I always suspected that living in a city would bankrupt me, as I would spend all my money on going to the theatre and the ballet. It’s why I’ve often considered it a good thing that I am ambivalent about the prospect of living in London (although if one of the applications I’ve submitted for next year comes through that’s where I’ll be) – I know the National Theatre and the Royal Opera House often have cheap tickets, but I’d still end up ruined.
I mention this, having been to the Kölner Philharmonie twice in a week. Ahem. That said – the first was a freebie courtesy of the university’s international office, tickets to see a show called ‘Fanfare Ciocarlia’ – a performance by a band from Romania. Also, I left at the interval because I was tired – and whilst I did enjoy the music, I tend to enjoy it more outside of the concert hall – especially a sit-down concert hall like the Philharmonie.
I went again last night, though, under my own steam, to see The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment play Hayden – three symphonies and the Trumpet Concerto (which is one of my personal favourites), with David Blackadder as a soloist. While I wasn’t bowled over by the concerto, I did like the slightly different sound that the natural trumpet brought to it – I’d not heard it that way before. I also had a rather good view. I had shelled out a whole €8.50 to sit in the top level of those little ice cream bowl shaped balconies you can see behind the stage – right up in the gods, on a level with the big light fixture. But because the performance wasn’t sold out (wasn’t even HALF sold out I think), the ushers let everyone in those seats move down to the ‘chorempore’ – the choir seats behind the orchestra. So I had a pretty much perfect view of everything – except David Blackadder’s face during his performance – but I can live with that. It’s much more fun to be able to watch the conductor, anyway, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the conductor, turns out to be one of those whole-body type conductors – appearing to draw out the music by means of interpretative dance rather than conducting the orchestra. It was rather wonderful.
I am not very good at listening to live music in concert halls though, I think. I get fidgety easily, and I’m not used to sitting and listening to music, especially classical music. I have it on in the background a lot of the time, but then you’re doing something and listening, and I’m used to listening to it at the ballet or opera, but then you’re watching and listening. Sitting still and watching and listening a bunch of people play instruments (as opposed to bouncing around at a gig or whatever) seems odd and possibly unnatural. I need to practice, clearly. So with that in mind, I have bought tickets to go and see Philippe Jaroussky, the French countertenor, when he performs at the Philharmonie. If you haven’t heard of him, I highly recommend his Carestini: The Story of a Castrato, which has unexpectedly become one of my favourite albums. It’s beautiful stuff. So I’m looking forward to that – and I even splurged on sitting to the front of the stage this time.
Also – if anyone has a spare €70-odd that they want to donate to a worthy cause, Cecilia Bartoli is singing here next month, and I’d love to go…
