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At the Leipzig Gewandhaus
So much to inspire - and to douse
By Jason Wee
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Conducted by Herbert Blomstedt
11 Jun 2003, The Esplanade
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Plays the Esplanade
The trombones of his own breathlessness bombast all he could
hear.
Late as I was, I picked the wrong programme as I sat down
said the reviewer.
For the next pleasant minutes he took B’s Pastoral for
Mozart’s Jupiter.
Said reviewer, the anxiety of influence so strong in the younger
composer.
Likewise, Johnson draws this shoebox a lineage from the
Musikverein’s Großer.
Said reviewer, it was a struggle to kill the pantheon’s father.
From no other city than this could he have found a new Vienna.
An achievement notwithstanding the condition of tinnitus in my
ear.
Which, under the circumstances, is a minor gift of a neuter
Against the rousing plastic bags, rear-ending phones and pagers.
Not considering the way it nuances his sense of joie de vivre.
Useful when you discover Schumann’s cello in Strauss’ Des
Helden Widersacher.
Our stone-deaf Tiresias joined intermission’s crowd at the
foyer.
Between the bell’s third crow and my seat, I chanced on my
error.
While jiggling his last sip of Evian mineral water.
Two mouths trail past, rearguing the strings in Mendelsohn’s
Overture (!).
The doors to the music shut faster than to a Latter-Day
stranger.
The notes mutinied off their staffs - wholes, eighths, halves,
quarters.
Tiresias has a deadline to his king in four hours.
The rest of the concert to the applause was a blur.
The moment of decision is madness, says one philosopher.
First thing I did at home was to visit www.gewandhaus.de
First rule of review: use adjectives. Second rule, flatter.
Only way to transform small byline to poster headliner.
‘Sonorous elegance on disciplined strings’ wrote the reviewer.
The blind reading the blind, save I, knew none the better.
QLRS Vol. 2 No. 4 Jul 2003
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