WQED fm PSO Tour Blog

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Bartok Museum, Budapest

I met Pittsburgh-born harpsichordist Geoffrey Thomas at the home of Hungary’s most famous composer, Bela Bartok. I took a taxi for the 15 minute drive to the house from Pest over to Buda on the hilly side of the Danube River. Birds sang sweetly as I walked up the path to the house that’s surrounded by tall trees and green lawns; the grounds all carefully manicured.  We were the only visitors this afternoon, and had a private tour guide in Agnes Boobelly. She led us through the concert hall which seats 150, and showed us Bartok’s Bösendorfer piano. A cigarette was discovered inside the piano in 2006 when the instrument was restored, confirming the habit of the composer. Here is his phonograph, hauled by cart throughout Romania and Transylvania to record folk songs; his handmade furniture, which Geoffrey assured me is beautiful but uncomfortable; and on the third floor, his many collections such as the insects that inspired his set of piano pieces titled Mikrokosmos. The house gleams white in the sunshine and has a great view of the Budapest hillside. No wonder why Bartok’s heart was broken when he left home at the start of the Second World War. He visited Pittsburgh on several occasions to perform recitals and play concertos with the Pittsburgh Symphony under fellow Hungarian Fritz Reiner. Reiner joined forces with Serge Koussevitsky of the Boston Symphony to commission the last music completed by Bartok, his Concerto for Orchestra. Reiner made the first recording of Bartok’s most popular masterpiece in Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque.

Geoffrey Thomas and Jim Cunningham

Geoffrey Thomas and Jim Cunningham

It was great to see Geoffrey Thomas again. I’ve known his mom, flutist Jean Thomas, for a long time. She and I worked together on a series of radio programs with The Dear Friends ensemble. Geoffrey and I rode the subway, looked around the city center, and stopped at the Girbeaud coffee shop for Dobos torte. I took a  short tram ride to the National Concert Hall and its Bela Bartok Theater. I’m always a little nervous when I don’t know a word of the language and the street signs make no sense to me whatsoever. I asked a neatly-dressed couple if they knew where the National Concert Hall was. They said they were going there to hear Anne-Sophie Mutter. When I said I was from Pittsburgh, they quickly added that they had heard that the Pittsburgh Symphony was very distinguished and they were looking forward to the Mahler.

The National Concert Hall is delicious with bright red carpets, and lights that constantly change color after dark. There’s a fantastic art book shop downstairs connected to the adjoining Ludwig Museum. The only sour note was an usher who simply would not be convinced to let me back in after Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. I had to content myself with listening in the wings as Manfred Honeck conducted the Johann Strauss Jr. encore, Éljen a Magyar! (Long Live Hungary!), which asks the Pittsburgh Symphony members to shout out “Hungary!” on the final note.

Jim Cunningham and Anne-Sophie Mutter

Jim Cunningham and Anne-Sophie Mutter

PSO Board member Basil Cox and Jayne Adair told me they loved the evening. They were off to Venice in the morning to fulfill a promise of three decades standing.

Anne-Sophie Mutter completed her run of seven concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony; eight if you count Carnegie Hall in New York, and nine if you add the snowy night in February when she played the Brahms Concerto at Heinz Hall. She told me in her dressing room, still wearing a beautiful gown, that she and André Previn both love the Pittsburgh Orchestra. She’d just talked to André about his concerts in Prague days after the Pittsburgh left town. André had played chamber music and conducted the Czech Philharmonic. Her refreshment table was outfitted not with M&M’s, but rather a bowl of granola or muesli and fresh fruit. I thought her praise for Pittsburgh was genuine. It’s clear she liked working with Manfred Honeck and with Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida, who has a big oboe solo in the Brahms.

Anne-Sophie told the Budapest audience that “Your sense of rhythm is most impressive!” before playing her Bach encore.

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Click any photo for more pictures

Must run. I just wanted you to see a little of the second and final concert in Vienna. I ran into the wife of artist Henry Koerner, Joan, at the famous Demel’s pastry shop yesterday. Then it was on to the Central, where a pianist entertained the café regulars. Nikolai Znaider, the soloist we’ve had at Heinz Hall in several violin concertos, was at the the Musikverein last night as was Manfed’s brother Rainer and many other family members. It was fun to see Mildred Miller Posvar, the star of many productions of Der Rosenkavalier, in the front row when Manfred conducted that opera’s final waltz, as well as Johann Strauss’ The Dragonfly in the city where the Waltz King was born.

