Finally the Lucerne Festival

A few pictures from Lucerne here, as photos are not permitted (though I’m sure many people have taken them) inside the concert hall. And a brief diversion: some very typical Swiss dishes, simple but well done at Taube in Luzern: veal with sauce and noodles, and roesti (I have also seen it "roeschti" in Switzerland), basically hash browns with all kinds of butter, cheese and dripping cheese fat, bacon, onions, sometimes an egg, or hear, apples slices -- so healthy! -- added. How do the Swiss stay in such good physical shape compared to Americans???
We saw two concerts: Thursday night, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding in pieces by Schumann and Schubert, and Saturday night, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado in Beethoven’s incidental music to Egmont (a play by Goethe) and the well-known Mozart Requiem.
I know of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra having learned a bit more about the Lucerne Festival Orchestra after I first heard and was wowed by the LFO a few years ago. The MCO was founded by Claudio Abbado and forms the core of the LFO. Add some first-chair players from the world’s best orchestras, some first-rate chamber musicians including string quartet players, and a singular joy and respect for Abbado that seems to infuse the LFO (these musicians choose to play in Lucerne during what would normally be summer time off for classical musicians), and you get what has been called the greatest pickup band in the world. I have started to recognize a number of the musicians in both the MCO and the LFO by face and even playing style from LFO DVD’s and last year’s concerts.
Harding (more dimunitive live than I had imagined from clips) is a rising star in the conducting world who previously had assistant positions with Abbado and Simon Rattle. I was not really familiar with the pieces on the program (Nachtlied by Schumann, Spirits on the Water by Schubert, and the E Flat Mass by Schubert). I have seen clips of the MCO and Harding, particularly a revelatory Beethoven symphony clip which seemed to me to wipe all the cobwebs away from the heavier, more unified sound adopted in performance practice for much of the 20th century. Given that I didn’t know the pieces, I thought Harding’s conducting was excellent with a great sense of flow while maintaining very distinctive phrasing and voicing among the orchestra and choir parts. The soloists (Mari Eriksmoen, Sara Mingardo as a late replacement for Bernarda Fink, Andrew Staples, Andrew Kennedy, Franz-Josef Selig) seemed good, though Schubert frankly gave them very little to do in the Mass so we didn’t get to hear very much of them.
The Abbado concert featured a stripped-down version of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and members of the same choirs on hand for the Harding concert. Mahler’s gargantuan Symphony No. 8 had originally been programmed for opening week of the Lucerne Festival, but for somewhat ambiguously stated (“artistic”) reasons the program was changed to the Egmont incidental music and Mozart’s Requiem, both calling for much smaller orchestral, choral and vocal soloist forces. I would have enjoyed the Mahler 8 for the spectacle if nothing else, though on a more musical level, I personally find it a flawed piece with almost impenetrably dense counterpoint in a Latin religious text for the first movement, coupled with a very long second movement based on the end of Goethe’s Faust (change from Latin to German), the whole seeming a bit oddly constructed to me. The last 10 or 15 minutes of the Mahler 8 are quite spectacular and no doubt would have brought the house down. But—
This re-programmed concert was in some ways the best I have ever attended. The best part of the Egmont music for me was the well-known overture, and here the playing was flawless. I was a bit surprised at the muscularity of this performance, horns blaring, timpani pointed and threatening, all to very dramatic effect without crossing into “showy” for its own sake. Juliane Banse was the soprano soloist in the Beethoven (there are a couple songs for Egmont’s despairing beloved, Claerchen). I thought she was perhaps a bit emphatic in her physical delivery given the nature of the songs, but her singing was ravishing.
Mozart worked on his Requiem as he was dying, and it was largely completed by a student of his with further work done by scholars and several editions available. Those who know more music history and composition than I do, can debate how much “Mozart” is really there in the final product. Much of Mozart I can take or leave – elegantly constructed, with a perfection of form, but not much blood and guts except in the most stylized, diffused fashion. I came into this concert expecting magnificent musicianship, a given with the LFO, but not too much surprise in the music itself. Instead I was floored. This Requiem was one of the great performances I have heard, live or recorded. The soloists were very good to magnificent: Anna Prohaska, Sara Mingardo, Maximilian Schmitt, and the great opera star Rene Pape.
The choir (combined forces from the Swedish and Bavarian Radio groups) was amazing, from the most hushed quiet passages to impressive volume – how can such menacing sound come from such a modest sized group? -- with what seemed like perfect diction and pitch throughout. I don’t hear much choral music but it has been second-rate compared to this performance. I wanted to give a standing ovation to each choir member and the obviously fantastic director of the choir.
I have now read one review of an earlier night’s performance of the Requiem which suggested Abbado was too genteel with the piece. I must have been in a different universe. There can of course be great variation in live performances, and perhaps there was a great difference from earlier in the week to Saturday. In the performance we attended Saturday, the final performance of this program, I was surprised by the degree of weight and drama infused into Mozart by Abbado and all of the musicians, without losing clarity anywhere. By comparison to my reaction to much Mozart, I was almost on the edge of my seat at times! Part of the reason may have been choral singing the likes of which I have never heard before. I don’t know how to describe this performance other than to say it seemed unusually uplifting for a requiem mass.
The members of the choir seemed unusually animated and one or two almost rapturous. Perhaps the opportunity to sing in this setting with Claudio Abbado conducting is as fantastic as I would imagine.
The difference in sonic experience between Thursday and Saturday was quite remarkable. On Thursday from the second balcony, the sound was clear but drier, with shorter reverberation time. On Saturday, from the main floor, 10th row, the sound was deep and full with much longer reverberation, but never muddy. I don’t know if it was a change in configuration of the hall (as in most modern-designed or retrofitted concert halls it appears there are movable panels, etc. in the KKL) or simply that much difference based on the seat location, or perhaps a combination of the two. I don’t think I’ve ever heard better bass and percussion sound in a large hall.
And I’m not sure I want to hear the Mozart Requiem again -- because this single, live performance seemed to me to have captured perfection.

