It was October 1936- To be precise, October 21st, 22nd and 23rd. It was the occasion of the Sheffield Festival at Sheffield City Hall. There were four concerts in all, two on the opening day; at 2pm and 7-30pm and the others on the two following days.
There was a Festival Chorus of 400 voices, plus a choir of 140 boys and girls. The orchestra was the London Philharmonic under Sir Henry J Wood and Dr J Frederic Staton.
The first concert began with the Berlioz Te Deum, followed by the Brahms Violin Concerto with Adolph Busch as the soloist. In the second half the baton was passed to Sergei Rachmaninov who conducted his choral work The Bells. Some parts of this work had been specially amended for the choir. Soloists for this work were Isobel Baillie, Parry Jones and Harold Williams.
The evening concert saw Rachmaninov again, this time as soloist in his Piano Concerto number 2. This was preceded by Bach's Magnificat. In the second half was Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration followed by Vaughan-Williams's A Sea Symphony.
According to a contemporary newspaper, " Sir Henry's interpretation is in Rachmaninov's opinion an ideal one". The choir sang "with splendid tone and never do they overweight the orchestra".
For the concerto "a performance of intense energy was rapturously received" and the pianist composer was given another mighty ovation. The Sheffield Independent reported that Rachmaninov and his wife left the City Hall at the interval after the concerto.
The Second Evening of the Festival featured Verdi's Requiem, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, Mozart's Haffner Symphony and Liszt's Piano Concerto No 1.
The Chairman of the City Hall Committee, Mr Harry Morris, was quoted as saying, " I think that there is something wrong with the hall for choral and orchestral music."
The final night was marked with Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1( Soloist Solomon), Delius's Brigg Fair and finally Handel's Coronation Anthem - "The King shall rejoice" .
One critic remarked, "Something will have to be done... I refer to the acoustics. It seems a pity that such powerful singing should so forcibly remind one of an aquarium - the ever opening mouth and the lack of sound."
The Festival Chorus received medals to mark the occasion.
Also in town that week, playing at the Empire was Larry Adler, who made his way to the City Hall to obtain Rachmaninov's autograph.