It Was Diana's Day Off,

and we had a day that was planed a couple of years ago,

but due to covid it was delayed, until now, so glad rags on and we were off,

to the Royal Albert Hall,

we were a tad early,

so we crossed the road to view the Albert Memorial,

glorious against a clear blue sky,

and there He is,

I just had to have a pose,

or two,

as it happens I was looking at another memorial to Queen Victoria,

Diana made a panorama of the square behind the hall,

we decided to pop into the hall's restaurant, 

so up the steps,

and inside, a frappe latté coffee for Diana,

and a glass of wine for myself, which I have to say at £15.00 was a tad expensive, but Diana had a cunning plan, Diana was asked if she was a part of the tour, Diana said yes and a 10% discount was deducted from the bill, apparently the reason the restaurant was so crowded was that a tour group was meeting there to be shown around the hall, great result for us!

'Cheers!',

back outside we joined the queue,

which was not too long,

our tickets included a pre-show meal,

one for the album,

and this is where we will be dining, Coda,

into the restaurant, 

we were welcomed with a glass of champagne each,

'Cheers!' from Diana,

time to look at the menu,

the agony of choice! if you are interested the menu is here,

included in the meal was a half bottle of wine each, so white is was a full bottle for both of us,

our starters arrived, for Diana Harissa marinated King prawns with bean hummus, bean salad and a yoghurt dressing,

for myself, a charred mackerel fillet with gem heart, potato salad, saffron, aioli and basil potato,

all of which was excellent,

on to our main courses, 

pan seared smocked haddock with pilaf rice, fried mussels, and a curry volute, for Diana,

and for myself I went with the usual, tournedos of grass fed beef tenderloin with triple cooked chips, onion rings and peppercorn sauce, I should mention that there is a £12 supplement plus 12.5% service charge for the beef,

it all looked and was delicious, 

'Cheers!',

on to desserts, we had a choice have a dessert now or wait until the break, we decided on now,

for Diana profiteroles with vanilla, pistachio and chocolate ice cream, candied pistachios, with a warm chocolate sauce,

for myself, pistachio & chocolate pot de crème, a pistachio streusel with crystallized pistachio,

and this is what we had come to listen to, Carmina Burana, for as far back as I can remember since I heard it I have always wanted to go to the Royal Albert Hall to hear it played,

and many thanks to Diana for such a wonderful present a couple of years ago and here we are, 

in front of us a 400 voice choir, with full orchestra, for tonight we will be treated to the following,

WAGNER

Prelude to Act lll Lohengrin

SAINT-SAENS

Symphony No 3 ‘Organ Symphony’

ORFF

Carmina Burana

English Concert Chorus

Goldsmiths Choral Union

Highgate Choral Society

The Southend Boys’ Choir

Andrew Greenwood conductor

Mary Bevan soprano

Oliver Johnston tenor

James Cleverton baritone

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

for the full story of Carmina Burana have look here,

above us these curious circles,

I read somewhere that they reduce echoes in the hall,

then the performance began, the Prelude to Act lll Lohengrin and Saint-Saens Symphony No 3 ‘Organ Symphony excellent, 

if you have watched a film called Babe you will recognised Saint-Saens Symphony No 3 as farmer Hogget talks, sings and dances to the piece,

after the intermission, the big event,

it was absolutely stunning, 

I did not take a camera today, we relied on Diana's telephone to take the photographs and these couple of short videos,

just to give you a small listen to Carmina, as it happens you were not supposed to take any videos, but there it is,

what a performance by all concerned as they take a bow, 

 and at the end of the performance Diana made a video of the performers taking a bow, what a wonderful present from Diana to myself, we joined the queue for the bus which arrived in no time, arriving at Victoria just a few minutes and the train started our journey home, arriving it was late but still time for a nightcap, I am only making this one post today, as either my laptop or the Internet is having a hissy fit, and posting this has taken an age, so with our nightcap finished we were off to bed.