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Click any photo for more pictures

The first of the two concerts at Vienna’s storied Musikverein was a family affair for the Honeck family, attended by Manfred’s three sisters Elfi, Sibylle, and Marlies; his Jesuit priest son Joachim, his son Matthias, nephew Patrick, brother-in-law Florian Partl, and many others. I spoke with Joachim at the post-concert reception and dinner given by Manfred Honeck in the Stadtpark at the Kursalon, where Johann Strauss conducted his waltzes.  I’ve mentioned before that every family member I’ve met quickly transmits the same warmth and good humor as our Pittsburgh Symphony Music Director. They all seem smart, kind, funny, charming, gemütlich and handsome. Where is the dark side? I haven’t found it. Joachim explained his calling, vows, celibacy, 30-year educational journey, devotion, and service. He told me he didn’t give up the idea of marriage lightly, having had at least one serious girlfriend.

Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein

Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein

US Ambassador William Eacho was very cheerful, and warm in welcome. He was a top fundraiser for President Obama, and has had multiple business successes before his appointment here in Vienna last August. There was riotous, raucous applause for Manfred Honeck’s remarks at the dinner. He said he would need to get some help from the Steelers’ coach in order to know what to say about the next concert tonight in Vienna, having just had so much success and knowing that it was after midnight. Second trumpet Neal Berntsen was singled out with much laughter. It seems Neal had suggested that Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons had thrown tour parties, and Neal had joked that Manfred might do the same. Horn Steve Kostyniak gave a gracious response from the orchestra, and one of the biggest ovations went out for PSO Board Chair Dick Simmons, who was there with his wife Ginny. There was applause for Manfred Honeck’s manager Lothar Schacke, and a feeling overall of great exultation at the reception from the Viennese to Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. ORF radio journalist Peter Kisslinger told me he never heard the Beethoven dance like it had this evening.

Vienna Philharmonic basses stand ready

Vienna Philharmonic basses stand ready

The five-man ORF crew recording the concert welcomed me warmly into their control room and gave me a tour. When I asked if I could take a picture, editor Fridolyn Stolz quickly wadded up a bag of McDonald’s remains to toss in the trash. The hall is gorgeous, as you know from the New Year’s Day telecasts, with statues of Carl Maria von Weber, Mozart, Liszt, and Mahler; a fabulous cafe with Viennese tortes and sandwiches, and the Manner wafer cookies you can buy at Nicholas Coffee in Pittsburgh’s Market Square. Lots of players went to the Vienna Philharmonic’s rehearsal in the afternoon conducted by Valery Gergiev. It was interesting to see how the Vienna Philharmonic stores its basses — lined up in stands by a window just offstage. At Heinz Hall, the basses are kept in a climate-controlled room, but here they’re exposed to the sun and humidity. Conditions should be just right for the second big concert tonight, with Anne-Sophie Mutter joining the Pittsburgh Symphony at the Musikverein as soloist in Brahms’ Violin Concerto, followed by Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 directed by Manfred Honeck. The photos tell the story, so please look at the complete gallery.

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Click any photo for more pictures

At last, the Pittsburgh Symphony has arrived in the city of Johann Strauss, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and Schoenberg. Even Gottfried von Einem has a star on the walk of fame here, just outside the Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic, where the Pittsburgh Symphony rehearses later this morning and presents the first of two concerts tomorrow night. It was a quick trip from Dresden yesterday. I saw a kids’ T-shirt I liked in the Dresden airport. In German it said, “Why should I clean my room when the world is in chaos?” A question I’ve been asking since childhood.

I took a stroll on the broad Strassen of Vienna to the Musikverein, where posters proclaimed the Pittsburgh Symphony “Ausverkauft,” sold out.

Last evening, it was a trip to the Wienerwald at the edge of the city where the new Grüner Veltliner, wine fresh from the press and plucked from the vines on the hillside, is poured for guests at the Schreiberhaus. The Symphony patrons group met there for a gemütlich Abend.

