8/29/2007


Written by Peter Marck

	Peter Marck

The IPO 2007 European Festival Tour
A Musician’s Journal by Peter Marck, IPO Double Bass

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is passionate about touring. For all of its history it has been an ambassador for the State of Israel and its players have been the voice of a nation. This summer's European Festival Tour will cover nearly all of Europe in five weeks, with 23 concerts in Austria, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark, Slovenia, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Spain. More than a month of hotel rooms, trains, buses, airplanes, sandwiches between rehearsals and concerts, lining up for room keys and boarding passes, packing at midnight, jostling for space for hand bags, not to mention demands for musical excellence and discipline in front of the most discerning European audience.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Leaving the heat of Israel behind, the orchestra began its concerts at Salzburg, the most prestigious of European Festivals. The Festspielhaus, which also hosted the Vienna Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic in the space of a few weeks, was full to capacity for an Israel Philharmonic Orchestra concert of the Berg Violin Concerto with soloist Gil Shaham, and Mahler's Seventh Symphony. Maestro Zubin Mehta is a regular visitor at the Festival, and his appearance on stage sparked an enthusiastic response from the audience.

Although the three short days in Salzburg were occupied with rehearsals for all the tour programs and the demanding concert, orchestra members still found time and energy to enjoy the cool weather and incredible surroundings in the Alps for a quick bicycle ride, a walk along the Salzach River or a coffee in one of the town's alleys.

Thursday, August 23, 2007
Europe is suffering from unprecedented rainy and cool weather. Tourism is failing with flooding in England, rain in central Europe and fog in the Alps. Leaving Salzburg, the orchestra landed at Weimar in a rain storm, which cleared only in the late afternoon. Although Weimar is a quiet city of former East Germany, and has escaped the "modernization" of much of Europe, its history is like its weather, from sunny to stormy. On one hand, proud home of Goethe, Bach, Schiller, Liszt and the Bauhaus, and on the other hand, the remains of Buchenwald concentration camp sits almost within the city. Built by the Nazi's for terrorizing political prisoners and the area's Jews, and later passed on to the Soviets for the NVKD, it was used as viciously by both regimes.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra concert was the opening event of "Kunstfest Weimar" in remembrance of the victims of KZ Buchenwald. The concert was sponsored by IPO friend Josef Buchmann. In attendance was Bertrand Herz, President of the Committee for Buchenwald survivors, Nike Wagner, artistic director of the festival and great grand-daughter of composer Richard Wagner, and German Federal President, Horst Köhler. Speeches by the dignitaries all referred to recent incidents of violence against foreigners living in Germany.

Principal Flutist Yossi Arnheim presented the German premiere of the Josef Bardanashvilli Flute Concerto, and the orchestra performed Schubert's Ninth Symphony, "The Great."

Friday, August 24, 2007
Is there such a thing as a day off on tour? On paper, Friday should have been an easy day for the orchestra after concerts in Salzburg and Weimar. In reality, the next week of concerts with a series of three Mahler symphonies in Stuttgart, and the first concert of Dvorak "From the New World", meant taking time to prepare the orchestra. Instead of traveling straight on to the next destination, the IPO took over the Franz Liszt Hochschule for Music and turned it into a rehearsal studio for the entire morning with Mehta working on Mahler’s Second Symphony, Dvorak and Mozart’s Symphony no. 41. Only a short distance from the town's central plaza, orchestra members spent lunch break enjoying the local delicacy of Thuringen "wurst" before leaving at 1400 for the airport.

Day off?

After a crowded flight to Geneva (crushed cheese sandwich in plastic wrap and no space for the carry-on), the orchestra waited for its train to Montreux, killing time (it's already 1800) with sticky Chinese food on styrofoam trays catered on the floor of the Geneva train station.

Day off?

As the Philharmonic pulls into Montreux station, Shabbat has already arrived. 2047 and the train is about to leave for Gstaad, an hour and half away. The train is two narrow, short cars that look like props from "Sound of Music." With no other passengers we take over our "special" into the mountains.

As the narrow gauge train pulls out of Montreux, there is a spirit of adventure in the air. The orchestra gets only a glimpse of Lake Geneva before it disappears in the dusk, but the smell of the forest fills the cars as the train climbs into the darkness of the Alps. The next hotel is high in the mountains at 1200m.

Card games are abundant and the lap tops are out. Although the two wagons are filled to capacity, the aisles cluttered with hand bags and the smokers are hanging out of the tail of the train, spirits are high. Whoever is not hanging over his neighbor's seat engaged in a conversation and kidding around, is listening to music or fiddling with his digital camera. Finally at 2230, right on time, the IPO arrives at Gstaad and loads up on four buses to five separate hotels.

Time to start the week's free day before tomorrow night's rehearsal and concert!

Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Swiss Alps are the playground for world's wealthy and music festivals abound in the summer providing cool evenings of cultural enrichment. Some orchestra members also made it their playground and grabbed the opportunity for relaxation. On Saturday morning IPO "mountain climbers" (…"the hills are alive…") conquered the peaks and glaciers, the hikers wound up the through the ravines, bikers cruised the villages and cable cars disappeared in the heights carrying players to a break from the stress of group travel.

Performing at the Menuhin Festival, in remote Gstaad required complicated logistics; a charter flight and two trains to arrive from Weimar, and when leaving, four trains, starting at 0500 in the morning. Saturday evening's outdoor concert of Mozart’s Symphony no. 41, Bardanashvili Flute Concerto and Dvorak’s Symphony "From the New World", was sandwiched in the middle. The orchestra was housed in no less than eight hotels, with transportation coordinated by cell phone, but the magnificent surroundings of the Alps more than compensated for the impossible discomforts. The meadows were a pastoral deep green, and above the tree line, the incredible snow covered mountains a forbidding grey. Snow fed streams and waterfalls were on all sides and the local villages had the old world charm of milk chocolate wrappers.

A favorite excursion was the cable car ascent to the Diablerets Glacier and a climb to the 3000m "Sex Rouge" lookout. On the horizon, both Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn were clearly visible. For the more adventurous, a hike across the snow field of the glacier brought them to "Devil's Thumb" and a sheer drop-off of over 1000m to the green valley below.

More of Peter’s journal to come!