Belshazzar’s Feast in Buenos Aires continued.
It was a trip to Buenos Aires in 1991 that gave Alan a sense of direction: at a sumptuous champagne reception in the circle foyer of the Teatro Colón after conducting the Argentine première of Belshazzar's Feast he had been surrounded by Argentines eager to talk about British culture. Since then Alan has seized upon any chance to take the best of British music around the world, and Hungary and Romania soon became his home from home.
'There has been and there continues to be a lot of important music which has taken too long to be presented in Buenos Aires. One of these was Belshazzar's Feast, a major work by William Walton, the composer who together with Benjamin Britten has been placed in the first rank of English musical composition this century, and consequently an outstanding exponent of music of all time. Too long delayed in arriving here, Belshazzar's Feast is concrete evidence of imagination, talent, intensity of expression and brilliance.
Alan Tongue fulfilled his role efficiently with ample reserves strengthened by the understanding and dedication which he obviously put into his role. We are dealing with a responsible musician who shows the effects of the influence of Sergiu Celibidache during his formative years. He was appreciated to the high standard which the event merited.'
La Nacion
22 October 1991