The Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall. With such a long and powerful name one should expect wonderful things. And you are right you should and you will not be disappointed. We did the experiment last night and it was For The Win!

I have already written about how excited I got when I discovered the facility on the Berlin Philharmonic’s website. I tried the trial snippet of music to check on our broadband connection speed. All seemed fine there.

Then last Sunday I actually paid for an item in the Archives, a Beethoven piano concerto, to try out. And that was wonderful, although slightly lumpy in terms of reception. And I just watched it on my computer. That made me a little concerned. What would happen once we sent the signal through our data projector?

On Friday, I had arranged for my friend to come around for an early dinner and a concert thereafter. The concert, playing an hour earlier than in Berlin, was scheduled for 7.00pm.

We duly had our meal and settled down with a glass of wine. The lounge had been re-arranged and the sofa faced the wall so we could watch the concert on the ‘big’ screen. Computer plugged into projector and extra speakers, we were ready for the treat. At just under £8 for three of us this was going to be an economic night.

And we were not disappointed at all. In fact it was overwhelmingly good. The first bit was a Schumann four horn number which was wonderful and sheer entertainment by virtue of it being played beautifully as well as being so unusual.

But then came the treat of the night, the  Schumann piano concerto with the resident pianist. What a musician. She entertained us with her expressive face and movements.

She played wonderfully well and due to the close up camera work we could enjoy her amazing fingers working that Steinway. We were treated to visuals which we would never have been able to observe attending the concert.

Of course attending a live show whether a concert or a theatre performance has its own charm. The atmosphere of the place, the buzz of excitement from the audience, the whole magic of a night out all add to ones enjoyment. But this Digital Concert Hall in our lounge was an experience all in its own league. Wonderful.

During the interval we had a chat about Benjamin Zander’s TED talk. Zanders is a musician who travels the world encouraging people to enjoy classical music amongst other objectives. He has a theory that musicians playing with passion tend to lift up from their seat. He calls it a one buttock performance.

Our pianist was a one buttock player. In fact at times she played without any buttocks! Magnificent Tokyo-born Mitsuko Uchida was amazing. And what was really nice was that we got a lovely introduction to her during interval when an interview was broadcast. Her enthusiasm for music and her art were inspiring.

All in all, a most magnificent evening’s entertainment. Long live broadband and the Digital Concert Hall!