Day 259: Mahler 5 televised
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
259 — Mahler 5 televised
17-April-1972
(Montag–Mon.)
TRANSCRIPT
Another pretty good day.
Morning, organizing work—electronic music. German
class, not bad. Horn lesson, not bad.
Best part.
Well, for the third time, I went in through the
backstage entrance and got into the
orgel
balkon for free, to see
Bernstein and Mahler’s 5th. Today was even better
because it was for television and the lighting was
great. A few less people, and so I had a perfect
full-front view. The playing wasn’t perhaps quite so
good as yesterday, but it went well. I still don’t
think he [Bernstein] was satisfied. I’ve learned
somewhat from watching him—for more than one
consecutive day.
He does things slightly different, sometimes, which
means that the orchestra must watch or sometimes can
be off. He took the Adagietto,
today, slightly faster. I didn’t like it as much. It
didn’t send chills up my spine, like the other times.
Sometimes the brass playing isn’t the greatest. I
don’t sometimes care for the bassoon or oboes (tone)
here. The horns made a few too many mistakes. But,
generally it was very good. Roland Berger [first
horn] is extremely good—plays a really good Wiener
horn. I still don’t care for the “loud” brassiness of
the [Viennese] horn, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a
good player.
There was a pause after the concert. I met Roland
Berger. Seems very friendly (and very big). I also
got the impression that he aims for perfection when
playing the horn. Great attitude. Too many are not
bothered when they make mistakes, thus, they keep on
making more.
Because it was a television concert, they replayed
the 1st and 2nd teiles
[movements].
This time, I was in the fifth row. I could almost
touch him. It was great to watch him from that close,
but I prefer the “front” view. Previously, there was
some technical difficulty, so Bernstein (who seemed a
little angry) provided comic relief.
About his conducting, I like it because he feels the
music. I think that I couldn’t help but really
put-out for him if I was playing. He himself
certainly puts out, and works to make the music.
Well, until the next installment.
REFLECTIONS
Mahler
5 on TV. This is
the third time that I am seeing Bernstein conduct the
VPO in the Mahler, Symphony
No. 5. The video
from several days ago was from this exact day. Déjà
vu! For the first taping, I am in the organ balcony,
perhaps in a seat, and then I move to the fifth row
orchestra to watch the rerecording of the 1st and 2nd
movements. Although, I am critical of the “mistakes”
that are in the performance, I suspect, that it was
not as bad as my “youthful” criticism makes it out to
be. I do think that Bernstein does not want
any
mistakes
in a performance. I do remember one occurrence that
might be the critical reason for my post today. There
is a bass tuba solo, well exposed, at the end of one
of the movements. The tuba performer kept on making
the same lip-slur error in the passage and they had
to stop and play it over several times. I felt bad
for the performer. He must have been shaking in his
boots.
Orchestral
pros. Being a
professional orchestral musician is perhaps one of
the most difficult careers one can have. You must be
an outstanding, accomplished musician and
performer—AND—you cannot make mistakes. Your career
depends on it. The accomplished performers in
world-class orchestras deserve an immense amount of
respect.
Sneaking
in. Today, I
don’t feel so bad about all of this “sneaking” in to
concerts that I am doing. I am fairly certain that
these were free concerts for the purposes of
televising and audio recording. We just thought we
were sneaking in. There were empty seats and I was
also moving around to front-row center orchestra.
Bernstein’s
conducting. Imagine,
once again, being a young student and watching
Bernstein’s artistry, from both the front
organ-balcony view and close-up in row 5. It really
must have been a thrill. As already stated, and as
you can see in any video of Bernstein conducting, his
style is always an emotional and physical immersion
in the music. He does this to get the orchestra to
respond in the same manner and it succeeds.
Roland Berger. As first
horn of the VPO, Roland Berger is an extremely
accomplished hornist, one of the world’s finest.
Certainly on the Vienna horn. The opening photo frame
shows Berger from the YouTube video on Day 258.
A great experience.
John
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