Communities wherever

We were still in awe of our Aachen Dom mass when we came across a poster for an orchestral concert of Mozart-Mandelssohn-Beethoven 8 and it was that evening! The fates had found us. It was a little out of town and cheap, so I expected community orchestra, and it was. Again, apt, as I’d had to pass on the Maruki performance on the very same Sunday. It was a decent orchestra of worthy size (although short on basses on the day) led by a graduate of the Guildhall in London and more and with a Taiwanese solo violinist who had graduated from the Hochschule fur Musik und Tanz, Köln, which I had passed daily near my lodgings in Cologne. This world grows small. It was a standard structure for an orchestral concert: Mozart overture from La Clemenza di Tito; Mendelssohn violin concerto Emin, followed by an encore solo of Brahms Variations on a theme by Paganini; interval; Beethoven symphony no.8. I chatted to the recordist about his setup; with bassist Klaus about basses and the Beethoven and the like; exchanged recognition with the cellist who had played that morning at the Dom. Otherwise, we enjoyed the concert immensely despite the venue's sparse vibe and its thick reverb. Po-Fan Chen performed with alacrity and clarity and obviously enjoyed the works for that. The orchestra had a similar challenge, especially on the Beethoven and I thought they carried it off very successfully. I’d never expected to find a community orchestra in my travels. I guess they exist widely but they are not located or advertised or timed so easily for tourists to find, so this was a great find a much enjoyed.


Aachen’s Sinfonietta Regio performed under Jeremy Hulin (conductor) with soloist Po-Fan Chen (violin) at the Auferstehunhskirche in Aachen. The program was Mozart overture, Mendelssohn violin concerto (with soloist’s encore on Brahms Variations on a theme of Paganini) and Beethoven Symphony no.8.

The glory of tradition

We were in Aachen, once the seat of the Holy Roman Emperor and one of the great sites of Catholic pilgrimage, so we went to Mass although not without some artistic attraction. This mass at 10.30 Sunday morning was at the Aachen Dom, one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe, constructed by Charlemagne who was buried here in 814. The attendance was not huge. We sat under the Barbarossa chandelier within the Palatine Chapel, the original Carolingian Octagon, under the Byzantine cupola mosaics. The mass was conducted just at the entrance to the attached gothic choir with its stained glass windows and collections of gold-encased relics. The Dom’s treasury has one of the best collections of religious art of this era, but that’s another story. The Chorus holds various works of gold and gems including the Shrine of Charlemagne and the Pala d’Oro, the gold encrusted main altar from which this Mass was conducted. And what a stunning work of traditional, assisted by it being in a language not understood. Not just the place, but this mass was sung, charged with incense and accompanied by organ at times, but also Mozart’s Missa brevis and rendition of Bach Jesu joy of man’s desire to accompany communion. The pipe organ was heard but invisible to us somewhere amongst the two galleries of the Octagon. We sat right in front of the string quartet with SATB soloists, behind the conductor, who performed the Mozart and Bach. There was some informality throughout, with a superbly constructed and presented homily with apt humour from the priest, evident even without understanding. The musos, too, needed some informality to adjust themselves. Their playing was lovely and sometimes superb and the acoustics were bliss. From the first songs of the Mozart, I was entranced. The Bach hit me with a sledgehammer with its superb simplicity when performed by quartet and solo singers. Just a dream. The combination of mighty tradition, religious commitment (despite the fairly casual parishioners), lofty space and aged decorations and Mozart and Bach were literally stunning. A deeply affecting experience.

Mozart Missa brevis and Bach Jesu joy of man’s desire were performed by SATB soloists and string quartet under conductor for a mass at the Aachen Cathedral. A pipe organ also played.

Music as the common language

Attending another organ concert in Europe is nothing unusual. This one was in an Evangelical church, so the space was sparse and the organ seemed the most indulgent thing in its balcony space. It was slightly unusual that we could sit in a generous balcony with the organist to experience the concert. But the most strange thing was to hear perhaps the most loquacious organist ever speaking rapidly and voluminously and to understand a word. My bad, as they say - I wish I understood some German – but it was odd. But the playing was lively and adventurous. Klaus C. van den Kerkhoff playing Jan Pieterzoon Sweelink, Samuel Scheidt, both around C15th, and Sigfrid Karg-Elert, 1909. Fugues and stops and chromatics: much easier to comprehend. Nice.

Klaus C. van den Kerkhoff (organ) performed at the Annakircke, Aachen.

Comparisons

We’ve come to Aachen, a small city (~280,000) and a centre of innovation on the German/Belgian border. It’s been a spa town since roman days and Megan was interested for its history as the imperial residence of Charlemagne and its associations otherwise with the Holy Roman Empire. It was bombed comprehensively in 1944 so not sure how much remains, but that’s to be seen. These days it’s a centre of innovation but our view has been rather more pedestrian. But an opportune discovery at the local tourist information centre told us of three interesting musicals event on the night and there were still tickets to be had when we arrived for our first choice: the final of the MozARTe 15th International Piano Competition. Four performers (form Germany, Italy, South Korea and Japan) each playing a Mozart (K.414, K.415 or K.449) or Chopin (no.2) concerto with string accompaniment (a double string quartet with double bass) for prizes from E3,000 down, judged by an international jury of eight chaired and sponsored by the local Lions group. The 34 entries were weaned to four for the final: Vincent Neeb (Germany, Mozart K.414); Riccardo Gagliardi (Italy, Chopin no.2); Gi Ran Jung (South Korea, Mozart K.449); Mizora Ozaki (Japan, Chopin no.2). It was interesting to compare two interpretation of the one Chopin; to hear the effectiveness of the accompaniment over the night; to listen to the acoustics in this older-style European chamber space and sound of the Steinway (~6 foot?) lent for the occasional; to wonder about comparing Mozart with Chopin; to make our own judgements for the audience prize; just to hear the capable playing from memory. They played in the order listed. The judges chose 1. Ozaki, 2. Gagliardi, 3. Neeb, 4. Jung. The audience (with instructions to choose one only) agreed: 1. Ozaki. My guess was agreement on 1/2 but swapping 3/4. Not that I like competitions so much but there was some decent and some excellent playing to hear and the first choice seemed pretty clear. She also seemed to get the best accompaniment of the night, playing last and with the strings nicely warmed up. Like interviews, the first up virtually never wins. But an opportune find.

Vincent Neeb, Riccardo Gagliardi, Gi Ran Jung and Mizora Ozaki (pianos) performed in the final of the MozARTe 15th International Piano Competition in Aachen.

This is CJBlog post no. 2,200.