Hotel Sacher and Casino Wien

Hotel Sacher and Casino Wien

Today, I walked to the Hotel Sacher for a piece of Sacher Torte. It’s been baked there since 1832. The hotel says it receives letters addressed to “Hotel Chocolate Cake.” The Hotel Sacher was first named for Franz Sacher, then came the torte. In 1962, a Viennese court decision ruled that only the Hotel Sacher had the original Sacher Torte: rich chocolate cake with a light layer of apricot, it seems, although the recipe is a closely-held secret.

Across the street is the Herbert von Karajan Platz, site of the Vienna Staatsoper, which was sending its production of Rossini’s Italian Girl in Algiers onto a jumbo screen in the square, in the manner of a Penguins playoff game at Mellon Arena.  I found another Pittsburgh Symphony LP in the used-records bin outside the opera; Karl Goldmark’s Rustic Wedding Symphony with Andre Previn conducting, for seven euros. Inside, I found a reissue of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto from 1928 featuring Bronislav Huberman with former Pittsburgh Symphony Music Director William Steinberg leading the Berlin Staatskapelle.

Gustav Mahler death mask

Gustav Mahler death mask

Then it was on to the Vienna Theater Museum, next to the Albertina, where a giant exhibit honors Gustav Mahler’s 150th anniversary year. The items on display are drawn from all around the globe, including a photo of Mahler with his daughter, Anna, on loan from the University of Pennsylvania. You can see his glasses and many other personal effects, and you can listen to more than a dozen interviews of conductors talking about Mahler, including Pittsburgh’s own Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons. You can hear the interviews online at universaledition.com/mahler.  The Vienna Theater Museum is in the Lobkowitz Palace, the former home of Franz Lobkowitz, one of Beethoven’s friends and patrons. Beethoven dedicated his Third, Fifth, and Sixth Symphonies, and Op. 18 quartets to Lobkowitz, who named his giant Eroica Saal, with ceiling paintings by the Dutch artist Jacob von Schuppen, in honor of the composer.

I’m trying to get to as many coffee shops as possible for the atmosphere, and because you can hit and run with Apfelstrudel. I thought the strudel at the smoky Kleines Cafe on the Franziskaner Platz compared quite well with the strudel at Prantl’s in Shadyside.

Brass players in the Biergarten: Craig Knox, Peter Sullivan, Johann Ströcker, James Nova

Brass players in the Biergarten: Craig Knox, Peter Sullivan, Hans Störker, James Nova

On the way back to the hotel, I wound through the city park. There, the gleaming gold statue of Johann Strauss with his violin was admired and photographed by hordes of tourists while kids threw Frisbees on the great, green lawn. There’s a beer garden near the entrance to the park, and there I found brass players including Johann Ströcker, one of three bass trombones in the Vienna Philharmonic, reconnecting with our Principal Tuba Craig Knox, Principal Trombone Peter Sullivan, and trombone Jim Nova.

Julia Wehmeier graduated from Sewickley Academy and now lives in Brussels where she’s a graphic designer and teaches several languages for Berlitz. She and her Mom, Erika Wehmeier, who you’ll meet at Heinz Hall on a typical Friday night, taught me the German idiom “Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund,” or as Ben Franklin said it, “Early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” So I’m going to bed.

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Click any photo for more pictures

Now 804 years old, the city of Dresden was every bit as thrilling as Prague. We had bright sunshine and a few hours to look around before a rehearsal of Schumann’s Cello Concerto with Jan Vogler. Vogler is the Intendant, or director, of the festival. After his encore of solo Bach, he sat for the second half in the Royal Box on the first balcony level. The Pittsburgh Symphony had an enthusiastic standing ovation and gave three encores: The Dragonfly by Johann Strauss, the Rosenkavalier final waltz, and the Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5. Some applause at the end of the first movement of the Mahler First suggested a number of tourists may have been in the audience, but shouting at the end of the music made you think, “Sie lieben Pittsburgh!”  After the concert, I ran over to the broadcast truck for Deutschlandfunk. Isobel Roth, the Sprecher (announcer), told me that the concert will go out Monday night (May 24, 2010) on Deutschlandfunk across Germany, and will be repeated on Wednesday on MDR.

