‘Radio often makes use of a language trusted by peoples of all tongues: music’ November 27th, 1967, 19.30 (Greenwich Mean Time) precisely. The refined tones of the Radio 3 announcer: ‘Tonight at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London the BBC presents, on behalf of the European Broadcasting Union, the opening concert of the Union’s first international concert season.’
Simultaneously across Europe on that late autumn evening 50 years ago (see box, p54) – in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey – other radio presenters were introducing the concert in their own ways. The line-up of performers and repertoire was pure pedigree. Britten conducting the English Chamber Orchestra, opening up with Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. Then came the Amadeus String Quartet playing…
