Blog

So, I have spent the last 12 days in Vienna visiting the city.  I have not been there for this much time since I lived there as an undergraduate in 1996.  It was nice to be there for that long.  I had a chance to see how much of Vienna had changed in the time I was gone.  (As if it would stay the same only because I want it to.)  I remember when I was living in Vienna in 1996, it felt as though the city would never change, as if the same people would be standing in the same spots on the street, and as if the same waiters were the same waiters that served Bernstein, Karajan, and Furtwangler when they came to Vienna.  This time, the city had a much different vibe.  It felt renewed.  It felt as though anything were possible.  I don’t know why I felt as though the city was so different.  Was it because I was there in the summer this time, and the last time I was there it was the winter?  Was it the fact that I felt more centered and comfortable as a person?  I don’t know, but I do know that I actually felt as though I would not mind living there.  Granted, I feel like I am cheating on Paris a bit!  So, I am now in the train between Paris and Salzburg.  I am on my way there as the Herbert von Karajan conducting fellow with the Salzburg Festival.  I am rather excited to be going to the city of Mozart.  (And, yes, the city of the von Trapps and hills that seem to be alive with the sound of music.)  But, I guess what resonates with me the most is the history of this music Festival.  Didier de Cottignes (the Délégué Artistique of the Orchestre National de France) was joking around before I came that I was following Sir Georg Solti’s path to a career by going to the Salzburg Festival.  It is that kind of place in some ways.  Solti got his first break with Toscanini in Salzburg at the Festival.  Amazing!  (Of course, it’s also amazing when one thinks that Toscanini conducted in this festival as well as Furtwangler and Richard Strauss.)   So, I am also off to the Salzburg Festival (though, unlike Solti, without a letter of introduction from anyone).  Of course, already having met Muti and Gatti helps!  I am not sure what to expect, of course.  I have talked to a number of people who were already there, and I get varying reports.  I AM looking forward to all the music that will happen.  And, à la Bill Curry, I brought too many scores.  (With all the scores in my bag, one wonders how I even got on an airplane!!!!)  I have to assist Masur in September, so I am trying to be thoroughly prepared for that.  I have La Mer, Bolero (crowd favorite, should have learned it a long time ago), Prélude à l’apres midi d’un faune, and others that I can’t remember off the top of my head.  PLUS the repertoire for the Salzburg Festspiele!!!!  It should be fun, though.  I also have to go over Prokofiev Symphony no. 5 when I get home to Texas (and go over the Brahms Second Piano Concerto) all to be ready for the tour.  I have also been discussing repertoire for my concert in New Jersey (High Mountain Symphony) with the people there.  I finally submitted a program for the concert.  It’s a tough program, but I think it’s a good one.  The program as of now is the following:

David T. Little – Immolation

Igor Stravinsky – Oiseaux de Feu (1919 suite) [Firebird]

     Intermission

Peter Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 5

I like this program.  The piece by David doesn’t fit the “Russian theme,” of course, but it fits the Stravinsky stylistically.  I debated this program for quite a long time.  I thought about a number of ideas, all bird programs, all Russian programs, etc.  What I like about this program is that David is from New Jersey, so I get to champion a composer in his home state, which I think is important.  Then, we have an all-Russian program with two sides of the Russian romantic tradition.  The Tchaikovsky is an example of the early Russian romantic tradition, and the Stravinsky is an example of the last of the high romantic Russian music.  (It’s funny to remember that Tchaikovsky was a contemporary of Brahms.  In fact, Brahms couldn’t make head or tail of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto.)  Almost in Salzburg, and I’m putting my computer up.