She said she loved the concert, and was impressed at the chemistry between Manfred and the Pittsburgh. She knew Manfred well, having interviewed him in the afternoon and broadcast his concerts with the MDR Radio Orchestra, where she thought there had been less chemistry. She praised the Schumann, but suggested she had heard some performances with more personality.

Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk's Isobel Roth, host for the PSO's broadcast in Dresden

MDR's Isabel Roth, host for the Pittsburgh Symphony broadcast in Dresden

I attempted a look at the rebuilt Church of Our Lady, which reopened with a concert led by Lorin Maazel in 2006, but the church was closed for a few hours until 8:00 pm. A group called Eva was having a youth conference for peace, in the spirit of the Peace Corps, in front of the Frauenkirche. They all wore yellow T-shirts and enjoyed a wurst from an outdoor stand. It’s an outdoor city, with cafés all around. They’re especially lovely on the Elbe River. On the steps of the Brühlscher Terasse, I tasted a Feldschlösschen Pils, and spent a few minutes watching people about to go on a boat tour. The excursion boats toot their throaty whistles as they set sail. Surely Pittsburgh can steal some of the riverfront energy from Dresden.

I made a quick run through the Zwinger Museum and its enormous collection of old masters. At the entrance, you are presented with a rather elaborate list of the rules of conduct in English and German. I noticed the same at the Frauenkirche if you wanted to climb up to the cupola. Thanks to my German grandfather, Reverend Ortner, I think some German stereotypes are fun. And here was the German suggestion of “Alles in Ordnung.”

Cello soloist and Dresden music festival director Jan Vogler takes a bow with Manfred Honeck

Cello soloist and Dresden music festival director Jan Vogler takes a bow with Manfred Honeck

I ran into Principal Bassoonist Nancy Goeres and  Principal Clarinetist Michael Rusinek at the Zwinger. Michael told me not to miss the Vermeer painting of a young woman reading a letter at an open window. What is in the letter? Her expression suggests she is happy to get it. Then there was Tiepolo, Canaletto, and a room of Rubens and Cranach, known for his famous portrait of Martin Luther. Luther stands as a statue in front of the Frauenkirche, too. Statuary is grand in the wunderbar courtyard of the Zwinger with fountains spraying.

At the Zwinger café, I tried the Dresden cheese pastry called the Dresdner Eierscheke. Their copy of Der Spiegel for May 22 had Die Beatles on the cover. “50 Jahre!” Dresden’s daily newspaper, the Sachsische Zeitung, had an interesting article on NY State Senator Eric Adams, and his efforts to stop the American youth habit of wearing their pants hanging below their bottoms with their underwear hanging out. It’s an assault on “sagging” pants. “Zieh Deine Hosen Hoch!” Pull your pants up!  That’s the news from Deutschland.

In thirty minutes, we’re off to Vienna.

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Click any photo for more pictures

The buses let us off at the “Kiss and Fly” parking spot in front of the gleaming new Luxembourg airport. Like everything else in Luxembourg, it seems like no expense was spared. Shiny glass and sleek with polished floors and spacious everything. We boarded the charter flight to Prague. Weather still perfect. The hotel in Prague is just a few steps from the old town square and its world famous astronomical clock at the town hall. A rock band with a female lead guitarist was thunderously loud on the cobblestone square. Under a bright sun, vendors in old wooden shacks sold crafts and Czech-style doughnuts, baked potatoes, and barbecue. There was amazing energy in every direction, with shopping and sight seeing and open air cafés all around. It has to be one of the most photogenic spots on earth. Anywhere you point your camera you’ll get a nice shot.

PSO Principal Oboist Cynthia Koledo de Almeida and Principal Bass Trombonist Murray Crewe strolled through the square to the Moldau River and the dark stone Charles Bridge, where a Dixieland band played, and throngs crossed the bridge admiring the statuary.

Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida and Jim Cunningham

Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida and Jim Cunningham

I made a visit to the Bedrich Smetana Museum, where I admired Smetana’s spectacles. The composer of My Fatherland with its famous Moldau lived in Prague. You can see the river he immortalized from the high windows of the museum.

The Smetana Hall in the sprawling Municipal House, where the Pittsburgh Symphony played tonight, was built in 1911. It’s been immaculately restored. A high skylight brings in daylight shining on the cathedral-like stonework at either side of the stage. Hundreds of pink flowers in window boxes lined the stage. At the entrance is a gorgeous restaurant on one side, and a café on the other. Hundreds of concertgoers relaxed in the lobby with a drink, and very appealing pastry.

