Monday, August 17, 1981
Today after dinner I went to the Stadtbibliotek/city library located in
the 1. Stock/1st floor
(which is our 2nd floor in the U.S.) over the post office. I asked
for information from the lady standing at the counter, and being in charge of
nonfiction, she directed me to the fiction lady! I needed to pay 5 CHF/$2.50 to
use the fiction library, which I would pay as a library subscription at the
post office. (Borrowing non-fiction books is free?) However, I could take out
books immediately. There were sections of books in German, French and English.
I found the “Story of San Michele” in German, and another book in English.
Walked up to the Ring in the old
town for a symphony concert. It was quite cool and breezy. The conductor was
Martin Speth. They started with Symphony Nr. 10 by Felix Mendelssohn, and at
any one time, only half the orchestra was playing. The rest were adjusting with
clothespins or chasing their sheet music being blown by the wind. The second
piece, a “Simple Symphony” by Benjamin Britten had the same problems, plus a
barking dog and the tolling of the church bells at 21:00. It was then decided
we should all move into the Stadttheater/City
Theater. It appeared to be renovated with pink velvet walls and plush burgundy
seats. The next piece of music was a bassoon concerto by Antonio Vivaldi. The
soloist was Kim Walker who looked Irish-American (was Scottish-American). We
were sitting so close, we could hear her intakes of breath. The final piece was
a Romanian folk dance by Béla Bartók, a lively number. The conductor himself
was noisy with “oomphs” and foot stomping. He encored with a repeat from the
final number and the concert was over.Wednesday, August 19, 1981
The longer concerts never have a
printed program! The Wednesday Concert in the Park was conducted by Oliver
Cuendet (also a Swiss composer) who spoke French and poor German. The first
five pieces were by one Strauss or another; first a waltz, followed by a polka,
another waltz, the Pizzicato Polka (by brothers Johann & Josef Strauss),
and finally “auf Deutsch: Tritsch-Tratsch Polka et en français: Tritsch-Tratsch
Polka” (by Johann Strauss II)!
A waltz by Franz Lehár, with the
rest of the program by Johann Strauss II. The Ägyptischer/Egyptian March where the orchestra members had to sing
the “la, la, las.” Next a piece that apparently would have gone on and on and
on, except that the conductor stopped the orchestra, turned to the audience,
and said, “Und so weiter/Et cetera.” “Unter
Donner und Blitz/Under Thunder and Lightning” and “An der schönen blauen Donau/Blue Danube.” Another number was
played, then the finale was, according to the conductor, “Auf Deutsch: Polka
Française et en français: Polka Französisch!” Ha! Ha! It was a lively, silly
piece with a cuckoo-ing piccolo, birds twittering, and even blowing kisses. The
conductor of Monday’s concert was playing the cello tonight. Tonight’s
conductor had good body language and easily moved from smooth flowing music to clean
crisp staccato. The strong point of Biel’s summer orchestra appears to be the
strings. The brass is weak.
Friday, August 21, 1981
Three concerts in one week! When I
arrived in Stadtpark/City Park, a
sign informed me that the concert was moved to the Stadttheater/City Theater. Tonight’s program was rather unusual.
The conductor was bushy-haired Andres Joho, who wore a formal suit with a long
tail coat. His arms looked very short; however, he very effectively directed
the orchestra.
First was a Sinfonia Concertante Nr.
105 in B flat major, Op. 84 for violin, cello, oboe and bassoon by Josef Haydn;
with Luitgard Wieltschnig-Mayer on violin and Christian Then-Bergh on cello. They both
looked like their names, fair and blonde, very Germanic. The oboist was Jürgen
Lehmann, an older guy with thick glasses. The program stated the bassoonist was
Kim Walker, but this was certainly a different Kim Walker from Monday’s concert.
This one was a “he,” an older fellow who could have been a Kim Walker for all I
know.
Next was “Il maestro di cappella/Master of the choir or orchestra” by Domenico Cimarosa. The conductor directed
this piece from a pianoforte or harpsichord, on which he played on occasion. After
the music began, a fat fellow in a Louis XIV-type costume with white wig came prancing
out. He wasn’t satisfied with his platform and brought out a small carpet. He
left and returned, singing in Italian. He sang about singing a song and was
trying to conduct the orchestra, but with poor results. He lamented and swore
(in song) and finally the orchestra responded as he wanted. He never did like
the bassoon playing! Finally all was going well, so he sang a verse on love and
marriage. At one point he exclaimed he was not there to play the fool, which he
actually was doing! At the end, he received his bouquet of flowers, then came
trotting back with a basket of chocolate bars that he passed along the front
row. He also threw the chocolate bars into the audience and up into the
balcony.
The third and final piece was “Pelléas et Mélisande” by Jean Sibelius, very
serious music interspersed with readings by Franz Matter. The readings must
have been excerpts of the play by the same name by Maurice Maeterlinck. Although
spoken in crisp high-German, I didn’t understand the readings because they
seemed so weird.
No comments:
Post a Comment