Music in Berlin

Wow!  Fritz and I were a little late the classical music party in Berlin, but I'm sure glad we made it!  We have a few family members to thank for hooking us up with some sweet tickets.  My Aunt Ruth and Uncle Mike (who happen to be retired professional musicians) and Fritz's parents, Mike and Ellen, gave us tickets knowing that Berlin was going to be a glorious place of culture and music.  

On Easter Sunday, Fritz and I went to the Berliner Dom (or the Berlin Cathedral) to see a performance of Handel's Messiah.  The performance was breathtaking and experiencing it in this magnificent church with a full orchestra resulted in a straight-up goose-bumpy evening!  I sang the Messiah when I was a member of the Ithaca College Concert Choir but I hadn't heard the full score since then, so this was a real treat! 

Fritz and I sat towards the back so we had a view of the choir as well as the entire church.  The acoustics were excellent and the soloists were exceptional.  We knew we were in for a treat the moment the tenor opened his mouth on the very first note of "Comfort ye my people"!

I'm not sure which is grander - the outside of the church or the inside?  

"You have to see the Berlin Philharmonic," was basically the first thing Aunt Ruth and Uncle Mike said when they heard we were moving to this city.  

As professional musicians in renowned ensembles, I totally trust them when they say that the Berlin Philharmonic is the best orchestra in the world.  Fritz and I took only two suitcases with us to Germany, but we both made sure to pack one "fancy outfit" for a very special evening at the Philharmonie, where the orchestra performs.  

The Philharmonie is a very interesting edifice, built between 1960 and 1963 to replace the previous concert hall which was bombed during WWII.  You really aren't supposed to take pictures inside, but when I asked one of the attendants about it, she gave me a confirming wink while saying something like, "It's our policy to ask visitors not to take pictures in the hall."  I didn't want to violate the policy too much, but I did really like the wall of colored lights in the picture above.  The architecture of the building is very artistic and looking down from one of the higher floors kind of reminded me of M.C. Escher's Relativity painting. 

We arrived at our seats at the very top of the hall just before the orchestra assumed their seats, the men dressed in full tails.  An announcement to "please hold your coughs and sneezes until the periods between movements" was made.  Such an announcement has to be the surest way to induce a sudden need to clear one's throat.  And, without fail, the entire audience released one final "eh-hemmm!" and then settled into quiet anticipation as we waited for the conductor to make his appearance.  

Guest conductor, Andris Nelsons, was greeted with loud applause, took a bow, opened his score and assumed a ready position, his baton hovering above the music stand as if it were a natural extension of his right arm.  

The first shimmering notes of the Prelude to Richard Wagner's Parsifal were so fragile yet so complete as they filled the concert hall, and damp tear trails glistened down my cheeks within the first minute of the piece.  It was perfect.

The concert continued with Anton Bruckner's Symphony Nr. 3, and Conductor Nelsons moved like a poem as he entreated the orchestra with his baton, the orchestra graciously responding to each subtle flick of his stick.  

There are few things in life that can truly take the breath away, but the music of Wagner and Bruckner performed by the Berlin Philharmonic did the job on this night.  It was a performance to be remembered.

Thank you Mike, Ellen, Aunt Ruth and Uncle Mike for the gift of music in Berlin!