Excellent so far. LSO on good form. Now for the Prokofiev Symphony 7. I hope he chooses the original ending.

I was about to make a similar joke. That's the second time today that someone's just snuck in before me.

The original ending it was  and I made a quick switch to the radio afterwards to make sure I didn't miss an encore. (I didn't expect one, but you can't trust the tele these days.)

It was very well played throughout. The glockenspiel bit at the end of the exposition and one or two other places was perhaps a little too clipped and it bordered on being precious, I thought. But that's a very minor point. Perhaps the percussion were overall a little too tentative, ie not making enough impact, but that might be because the BBC need to put a microphone nearer there. But the rest was very good indeed. 9 out of 10 and a house point.

A disagreement with whom, eru? You realize you wasted £2.50, don't you?

Shame! You missed what I thought was the best item, Hamlet.

The orchestra played very well indeed - I thought them quite the equal of the Concertgebouw.

Gergiev's "technique" (if it can be called that) is downright weird, but he does seem to get good results. When I shut my eyes I could hear his little rubatos better, and was convinced that they were his doing despite the apparent lack of any beat as such and the constantly trembling left hand. I wish he would glue the comb-over in place before taking to the podium, though...

The concerto was a failure for me, despite the enthusiastic reception it got from the arena. Tooooo slooooowww! I'm sure it lasted a good 6 or 7 minutes longer than the John Browning recording from which I got to know the work.

Ah, but which one Tony?  Chi-Yu Mo in the first half or Andrew Marriner in the second?

harrumph - I have no idea how anybody could follow the beat, but clearly it was being followed.  Perhaps the trick is to play as soon as the left hand starts moving?

And a fearsomly resonant piano.  I'm almost glad I was standing further back than normal.

NB

I was standing further back than usual, too - found myself a nice little spot tucked under the BBC camera platform next to the fountain and thus had the luxury of personal space and fresh air in the middle of a very full arena.  I was able to sit down for the second half of the concert without being in anybody's way, and during the piano concerto I had a sightline straight through to the keyboard despite being ten or so rows back (not that "rows" really exist once you get that far back...)

I was very glad I wasn't on the first couple of rows because the piano really was very loud.  As another prommer put it, "Alexander Toradze always nearly breaks the piano, and one of these days he actually will"!  Also if you're central in the first few rows you run the risk of getting showered in Gergiev's sweat whenever he flings his head back 

I loved the R&J - when the main theme first came in I thought "HOW slow?" but Gergiev ramped the tension up very gradually and dramatically as the piece progressed.  Piano concerto = mightily technically impressive but soooo loud!  The Hamlet overture, OK I was sitting on the floor so wasn't watching, and I'm sure I didn't actually know the piece before last night, but so much commitment in the playing.  Prok 7 - again, not a piece I knew, but good to hear that Gergiev can pull off a piece that needs a lighter touch than his usual.

As harrumph and NB have both said, I have no idea how anybody follows Gergiev's beat (if you can call it that!) - but somehow they do!

Just re-watching this on iPlayer. The violence on Toradze's face has to be seen to be believed. The performance has given me a headache even now, and I'm still glad I left at the interval...