Frauenkirche Dresden.
Empore D (Seat R3-P45, 75 euros).
Program
Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Mahler.
When I was looking for concert listings for Dresden
during the three days we would be here, I found out about this festival. Some “big names” will be here, including Yuja
Wang, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, and several world class
orchestras.
The name of this Rome-based orchestra, established by
Papal bull in the 1500s - is a bit on the long side, and I just found out
Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians.
This would be the first time I get to hear them.
The Dresden bombing towards the end of the second world
war destroyed the church, and under East German rule it laid in ruins as a
memorial to the war. The rebuilding started after the reunification of the
country, and re-consecrated on October 30, 2005. Outside was a statue of Martin Luther, the
only indication I could find that this is a Lutheran church. The dome is supposed to be
The altar area of the church was converted into the
orchestra area, from where we sat (second balcony would be my description) we had
a clear view of how the musicians were organized.
A statue of Martin Luther stands outside of Frauenkirche.
A panoramic shot of the inside from our seat. We couldn't see the dome, one of the largest in the world.
All this should provide an interesting concert
experience. On top of that, it was a
delightful concert competently delivered by this orchestra. We also had fun observing how the musicians
went about their business, how the woodwinds would be raised for some passages,
and how the percussionists moved from one station to the other, and – of course
– how the special drum was struck.
There were two strikes for tonight’s concert, and the
order of the inner movements was scherzo – andante. Again, a discussion better reserved for the
specialists. My opinion is go with all
three hammer blows, it takes a lot of logistics to get the drum to the
stage. On the other hand, superstition can
make people do different things. There is a music stand with (I'm quite sure) music in front of this special instrument. One would think for two notes they can memorize when it is supposed to strike ...
Again, I couldn’t quite hear “tragic” in this
symphony. One could argue this or that
theme is that of a funeral march, or that certain passages are sad, and that
the quiet ending is a final surrender after tragedy strikes twice (or three
times), but that is not necessary. I may
have said this before, in this Symphony Mahler wanders less and develops more.
The orchestra in general sounded great. The few balance problems may be due to the
acoustics of the hall. The concertmaster’s
solo lines were on the soft side, the flutes didn’t stand out as much, and the
sound lingers a bit. It is always
interested to see the oboists being asked to play such long passages that their
faces turn less, as they were on several occasions tonight. (It was even more so at the Berlin Philharmonic
concert.)
There were over 100 musicians in the performance. The special drum and hammer can be seen in the back.
The concert started at 8:30 pm, and lasted till about 10
pm.
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