Bedrich Smetana's glasses

Bedrich Smetana's glasses

Before the concert, at the reception for the Pittsburgh Regional Authority, I spoke with Dan Dennehy from the Katz Graduate School at the University of Pittsburgh, and PSO tour physician Dr. Ted Osial. Dan is here with a group of students who learning the ways of European business and some of the Czech language.

The audience was wild about the Pittsburgh Symphony in Prague, shouting “bravo,” and giving a standing ovation. There were two encores–The Dragonfly by Johann  Strauss, and the the Final Waltz From Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss. Anne-Sophie Mutter was in top form in the Brahms Concerto and Bach encore. She signed CDs in the lobby. I’ve heard her play this music seven times now, counting in Pittsburgh, and at Carnegie Hall in New York–and it’s still thrilling.

Rehearsal at Smetana Hall

Rehearsal at Smetana Hall

Enthusiastic patrons, arts mavens, and civic boosters Tom and Jamee Todd were on hand, along with Dick and Ginny Simmons, Helge and Erika Wehmeier, Gail and Greg Harbaugh, and many more. Helge told me that he is off tomorrow for a meeting in Shanghai, but will rejoin PSO fans in Vienna next Thursday. Larry Tamburri told me that he’d run into CMU’s Mildred Miller Posvar in Prague. I bumped into Jack Allen, President and CEO of all-classical KPBS in Portland, Oregon, who’d brought a group of music fans from the Pacific Coast to this Pittsburgh concert as part of their tour of Chopin sites in Europe. I’d met Jack when he worked for Minnesota Public Radio a few years back. He said his group loved the Pittsburgh and were very impressed.

At 11:00 am Sunday, it’s off to a city totally destroyed in World War II, Dresden, Germany. Richard Strauss witnessed the premieres of several of his great operas at Dresden’s Semperoper, where the Pittsburgh Symphony will perform. With luck, you may be able to hear it on Monday, as broadcast from the website of Deutschlandfunk starting at 2:03 Eastern. Try this link. Click on the live stream spot on the right hand side of the page.

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Click any photo for more pictures

The second concert in Luxembourg was even more thrilling than the first. Anne Sophie Mutter was radiant in the Brahms Concerto and her Bach encore. The Shostakovich Fifth Symphony brought two encores, The Dragonfly by Johann Strauss, and the Final Waltz from Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.

The weather was perfect. I strolled through the Musée Art Moderne designed by architect I. M. Pei. It was built within the walls of Luxembourg’s ancient fortifications  just a few yards from the Philharmonie. The Musée is mostly white, and it’s flooded with natural light from broad windows and Pei’s hallmark pyramidal glass ceiling. It’s  filled with artists such as Cindy Sherman and modern mischief makers from the Luxembourg region in an exhibit called Brave New World. There were only a few folks on hand at opening time on Friday morning. The building is a draw in and of itself. I’d go there again just to have another pear tart in the most spectacular museum café I can recall.

Der Führer's Face

Der Führer's Face

I joined about 20 of the tour members for an excursion organized by the PSO’s President and CEO Larry Tamburri, and Vice President of Public Relations Jim Barthen. We visited the battlefield of one of the most momentous conflicts of WWII in Belgium, The Battle of the Bulge.  About an hour across the Belgian border, we stopped at a storefront museum in the town of Bastogne that was full of battlefield souvenirs, guns, knives, rockets, radios, Chesterfield cigarette packs, rations, helmets, water canteens and implements of destruction of every kind from Germans, Russians, British and Americans. Then we visited the 1950 memorial to American dead, and looked over the green fields with cows grazing where the bombs exploded. John Soroka’s dad fought in the battle and was hit by a rocket, but lived. He never told the tale to his kids like so many veterans who never wanted to reveal the unspeakable horrors they’d seen.

Percussionist John Soroka at the Bastogne Historical Center

Percussionist John Soroka at the Bastogne Historical Center

Now the pace quickens again with a plane to Prague early in the morning. Then, Sunday, another city where bombs flattened the landscape in WWII– Dresden, Germany. On Monday we’re off to Vienna, Austria.

