He [Beecham] addressed the audience in these words—" . . . I am reminded of the occasion [in 1916] when the honour and privilege were mine to present the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society to M. Pachmann . . . At this concert we were performing one of the Chopin piano concertos—I forget which—and Pachmann was playing with that felicity of touch now legendary; and I was conducting as well as it is humanly possible to conduct a Chopin Piano Concerto  . . . In the middle of the slow movement, Pachmann stopped dead, stopped playing, and, leaning over the keyboard towards me, said 'Isn't it lofely?' And I replied, 'Indeed it is lovely, M. Pachmann—but would you mind going on?' "