The whole Classical Cocktails series is an experiment, but the first night is the most unsettling first step into new grounds.
We will start the playlist at 5.10pm on the dot with Präludium und Fuge from the first book of the Wohltemperierte Klavier.
Back in 1985, when I was a student at Munich University, I went to one of the very first concerts at the newly built Philharmonie am Gasteig. Friedrich Gulda was on the programme with a solo evening, but without announcing any detail of what he was going to play.
There were teething problems with the ticketing system and I was one of probably no more than 100 lucky people who managed to get in. Looking back, I cannot help but think that English managers would have found a more flexible solution, but in Munich, at least at that time, if you did not have a ticket you would not be “zugelassen”. End of story. I had queued early, so I was one of the chosen few.
He opened with what most of us instantly would recognise, the Präludium und Fuge that starts this playlist. “Wir müssen uns erst einmal einhören”, he said. We need to first get used to the new acoustics, not a pluralis maiestatis, but including us into his invitation to acclimatise to the new space.
So, let us “einhören” in the new space, in the Light Lounge with the Friedrich Gulda recording.
I then continue with a wild mix of piano music until 7.00pm, when I switch to powerful symphonic music, starting with the almost clichéd first movement of Beethoven’s fifth.
More Beethoven follows, but also Mahler, Mozart, and Bruckner. Yes, Bruckner, despite my disdain, it’s for my friend Simon, he thinks Bruckner has “gravitas”. Not.
The evening then goes crazy (if you are of a sensitive nature or drunk or both) with choral dramatics in the form of Verdi opera, then Mozart’s Requiem and then finally Verdi’s Requiem. If you are still there at closing time, maybe Libera Me or Dies Irae will encourage you to retire to the safety of your home.