There may be those among you who marvel at my ability to remember certain dates, such as the first time I saw André Watts in concert (as per yesterday’s post). The truth is I can’t remember everything, but I can certainly look it up!
On the website for the Mann Center, there is a page devoted to past performers. Sadly, the programs themselves are not posted, but you can click through to jog your memory. Going back to the summer of ’84, you’ll note that the Philadelphia Orchestra performed at the outdoor venue, located in Fairmount Park, at least three times a week. Now you’re lucky if they appear there three times in a summer, and then it’s usually to accompany a film or play the “1812 Overture.”
Back in the ’80s, you were guaranteed a truly satisfying crepuscular classical music experience. Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. Berlioz’s “Les nuits d’été.” Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain.” Hanson’s “Romantic Symphony.” Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe.” Prokofiev’s “Alexander Nevsky.”
Lawn tickets were free with a clipped coupon from the Philadelphia Inquirer, which could be redeemed at the old Visitor Center near City Hall.
Picnicking was welcome and indeed encouraged. The downside, as always, were the other people, as there were always a few who thought the orchestra was there as backdrop for their conversation. (Thankfully, this was before cell phones!) Also, you had to get there, which meant getting out the car, if you had one, with all the hassle urban living entails.
My heyday at the Mann was from 1984 to 1994. Sometimes I went with friends, sometimes with girlfriends, sometimes with family, and sometimes with coworkers. Once I went with an ex-girlfriend’s coworker. And at least once, I went alone, when I saw Lara St. John play the Korngold Violin Concerto. On the other half of the program was a substantial suite from “Star Wars.” This would have been before the prequels that were the beginning of the end for the franchise, and the opportunity to hear a substantial suite from the original film was a rarity.
Seriously, click through that decade and see what it was like once. In addition to Watts, guest artists included Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jorge Bolet, Shura Cherkassky, Van Cliburn, Alicia de Larrocha, Rudolf Firkušný, James Galway, Gary Graffman, Birgit Nilsson, Jessye Norman, Itzhak Perlman, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Isaac Stern, Paul Tortelier, Tatiana Troyanos, Benita Valente, William Warfield, Pinchas Zukerman, and Los Romeros, to name a few.
Since I have absolutely no interest in anyone the Mann books now, I would be hard-pressed to imagine anything that could ever draw me there again. But it was very nice while it lasted.
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