On to Bruselles!
Saturday morning we took the ICE James Bond train to Bruselles.
On the trip, Rick, Sacha, and I sat with someone (Matthew Wright) who was performing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, singing the Damnation of Faust, not the lightest piece on earth. We discussed which orchestras were the best, with Boston and Cleveland mentioned. I found this on the Web about what elevates an orchestra from good to great.
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
Recent national and international news coverage February 2007
The Wall Street Journal
February 9, 2007
What Elevates an Orchestra From Good to Great?
by Willem Bruls
What's the world's best orchestra? The short answer: It depends.
The same names come up on most lists: the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dresden's Sächsische Staatskapelle, the Orchestra of the Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Cleveland Orchestra.
But beyond a point, how does one rank artistic perfection and beauty of sound? Or a specific musical interpretation? A better question to ask: What makes several orchestras the best? And what makes the difference between a fine orchestra and the top tier?
Personality
Just like singers, different orchestras have different sounds, a nuance that gives a characteristic emotional quality. There is a certain souculture in the orchestra you can really hear," says Pamela Rosenberg, administrative director of the Berlin Philharmonic. "We still have this burnished, creamy quality, whereas Vienna is more brilliant and brighter. The bass quality of Berlin is quite pronounced."
Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Möst, chief conductor and music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, says, "It is mostly something that has grown over decades and for some orchestras over more than a hundred years. And it is nothing only one conductor does.
The Berlin Philharmonic stamp has been put on by many great conductors. Things pass on from generation to generation of players." The variation has become less marked in the past 30 years, as conductors and players have become more international and as the end of the Cold War has opened up Russia and Eastern Europe to Western sounds.
Recordings have made it possible to hear -- and learn from -- multiple interpretations of a piece. But still, the differences remain.
"Vienna comes from a Central European tradition, that means a darker, a more sensitive sound," says Dutch conductor Sir Bernard Haitink, former chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Dresden, and recently appointed chief of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in the 1995 documentary "Conducting Mahler."
"Amsterdam is more clear, with more clarity and a bit more objective. Berlin is very muscular, a fantastic machine; Vienna is more capricious." The Dresden Staatskapelle is said to have a bright and sparkling sound, with discipline and exactitude.
The Cleveland Orchestra is often called sophisticated, detailed and refined.
Mariss Jansons, chief conductor of both orchestras of the Bayerischen Rundfunks, in Munich, and the Concertgebouw, sees different families of sounds: "I would say that the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Vienna represent one direction, and the Bayerischen Rundfunks and Berlin the other direction. The first two have this wonderful sound that is connected with the beautiful halls they play in: the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Musikverein in Vienna. They both have a wonderful feeling of style. Berlin and Bayerischen Rundfunks are very strong orchestras, with power and excitement." Performance Space "Amsterdam and Vienna might sound a bit passive, just because of their excellent halls," says Jan Diesselhorst, a cello player at the Berlin Philharmonic.
"Whereas we need to play with more power in the modern Philharmonie [hall] in Berlin." The Philharmonie, built in 1963, is bigger, so the Berlin orchestra must play louder, especially the strings. The shape of the hall, with the orchestra centered and the audience seated around it, also requires a different balance. Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and the Musikverein in Vienna, both from the 19th century, are built in the classical shoebox shape. Their wooden construction and many ornaments also resonate sound, while the Philharmonie is mainly concrete, which doesn't.
Mr. Welser-Möst says Cleveland has a "transparent" sound -- each instrument can be heard. "It partly has to do with Severance Hall, which is relatively small. Even if we play a Bruckner symphony, the brass does not overpower the strings," he says. "[We are] very much about detail. We don't go for the big sweep or the big bang. The ensemble is a huge exception to the other American orchestras...which have a more muscular style."
Repertoire Technical aspects, combined with the personality of an orchestra and the musical traditions of a city play a role in a group's success with a particular repertoire. "The core of our repertoire is of course the period of Viennese classicism -- Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Beethoven -- over the 19th century -- Brahms, Schumann, Bruckner, Mahler -- until the Second Viennese School -- Berg, Schönberg, Webern," says Michael Bladerer, double bass player of the Vienna Philharmonic. "Many of these composers wrote their music for us or with our orchestra in mind." The orchestra is especially famous for its Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert -- which fit in well with the intimate style and hall. The emphasis of the Berlin Philharmonic is on the later 19th century, with Mahler and Bruckner, and grand symphonies with philosophical and political implications that seem to suit Berlin's modern hall.
попрощалась с великой
ми еще одного незабываемого, весьма радостного посещения. В субботу, 22-го сентября с.г., впервые в истории прибыла в город Сидней
