Restoration at Blackheath

I sat next to the great baritone, Sir Thomas Allen, at a candlelit dinner in the Great Hall at Blackheath. It was a fund-raiser in the late 1980s. He had just given a wonderful recital with accompanist Roger Vignoles in the lovely (and already restored) Small Hall.

The Great Hall was still completely unrestored. Hole in the roof. Pigeons in residence. Candlelit because there was no electricity supply. All the grubby residue evident from the occupation by the Department for Health and Social Services (who had been in residence since the Second World War).

I told Sir Tom about the famous musicians who had played and sung there from the 1890s, when it was built. Paderewski, Kreisler, Alfred Cortot, Peter Dawson, Elena Gerhardt, Percy Grainger, Dame Clara Butt…

“Who was the last person to sing in this hall?” asked Sir Tom.

“Well, we think it was the tenor, Heddle Nash,” I replied, “just before the war and the closure.”

And with that, Tom walked over to Roger Vignoles to ask for a note, then strolled over towards the stage, turned, and sang the Serenade from Don Giovanni (his greatest role). Unaccompanied.

Magic. Here he is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmbRvdzJmR0