio 3. The orchestra, the conductor and John Harle performed very well. A nice foretaste of the real thing.
