Stuffed...
André Previn - conductor ( )
One good thing about André
Previn was that he had a good sense of humour so that when the following
happened he nearly fell off the podium laughing. It was a performance in the Flanders Festival
in Bruges of Berlioz Fantastic Symphony. In the 'March to the Scaffold' the Dies Irae is played. The tubular
bells join in at one point, but on this occasion some joker had stuffed a duster up one
of the bells. The result was a boom,
boom, boom, pshut at which point the
poor percussionist fell on his knees trying to extract the duster. It was with the greatest difficulty that
Previn could continue the performance.
Roger Birnstingl