Bollywood in Central Switzerland

I say “Bollywood” because apparently some Bollywood movie or movies have been shot in the Engelberg – Mt. Titlis area, which has therefore become a tour destination not only generally for visitors to Central Switzerland, but in particular, for many Indian visitors. At 10,000 feet elevation on Mt. Titlis, one can surprisingly find Indian food and cutouts – the kind where you insert face and have photo taken -- appearing to be from a Bollywood scene. Titlis is a ski destination in the winter but has all-year snow (there is at least one small glacier on the mountain, too) which can be reached by gondola and chairlift. Many visitors who have never played in or even seen snow, get their chance here.
We met a very interesting and very independent retired teacher from Thailand who had lost her camera the previous day and was obviously distressed she could not take and keep pictures of her obviously carefully planned trip to Switzerland. We couldn’t replace her camera on the spot but promised to send her some pictures from Titlis. As she said though, the important thing is to keep the memories in our minds, and I won’t soon forget the views from Titlis and especially some of the rocky knolls with spots of meadow on the way up, as pretty or prettier than anything I’ve seen in the Olympics or North Cascades.

On Lake Lucerne

With our Eurail Pass we were able to ride free on the boats on Lake Lucerne, so we went out on the lake a couple times, once on the return trip from Pilatus on Thursday (descent by cogwheel train to Alpnachstad, then boat from Alpnachstad to Lucerne), and again to go the glass factory and museum at the town of Hergiswil on Saturday. We heard “Hergiswil” so many times on our previous trip to Switzerland (all roads, trains and boats seem to lead to Hergiswil) that I had taken to imitating the automated “next stop, Hergiswil” announcement on the train: approximately sounding “Neshteh halt… Hair-giss-veal”. So with a concert Saturday and no long trips planned, we had to visit the mysterious but obviously important town of Hergiswil. The “glasi” (glass factory, with attached museum and shops, a bar with a few glass sculptures below, and a children’s playfield next door) was very nice. There are some beautiful homes and great scenery on Lake Lucerne so the boat ride is great just by itself, regardless of destination. A few pics here that again don’t do the place justice. One of them is a funny building L. spotted at one of our stops. “Oh no, Mr. Bill…” – that may make sense to some of us from the U.S. and at least 39 years old…

