Hello Readers from Around the World,
My original hope was to write on this blog every day that I have been abroad, but that appears to have been overly optimistic. However, there is so much to fill you in on from the last few days.
Wednesday started out as a morning where I could catch up with an old friend, composer Gilad Hochman. Gilad is a fine composer, who originally hails from Israel, and has been living in Berlin for several years. It was a chance for us to discuss world politics, culture, the musical landscapes on both sides of the Atlantic, war and peace, and life at large!
After spending the morning on the outskirts of Berlin, Wednesday turned into a bit of historical exploration day, traveling out to Potsdam, Southwest of Berlin. Potsdam was the home of the summer castles of Prussian Monarchs, among them Frederick II, who built Sans Souci, and the incredible grounds that surround it. The palaces, built in the mid-1700s were absolutely stunning. The park was beautifully designed, and there are still some trees that still stand that were planted by Frederick II himself. (One that was so large that was tilted sideways due to its heft, was planted in 1753, THREE YEARS BEFORE THE BIRTH OF MOZART!) What is stunning about the reign of Frederick II was how brilliant his reign was, not only in terms of being such a fine musician and being such a proponent of the arts, but in terms of his sense of enlightenment. (Old Fritz, as he was often referred to after his reign, had Voltaire stay at his court for about 3 years.)
Thursday was a day of physical endurance! I started out with a 5 mile run around the Zehlendorf area of Berlin in the morning. Shortly thereafter, I returned to the home of Fredrik Pachla, curator of the Günter Raphael archive and collection. We explored some of Raphael's viola sonatas in depth, and read through his Duo for Violin and Viola, which was a fun read. (I want to try it out with a violinist or two when I get back to New York! Summer project, perhaps?!)
The afternoon was spent catching up on a bit of correspondence and practicing, but I was able to spend the night in the city, exploring Schöneberg, and going to a Turkish restaurant by the name of Hasir. From there I hoped on the U-Bahn to East Berlin, wandering along the Spree. When I was in Berlin close to three summers ago, I stayed with my friend Claire from BU in Friedrichshain. When I was there the evidence of the communist side, long stretches of the Wall were clearly demarcated, and there were many parts of that neighborhood that looked languished. The signs of the DDR are clearly waning, as investments are being made, and new, sterile buildings are going in up in its place. I wandered for a good couple of hours, crossing the Spree into Kreuzberg, an edgy neighborhood in East Berlin, that has a vibe akin to Bushwick, Brooklyn. The U1 at about 22.00 hours is about as packed as the L train at Union Square, with the signage at many of the U-Bahn stops harder to see, and the announcements harder to hear given that they were not translated into Tourist-English at most of these local stops. By the time I returned to the apartment I was staying in, my pedometer claimed I took nearly 37,000 steps yesterday! My feet are still feeling it!
This morning I had to say goodbye to the cozy apartment in Zehlendorf-Berlin, and had a train adventure to Leipzig! I love meeting new people on long rail trips; today was no exception! I reserved a seat in one of the cabins in 2nd Class, and was surrounded by a car-full of Septagenarians. I believe there were 13 in total, and the women in this group- a crowd of friends from the Hamburg area that travel one weekend each year to sight-see and play cards. This year they were off to Leipzig, and were a ton of fun to travel with. They shared their candy, fine beverages, and a bit of a clementine, as well as fun stories in German. Although I have only been here for a few days, I have become a bit more comfortable listening to people converse in German. I still would not consider myself proficient, but I can admit to being at least a little bit more comfortable with the language. I sense that if I had a few months to immerse myself in the language, in a setting where I had to interact and converse regularly in German, my proficiency would improve immensely!
Leipzig is an incredible city, that is flush with musicality, and a rich history. Had I known how incredible of a city it would be, I would have pushed to stay here longer. The center of the city is rich with two important churches, Nikolaikirche (which was a locus for peaceful protests right before the German Re-Unification in late 1989), and Thomaskirche, where Johann Sebastian Bach served as Kapellmeister for 27 years. Although the inside of the church has been remodeled and does not contain the original organ, the essence of Bach can be felt here. (His final resting place is in fact inside the church.) The acoustics (as I heard in the Motett service) were incredible, and gave me chills. I had the opportunity to explore the Bach Museum afterwards, which was incredible.
I topped the evening off with an intriguing performance of the Gewandhaus Orchestra at the Operhaus, (Opera House), performing a rendition of Mozart's Requiem with a twist, as a Ballet. I went in skeptical, but was treated to a raw visual interpretation of Mozart's masterful Requiem mass. The work of the ballet dancers, their choreographers, and those involved with the stage design and lighting did a fantastic job bringing the piece to light with a unique lens. The dancing was not what I am used to with ballet, (perhaps because I do not get to see enough non-Tchaikovsky or Stravinsky ballet) BUT was jagged, jarring, and juxtaposed, reimagining death and suffering in ways that the orchestra and choir alone can't always express. The movements of the mass (with texts all in Latin) were also interrupted by poetry in Italian and German, further removing me from my normal reality.
Tomorrow afternoon I head back to Berlin for one more day of adventure and excitement. Before I do, I plan to take a run around Leipzig, check out Coffee Baum, the Mendelssohn house, and a quick peak at the Schumann house, hopefully. When I go back to Berlin, I will be staying near Potsdamerplatz, a train station in close proximity to the Berlin Philharmonie, which I will get to hear tomorrow night! Depending on what my afternoon brings, I will hopefully be able to explore a few more loose ends in Berlin before the concert! Güte nacht!
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