Don’t forget to visit the Deutschlandfunk web site, where you can listen to a high-fidelity stream of the PSO live from Dresden on Monday, May 24 at 2:00 pm Eastern time. Cellist Jan Vogler will play the Schumann concerto, to be followed by Mahler’s Symphony #1.

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Click any photo for more pictures

The Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte of Luxembourg was responsible for the amazing undertaking of building the new hall where the Pittsburgh Symphony played Beethoven and Dvorak tonight. But she died before she could hear the first concert there in 2005. Her life was tragic, I was told by Luxembourg residents Eric and Renee Osch who came to tonight’s concert. Eric is the Treasury Controller for Ikano Group. The IK in the company name comes from the initials of Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA. When I mentioned that IKEA had opened one of its first North American stores in Pittsburgh, he told me that IKEA struggled at first with Americans, who want king, queen, and double size beds, while Swedes are content to buy one size.

Eric and Renee introduced me to Dominique Hansen, the Chief of Corporate Relations for the Philharmonie. These three could not have been more charming. Tom Castelyn, the Managing Director of BNY Mellon Benelux and France, welcomed clients. He told me that he thinks Europe will work out the problems of the euro. Still, it’s clear that concern about the European Monetary Union is great. The mood generally at the concert was cheerful. There were two encores of Chopin; a waltz and a mazurka from Emanuel Ax after his Beethoven Emperor Concerto, and three encores from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Dominique Hansen, Eric and Renee Osch

Dominique Hansen, Eric and Renee Osch

The Philharmonie sounded great. Its Grand Auditorium and chamber music hall are enclosed in a vast, jaw-dropping space filled with lights and surrounded by 823 white steel columns. I saw lovely refreshments being served after the concert, but I didn’t have time to try one. Immense, colorful season program booklets were available. The program for the PSO’s concert was elaborate, with with lots of color, and program notes and bios in English and French.

The ride from Frankfurt to Luxembourg this morning was uneventful, except for the Ritter Sport chocolate bar I managed to melt and smear over much of my outfit for today. It’s been cold and rainy in Luxembourg until the Pittsburgh Symphony arrived. Today was a perfect day for looking at the old city and the new with 72 degrees and blue sky. David Sogg and Andy Reamer rode their folding bicycles which pack away into their own suitcases. David rode from Montana to Alaska in 2008. He rides a bike made by Bike Friday.

Percussionist Andy Reamer and his folding bike

Percussionist Andy Reamer and his folding bike

Luxembourg has all the beauty of Switzerland and quite a bit of the wealth. Driving in, we saw miles of amazing new buildings including the Philharmonie, elegant shops, and outdoor cafes. There were lots of stylishly-dressed people letting their elegant fragrances waft by. Even the McDonald’s serves outdoors with style.

I stopped at the new National Museum of History and Art, whose collection includes a Picasso, many Luxembourg painters, and the complete drawings of James Ensor. I think this show was at the Museum of Modern Art in NY last fall. Belgian-born Ensor inspired Bob Dylan’s song Desolation Row and another song I haven’t heard by the alternative band They Might Be Giants. Ensor was scandalous through most of his life, poking a sharp stick at authority figures, living through WWII in Belgium, then dying in 1949.

Applause for the Pittsburgh Symphony in Luxembourg

Applause for the Pittsburgh Symphony in Luxembourg

Tomorrow, percussionist and long time timpanist John Soroka and other musicians are visiting the site of the Battle of the Bulge not far away. John’s Dad fought in the Battle. Anne Sophie Mutter returns for the Brahms Violin Concerto. We leave for the rehearsal at 8:45 and yes, breakfast is included!

On Monday, May 24th, the orchestra’s concert in Dresden will be broadcast, and you can hear it on the Internet.  Go to the Deutschlandfunk web site for details. The program begins at 2:03 pm Eastern time. Cellist Jan Vogler will playSchumann’s Cello Concerto, to be followed by Mahler’s Symphony #1.

Click any picture for more photos

Click any picture for more photos

Leaving Paris on Tuesday morning on the bus we experienced the Parisian tradition of the one-day strike with a parade of hundreds of postal workers in the traffic lane next to the bus. The strikers seemed to be in a happy frame of mind even if working conditions are in need of improvement. Conditions improved for the sleepless on this tour, with a day off in Frankfurt today.

