The cutting is from a 1947 newspaper supplied by Peter Trehearn. The Hallé Orchestra and star soloist Moura Lympany (above) were quite a draw and only the Pavilion would have had enough seats. The Hallé, I suspect, might have preferred the acoustics in the Queens Theatre, West Parade, where they had played earlier in 1940s during World War 2.The Hallé came to the Queens in 1941 conducted by Sir Henry Wood (b.1869, d.1944) the originator of the Proms concerts. The orchestra returned in 1942 and twice in 1943, each time under the baton of Malcolm Sargent (b.1895, knighted 1947, d.1967) who had turned down the offer of a musical directorship in Australia to stay in this country while the war was on.
Whatever the issues of acoustics, the Pavilion during the war years hosted appearances by the Bournemouth, Liverpool and London Philharmonic orchestras and the distinguished concert pianists Poushnoff, Moseiwitsch and Mark Hambourg.
l
l
l
l
