Day 054: Incredible Two's
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day 54
— Incredible Two's
25-September-1971
(Sat.)
TRANSCRIPT
Fanastic day! Went to 2 concerts—both standing room.
Vienna
Philharmonic. Conductor Dr. Karl
Böhm.
Fantastic concert. The Vienna Phil. is an excellent
orchestra. Played Mozart
Serenade, Schubert
2nd Symphony, and Dvorak
New World Symphony—All of it was really
enjoyable. But the Dvorak was fantastic. What a
symphony! Beautiful. Melodies and horn parts were
great. Extremely emotional and dynamic.
The applause lasted quite a while, and after many
reappearances, [they] didn’t play an encore. Much
more effective this way. It would have been an
anti-climax.
After getting something to eat.
Chicago
Symphony
When Georg Solti came out, the applause lasted quite
a while. It didn’t die down, and he had to
acknowledge it again. I don’t think they expected it.
I believe that all of the applause is an honest
appreciation and respect for talent and fine music.
In America, the clapping seems to be “ho-hum, well
you entertained me again” type of feeling, and
usually not very sincere.
[A] concerti and Bartok
“Music for Strings,” etc. Played extremely
well. Moderately difficult to understand.
Then came Mahler’s 5th
[Symphony No. 5]. Unbelievable. The horn
parts and players (expecially first) were more
unbelievable—all the way through. American horn
style—loud and brassy. But, wow, what a wallop. Of
course, the difficulty of the horn parts added to the
punch. Mahler is very “horny” and has a tendency to
bog you down—“continuous, emotional,
mind-straining”—but after it’s all over—you can
breath.
The applause didn’t stop for at least 5 minutes. Good
thing they didn’t play an encore. Of course, the
first horn was strongly acknowledged. What a day!
REFLECTIONS
Photo: The opening photo is not of this specific
concert but it is of the Vienna Musikverein, where
many concerts are held. An incredible concert hall
with a beautiful organ, chandeliers, and great
orchestras performing. Standing room is in the back.
I’m beginning to love standing room. It’s
inexpensive.
Two.
I don’t
need to elaborate too much today. The journal says it
all. Two incredible concerts, two incredible
conductors, two incredible orchestras, horn sections,
and symphonies. As you can tell, I’m a big fan of
orchestra music and especially late romantic music.
Podcast music licensing fees. At times
like this, I wish that the record industry and the
RIAA would come up with reasonable music licensing
fees for podcasters. Say $300 a year for small guys.
If I could play short segments of music, this journal
could become an entertaining portal into different
styles of music and music appreciation. It would be a
great tool for discovering new music. It’s
unfortunate they don’t get it.
It was a great day. Vienna is a great city. A musical
city.
Here are some Wikipedia links:
Dr. Karl Böhm
–
revered Austrian conductor of the Vienna
Philharmonic
Vienna
Philharmonic –
Vienna’s renowned orchestra
Sir Georg Solti
– world
famous conductor of the Chicago Symphony
Chicago
Symphony – an
amazing orchestra
Mahler’s
Symphony No.
5 – a
classic, late-romantic epic, some beautiful
moments for horn.
Dvorak’s
New World
Symphony – a
perennial favorite, you’ve heard the theme.
Dah-da-da-dah-da-da, dah-dah-da-da-dah. Got it?
Come on RIAA. We would have gotten a few more
sales here.
John
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