9/7/2007


Written by Peter Marck

	Peter Marck

IPO 2007 European Festival Tour – Week 2
by Peter Marck, IPO Double Bass

August 28, 2007

IPO receives prize for 1954 recording
Members of the IPO were surprised at the Tuesday morning rehearsal of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 by a special presentation of the International recording prize "Toblacher Komponierhauschen." It was even more surprising to hear that the prize was for Mahler recordings made in 1954 under the direction of conductor Paul Kletzki. Kletzki, born in Lodz, Poland in 1900, was a guiding hand in the early years of the orchestra. In the words of the award jury, his excellent recordings of Mahler with the IPO "had a passion that is rarely heard today."

Music editor of the Stuttgarter Zeitung, Götz Thieme, who is a member of the award jury, presented the award as a special gesture of the Europäischen Musikfest Stuttgart. The two disc set of the First and Ninth Symphonies of Mahler was released on the Doremi recording label. The award itself is a replica of the tiny shed in which Mahler composed his symphonies.

The Mahler Cycle
The centerpiece of the European Festival Tour was the Mahler cycle presented in Stuttgart at the Europäische Musikfest. In three consecutive days the IPO with Zubin Mehta presented the Seventh, the First ("The Titan") and the Second ("The Resurrection") Symphonies in the ultimate test of endurance and concentration. The orchestra was hosted by the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart directed by Helmuth Rilling. The Gachinger Kantorei are frequent visitors in Israel. Since 1976, the choir has appeared with the IPO in over one hundred subscription concerts. Their repertoire has varied from Bach’s Passions, to Haydn’s "Creation", Mozart’s Masses and The Requiem, to Brahms, and Stravinsky’s "Symphony of Psalms." This is the third time that the orchestra has collaborated in Stuttgart; the first time performing the Brahms "Deutsches Requiem" during the '77 European Festival Tour, the second time in 1995 with the "Requiem of Reconciliation", and this time with the Resurrection Symphony. The Second Symphony of Mahler was performed with the Gachinger Kantorei, Soprano Margarita de Arellano and Alto Marjana Lipovsek.

At the first concert of the Europäische Festival, Dr. Rilling introduced the orchestra by recalling the emotional impact of his first visit in Israel. His choir, the Gachinger Kantorei was the first German choir to appear with a German conductor in Israel. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Julia Varady were soloists in the January 1976 performances. Dr. Rilling was asked to conduct the orchestra in "Hatikva" at the concert in Jerusalem. Unbeknownst to the orchestra, members of the Kantorei spent the afternoon learning the words in Hebrew and at the concert sang with the orchestra and audience. He called this the most significant event of his musical career.

August 29, 2007

Three nights in the same bed! Too good to be true, but after an incredible Mahler Second Symphony in Stuttgart, the IPO was on the road again for one evening in Lucerne. In true touring style, there was hardly time for a meal and a nap before the rehearsal and concert; a Viennese evening of Schoenberg and Schubert at the Lucerne Festival.

Keeping in touch with home has been simplified by the computer. Orchestra members with laptops can keep you in touch with the wife at home, the son who is traveling, and the daughter in the army, not to mention parents, brothers and friends. IPO players are expert at "email", "gmail", "Messenger", "Skype" and an assortment of other devices of keeping in touch. Unfortunately, just as Europeans are big on culture, they are small on communication. Free internet in the hotel or a wireless connection in the street, taken for granted on the Japan tour, was either non-existent or an expensive commodity in Europe (seven euro for 30 minutes). Although it is a nice diversion to open the computer and watch a DVD on the train, it can't be compared with being continuously in touch with home. Players checked every café, every train station, every Starbucks and every pedestrian mall for a free signal to send email or speak with home, sometimes even "strolling" with the computer open. In the evening the first question was, "Is there wireless?" "Did you find anything?"

The most frustrating was the Bahnhof at Zurich which promised 15 minutes free time, with only six minutes between trains! Just as the laptops came out, the train left the station!

The orchestra finally hit the "Jackpot" at the "Ljubljana Hotel and Spa" where every room has wireless access, free cable TV and free long distance dialing (provided through an internet server) to Israel. Even players who had to wait in the lobby for their rooms to be cleaned after a morning of traveling opened laptops and got down to business without complaints. Hopefully this is the future of hotel service.

September 1, 2007

The exhausting second week of the European Festival Tour finally ended with a Thursday night concert of Schoenberg and Schubert in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. The orchestra now had its two most demanding concerts, Salzburg and Lucerne, and the Mahler cycle in Stuttgart behind it. The new week opened with a second program at the Ljubljana Festival under the baton of “guest” conductor George Pehlivanian. Well known to Israel Philharmonic audiences, George Pehlivanian has been the music director of the Slovenian Philharmonic for the last three years. So, who was the "guest"? With the help of friends of the IPO and the Israel Philharmonic Foundation the young maestro succeeded in realizing his dream of hosting the Philharmonic in Ljubljana. As Pahlivanian considers Ljubljana his home, the "Izraelska Filharmonija" was his guest.

The evening's program was Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Dvorak's Eighth in G Major. For encores, Pehlivanian chose pieces with a "local" flavor, Dvorak's Slavonic Dance in g minor and a contemporary arrangement of a Slovenian folk dance. The audience loved both.

Joining the orchestra in Slovenia was a group of 15 Israel Philharmonic Friends whose trip was planned by the IPO Foundation. The four day itinerary included beautiful Lake Bled with its island monastery, the famous stalactite cave at Postojna (so massive that a train was built in it for Emperor Franz Josef's visit), the Lipica horse farm and of course two festival concerts with the IPO with receptions hosted by the mayor of Ljubljana.