The last Sunday in January I gathered a crew of music aficionados to introduce them to the wonders of the Staatsoper. There was a matinee of La Sylphide two Sundays ago, and even though I've seen it twice this season, it's hard to pass up a €4 orchestra-level place. I also like getting to know some of these performances a little better, going from waiting obliviously for what will happen next to eagerly anticipating the upcoming pas de deux.
I also finally figured out what this season's fire safety curtain says: "Permit yourself to drift from what you are reading at this very moment into another situation, another way of acting within the historical and psychic geographies in which the event of your own reading is here and now taking place; here - and now - taking the place of other ways of making passionate and energetic connections between us. Imagine a situation like that, in all likelihood, you've never been in." The performance was as good as ever, the dancing being my main interest, and Denys Cherevychko as James did not disappoint. This was also his role debut at the Staatsoper, and although he had a few missteps he made up for it brilliantly! I would imagine nerves could do that; the Staatsoper's no small place to debut!
Then, the truly ambitious (and not yet laden with work) Nick came with me to the Theater an der Wien for a second performance. To be completely accurate, it was a second and third performance because they were doing a combo of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Rachmaninov's Francesca da Rimini, operas in one and two acts, respectively. Vassily Sinaisky, conductor for the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, was here to conduct this performance. Nick, an aspiring conductor, also taught me a thing or two about the position which was neat.
I had never been to the Theater an der Wien before, so it was neat being in a new venue here. As of course it would be, the theater was gorgeous! I opted to sit closer up this time in exchange for having a sliver of the stage out of view, but I had a really good view of the part of the stage I could see.
The performance was as good as I would expect from something staged in Vienna, although it was decidedly modern. It was very imaginative and made great use of the space (the half-orb would spin around and either circle into the foreground or the background for each scene), but I just can't help it: I much prefer a more traditional take on the performing arts.
Iolanta
Francesca da Rimini
Photos courtesy of Theater an der Wien
Still, the singing was spectacular, especially Saimir Pirgu as tenor (Gottfried von Vaudémont and Paolo, respectively).
Then, Tuesday night, David got tickets for his classes to go to a Beethoven recital + recitation. It was at Ehrbar Saal, a little recital hall down a pretty random side street near Karlsplatz. I really love how many beautiful performance spaces are tucked away in this city in the most unlikely of places!
The program for the evening was:
Sonata for Piano and Violin in G major, Op. 30/3
Allegro assai
Tempo di Minuetto
Allegro vivace
(Jasminka Stancul and Christian Altenburger)
Recitation of August von Kotzebue's Die schlaue Witwe (The Cunning Widow)
(Maria Happel and August Schmölzer)
Sonata for Piano and Cello in G minor, Op. 5/2
Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo
Allegro molto più tosto presto
Rondo. Allegro
(Jasminka Stancul and Reinhard Latzko)
Sonata for Piano and Violin in A Major, Op. 47, Kreutzer-Sonata
Adagio sostenuto - Presto
Andante con Variazioni
Presto
(Jasminka Stancul and Christian Altenburger)
Another very well done performance in an intimate setting with especially agile piano playing! Also, fun fact, the first piece, published in 1803, was dedicated to Czar Alexander I.
Changing tune a bit on Thursday, I came into town after work to join Anna and crew for their latest discovery: karaoke at a café on Wipplingerstrasse. Apparently Anna had noticed people singing there a few times when walking back from Waxy Murphy's, so when they passed it the week before some of the other students insisted on going in and they all had a blast. It's becoming a bit of a weekly outing now because it's such a low-key, fun atmosphere! The bartender, Rudy, is hilarious and very friendly, and every night we've gone there have maybe only been ten other people there, tops. They have a surprisingly large collection of songs, too (Anna and I did a duet for Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places").
Most of the students here right now are music majors, so there are some pretty great voices in the group. It may also be part of the reason that we're so welcome, since I wouldn't say the same for 90% of the regulars there. Then again, the reason that this place is great is that no one really cares, and everyone sings along to all of the songs anyway. Too bad Rudy and his girlfriend-wife (we're not really sure; they've called each other both) are going skiing for the next two weeks.
Then, last Friday I had some time to kill before picking Michael up at the airport, so I went to the Konzert Haus to try and get into a Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky performance by the Viennese Symphony. Usually when you show up at these concerts about twenty minutes before the performance starts you can get some of the better seats that didn't sell for really good prices. My ticket that evening was €14.
I was really excited to hear some Russian music as it's not played terribly frequently in the city of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. This concert also featured Alexander Kniazev on cello and Vladimir Fedosejev conducting, both from Russia. They were performing:
Shostakovich's
Festive Overture in A Major, Op. 96
Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126
Largo
Allegretto
Allegretto
Tchaikovsky's
Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
Andante - Allegro con anima
Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza
Valse. Allegro moderato
Finale. Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace
Wow. That concert was incredibly moving! I wasn't familiar with those pieces before, but good grief! I particularly enjoyed Tchaikovsky's symphony. It had been a while since I had been to the Konzert Haus, but I grabbed a schedule for the season on the way out and flipping through it while waiting for Michael at the airport I saw that Valery Gergiev will be conducting the London Symphony Orchestra here in a few months! Tickets aren't on sale for it yet, but I think that's going to be a performance I don't try and show up for hoping to get a seat the night of...
Bis bald!
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