I joined clarinetist Ron Samuels and other players on a rainy day visit to the Goethe Haus and Museum in the city where the author of Faust was born. Goethe is near the top of most revered German writers and turns up often in song settings. You can stroll along Goethestrasse to the Goetheplatz to see the Goethe statue. A large statue and fountain devoted to Gutenberg and his printing press is just a few steps further on.  Perhaps you parked at the Goethe parking garage or took the subway to the Goethe stop. The Haus was destroyed during WWII bombing raids in 1943 but it has been carefully restored. I was tempted by the marble bust in the gift shop but the 150 Euro tab was steep and no, they don’t take credit cards. The CDs Am Goethe Haus shop did accept plastic, so I picked up a collection called Chilling Cello with Jim Sweenie’s CD pick, Sol Gabetta, Yo Yo Ma, and Jan Vogler our soloist in the Schumann concerto on this tour. I also bought a collection of Deep German Jazz Grooves and a few other treats. They had vinyl LPs, including a Pittsburgh Symphony record with William Steinberg conducting Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Goethe House Museum

Goethe House Museum

On the way back, I bumped into Resident Conductor Lawrence Loh who was investigating the Frankfurt Apple Store. The mood is very similar to the store in Shadyside and the store clerks wear the same blue T-shirts.

I joined cellists Hampton and Lauren Scott Mallory, and violinist Sarah Clendenning for Spargel. Spargel is the gigantic white asparagus that Frankfurt is famous for. It’s very delicate in spite of its size. The Hilton features a Spargelzeit menu with over a dozen specials including the Erdbeer Spargel Crisp with strawberries and asparagus slices for desert. I had the Spargel Klassisch with boiled potatoes and Hollandaise sauce and some thinly sliced ham. The choices included Spargel with veal in a crepe, risotto Spargel, Spargel Suppe, Spargel and ricotta ravioli.  Sehr Gut!

Die Alte Oper, where the Pittsburgh Symphony played last night, was beautiful by day and night. The smiling faces of former Pittsburghers Mariss Jansons and Anne-Sophie Mutter were featured on posters in the Platz. You get a strong sense of the old Frankfurt that vanished set against the modern high-rise skyline. Chilling to think of our Music Director William Steinberg conducting here in 1929, giving the world premiere of Von Heute auf Morgen by Schoenberg and then fleeing the Nazis just a few years later. The opera was in ruins until 1967 when the Wiederaufbau, or reconstruction, began with a reopening conducted by Sir George Solti in 1981. PSO Principal Trumpet George Vosburgh played that concert as a member of the Chicago Symphony. The new and the old, side by side, is especially strong  in the Opera Platz, and at the Goethe statue where you can see the skyscrapers including the Commerzbank building designed by British architect Norman Foster. The building’s jagged top impresses by day or at night with yellow lighting. We need a Foster building in Pittsburgh!

Detail of Alte Oper, Frankfurt

Alte Oper, Frankfurt

“Herzliche Grüsse and Guten Tag!,” to the Studenten of Linden Schule in Point Breeze and Mrs. Cunningham’s Fifth grade class! If you ask a person from Frankfurt for a Frankfurter you’d get a strange look. They call hot dogs Wiener or Wurst. You could ask for green sauce. It’s delicious served in a potato.  Grüne Sosse is a feature on the menu in the weeks close to Easter. Did you know Pittsburgh has a German speaking elementary school? They are wrapping up the year with a look at the German speaking countries.  I wish I had gone to Linden so that my German would be more fluent.

We’re hoping for a gute fahrt in the morning and maybe some Sonnenschein. We’ll be on the bus at 10:00 am, and a little over four hours later we say, “Bonjour, Luxembourg!,” for the concert with Emanuel Ax in Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and the Dvorak Eighth Symphony at the Philharmonie.

I’ve heard American Girl by Green Day on the radio more than any other song in the past week and in every country, plus it’s on MTV Germany as I type. The Hessian Radio HR2 is broadcasting the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz with the SWR South West German Radio Orchestra conducted by Roger Norrington. I often listen to TV and radio at the same time, so if what I write seems verrückt you know why.