On to Lucerne

Wednesday, August 8 was a long day - taxi from Ortisei down to Bolzano in Val Gardena (so sad to leave Ortisei), then a train from Bolzano which was supposed to cross into Austria to our connection in Innsbruck, but which due to construction, was halted in Brennero where everyone was rounded off the train and into buses to complete the trip to Innsbruck. The Brennero area looked like a bit of a mess as it had rained hard (our taxi driver told us that Munich had been drenched when he was recently there) and there was quite a bit of mud both in the river and on its banks. At Innsbruck we caught one of the RailJet faster trains to Zurich and had a (big!) beer and wurst served on the train. Finally we made the quick connection from Zurich to Lucerne. The ride from Innsbruck to Zurich was scenic, including the beautiful lake Walensee (pic), and based on the truck traffic we saw on the highway near Brennero as well as the traffic on the autobahn approaching Innsbruck, I was glad to be on the train even with the minor inconvenience of the special bus ride thrown in.
We again had a riverside room at Hotel des Alpes, with great views of the River Reuss and old town Luzern backed by Mt. Pilatus. Our room was pretty small but we really only used it as a place to sleep, and again the hotel staff, breakfast on the outdoor balcony overlooking the river, and convenience to the KKL (concert venue) and everything in old town – especially Dieci for gelato pretty much every day – were terrific.
Thursday we took the gondola up to Mt. Pilatus – a couple pics here including a ubiquitous Alphorn player. We didn’t see/hear as many Alphorns as last year, but the ringer who stepped in up at Pilatus was one of the better ones in our experience.

I Dolomiti

My poor pictures cannot convey the splendor of this region, and I can only post a few here. We went up to Mont Seuc on the lift from Ortisei, there ending up on the edge of the Alpe di Siusi, a huge alpine meadow dotted with farms, hiking trails / ski runs and lifts, places to stay overnight or have a meal (refugio?), some cows, and people out walking, from the very elderly to the bambini being pushed in strollers or carried in packs. We also took the Ciampinoi lift from the town of Selva Gardena, just a short bus ride up the valley from Ortisei. Ciampinoi ends on a knoll facing the monolithic Sassolungo, an impressive site indeed. Wispy clouds were flitting around the sides of Sassolungo, creeping over the top and retreating, and we never saw 100 percent of the peak at one time on the morning we were there, but the shroud of mystery kept parting to show large parts of the stern face of Sassolungo. A few pics here, including Sassolungo, some surrounding peaks, and a look down to the Val Gardena with St. Cristina and Ortisei in the distance. Our time here was far too short.

