When I was fifteen or sixteen, I had been a member of the Dublin Music Library, which at that time was in Kevin Street, for a year or two. You were supposed to be over 18, but nobody said anything. I had a half-day from school on Wednesday (which was meant to be for playing rugby, eeurrgh!) and after lunch I would get the 15A bus into town and change my records at the library. The bus stop was in Harcourt Street, so I would sometimes go in to Kennedy's to look at beautiful art materials I couldn't usually afford.
A friend of my father's from Scotland visited and was interested that I was listening to classical music. He suggested that I should listen to Mahler and Elgar, who were unfamiliar to me. I suspect I'd never heard of Mahler. The next time I was in the Music Library I had a look to see what they had. There seemed to be several sets of something called the "Symphony of 1000" and a few other symphonies, all in boxed sets, so I'd have to use both of my tickets to borrow one. I somehow settled on the seventh
with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Georg Solti. I borrowed the miniature score as well for good measure.
I remember at that time that some unfamiliar works would just make no impression on me at all. It would take repeated listening before I could get into them. Not here. From the first I was absolutely bowled over by the work. I'd never heard anything like and I absolutely loved it!