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Click any photo for more pictures

The past two days’ schedules have been extremely tight, with travel and concerts back to back. From Basel to Stuttgart was smooth with a rest stop at Pforzheim Nord in the midst of hundreds of buses. I rode on the family bus decorated with a brightly-colored cartoon theme.

Stuttgart on a Sunday seemed extra quiet at first, but a short walk to the Königstrasse found a lively scene where the shops were closed although lots of Stuttgarters were out for a Spaziergang. The Kunst Forum was open with a huge video exhibition and a hip lobby bar. The old Schloss was impressive as were its fountains. In the Schillerplatz, Friedrich Schiller the author of the Ode To Joyour hero is remembered while all around him hundreds of vendors are having a flea market.

I looked into the Stiftskirche where a youthful praise service was underway with a rock band and a big projection screen with camerawork from the band and the words to the hymns shown in English and German. The prayers and readings from the psalms were in German. It had a very relaxed and open appeal even if the hymns were an organist’s nightmare.

The Liederhalle was full and the crowd loved Anne Sophie Mutter, too. The Mahler First Symphony roared to a close and we were off to pack up the bag for the early morning 8:05 departure.

Joann Vosburgh, Manfred Honeck, George Vosburgh with daughter at left

Joann Vosburgh, Manfred Honeck, and George Vosburgh with daughter at left

At the Stuttgart train station we had a half hour, long enough for a stop at Starbucks, where the Schoko chip cookie was just like in Pittsburgh across from Heinz  Hall. The TGV took off right on time with every seat filled. I sat with bassist Jeff Grubbs who told me he has several jazz dates lined up this summer. He’ll play at the Backstage Bar on June 8th, next to our Byham Studio, where he will also do the late show with a group called MAJI–the Murray Avenue Jazz Initiative. Jeff played jazz for the Mother’s Day brunch at the Fairmont Hotel, and who walked in? None other than PSO Music Director Manfred Honeck and his family.

The TGV roared along past Karlsruhe and Strasbourg at up to 200 miles an hour past sheep, farms and bright yellow mustard fields. Jeff shared an iPod game of Boggle with cellist Aron Zelkowicz.

Four hours later, we arrived right on time and enjoyed a fabulous sunny cool day in this most romantic city. The ride to our Paris hotel went right past the Phantom’s Palais Garnier Opera, the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps shopping meccas.

Pleyel pianos for sale across from the Salle Pleyel, Paris

Pleyel pianos for sale across from the Salle Pleyel, Paris

We only had a few hours so it was a quick walk to the Arc de Triumph then a stroll underneath the Eiffel Tower and a Metro Ride to gaze at the Seine and Notre Dame Cathedral. I enjoyed a Croque Madame sandwich at the Café Deux Palais across from the Palais de Justice in the oldest part of Paris. Violist Paul Silver and cellist Michael Lipman walked to the Louvre and through the Tuileries Gardens before we hailed a taxi for the return to the hotel. I love Paris in the Springtime.

The Salle Pleyel was the best of the three concerts with three encores. Khachaturian’s Galop from the ballet Masquerade includes a special quote from the Shostakovich Fifth Symphony heard earlier on the program in a solo played by Principal Clarinetist Michael Rusinek. The audience cheered and applauded in the special European rhythmic manner. I sat next to the Secretary General of the Salle Pleyel, Hugues de Saint Simon, who was very impressed by the Pittsburgh Symphony. He told me they’re already invited back in two years and they’d be invited every year, if they could come that often.

Jim Cunningham with the Eiffel Tower

Jim Cunningham with the Eiffel Tower

Outside the Salle Pleyel, built in 1927, I admired the Pleyel piano showroom. Pianist Rodrigo Ojeda played a Pleyel in the Shostakovich. The sound was very good from my seat in the Salle Pleyel, thanks to the concert hall’s redo just five years ago by CMU graduateand master acoustician Russell Johnson and his Artek Associates. There was a large Harmonia Mundi CD shop in the lobby, but I didn’t buy anything. And you didn’t believe me when I said the schedule was hectic.

My suitcase is already on its way to Frankfurt and I’ll soon follow it, if my alarm clock works. Get Smart was showing on the Arte Channel when I left my room at 7:00 pm. Now it’s broadcasting I Pagliacci. If you’re not clicking on the photos in this blog you are missing half the fun.