From Venice to the Val Gardena

No time to post from Ortisei but a few notes now. We spent 3 nights (2 full days) in Ortisei, a small town in the Val Gardena area of Alto-Adige in northeastern Italy, formerly part of Austria and sometimes called Sudtirol. Ortisei is a gateway to the Dolomite mountains, which are unique in the Alps for their composition (a form of limestone as I understand it) and topography (they are very rugged, sometimes with sheer faces etched by rain and meltwater, sometimes like rounded buttes, sometimes long and slanted and seemingly as straight-edged as if cut by a cleaver). The beauty is incomparable. The area is a ski mecca in the winter and attracts hikers and other summer sports enthusiasts in the summer, as well as vacationers seeking to escape the August heat of the lowlands.
From a limited sampling I think the food was better in Ortisei (also known as Sankt Ulrich) than was the food in Venice. However, this may have been partly due to having a better appetite in Ortisei, where the air is clean, the heat is pleasant and not stifling, there are big skies overhead, and people don't shove each other to get off the vaporetto or through an alley or past gawkers on narrow bridges as in Venice. Some examples of Venetian specialities seem to include seafood, often fried, sometimes raw or as carpaccio, liver and onions, and cichetti. The raw seafood can be good but coming from the Pacific Northwest and having eaten raw seafood in Hawaii, to me the Venetian seafood has a high bar to clear so perhaps I am not objective. We did have some great pasta at a Beccafico and, on our last night, at Osteria di Santa Marina (pic: risotto with pumpkin and scallops, very good, as was the branzino prepared in salt crust though the latter had nothing on a similar preparation sometimes available at Cafe Juanita back home). We got off to a strange start at Santa Marina with a particular server who seemed to reek attitude, but the rest of the staff and in general, the food were very good. We were seated next to a couple who run a wine export business in Siena (Tuscany) and their reportedly famous dog who has appeared in Vogue and other magazines... and they seemed very particular about food. She was of the opinion that Osteria di Santa Marina is the best-kept secret in Venice, and said it was very hard to get into -- so perhaps not so secret? Anyway, many were turned away during our dinner; we had reservations many weeks in advance.
We have had at least as good food at Tubladel in Ortisei. I didn't remember to take pics of all the dishes (too absorbed in the food and conversation) but two are attached: spicy penne pomodoro with speck (raw ham, a local speciality in Sudtirol) and pecorino cheese, which pleased L. greatly, and nettle dumplings which I enjoyed well.
In the Val Gardena / Sudtirol area, both German and Italian are spoken. The region is somewhat more autonomous than other regions of Italy. I have read that while Italian is the primary language in the larger cities such as Bolzano, further into the hills, German is the primary language. Signs are often tri-lingual, in Italian, German, and Ladin, a Latin dialect. I have been confused as to whether to try asking questions or exchanging pleasantries in my extremely limited German, my almost non-existent Italian, or English which many (but not all) understand and speak pretty well here.
I have the impression that in situations such as nicer restaurants and many stores, Italian is the primary language (that might however be because many Italians are here on vacation at this time), but in conversation among residents, German is more prevalent than one would guess from interactions as visitors. When I asked one of the staff at Tubladel which language is used more in the restaurant, his answer was telling: "We were Austria before the war." We took a taxi down to Bolzano from Ortisei today and our driver who paraglides here in the summer, really opened up when I tried ein bisschen Deutsch (sehr schlecht). His English was better than my German.
One other observation-- in Ortisei the restaurants, shops, ski rental places, hotels seem to be owned and run by long-time local residents. In Venice I don't think that's largely the case. I have read of a Venetian library being closed and the space now being a cheap tourist goods store. Those Venetian masks had a historical purpose when Venice was strongly divided by social caste, had a real live red light district, etc. but for a long time thereafter were never used and it seems only revived as part of tourism and outside influence.... There is history there, but much is simply crass. Only IMO of course...

Islands of tranquility among the tourists

After our Thursday trip to the islands of Murano and Burano, we attended a concert by Interpreti Veneziani, a small chamber orchestra with cembalo/harpsichord, in the Chiesa San vidal, quite a setting for a concert (pic). We were fortunate to sit in about the third row back so that we heard mostly direct sound as opposed to the great amount of harsh reverberation likely heard further back -- most churches do not present good accoustics. The program featured the hackneyed "Four Seasons" by Vivaldi, selections from which are easily recognizable as jingles in TV commercials. Fortunately however, the Interpreti Veneziani musicians play with a great deal of verve and elan, as opposed to the saccharine approach to what can be saccharine music so often heard (in elevators, as background music at some restaurants, etc.) in this music. A minor revelation, bravo! The remainder of the program was a Bach concerto (it seemed at least to me, played a little unidiomatically for Bach, but again with much verve, perhaps not as successful as the Vivaldi in my opinion), and a piece by Paganini, for cello. The little I know of Paganini is that he was one of the great, or by some accounts, the greatest, violin virtuosi in history and quite a showman in his time, so I expected a showy piece and was not disappointed. Davide Amadio is a physical, showy and accomplished cellist who really dug into this piece to the great delight of the audience.
Like the Thursday night concert, a Saturday morning trip to the Dorsoduro sestiere (district) of Venice was an island of tranquility compared to the jostling crowds in the San Marco / Rialto areas. Dorsoduro is comparatively quiet and residential and we really enjoyed walking this area, running into only a few local residents and likewise walking visitors. A couple pics here do not do the area justice.
Today (Saturday) we also finally went into the tempting pasticcerria (pic) with pastries, coffee and small sandwiches, located on Campo San Luca very close to our hotel. Really great -- if one could reasonably live on fruit tarts and cannoli, this might be the place to do it. More later.