One would think that the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, after more than 20 years on tour, knows all the eventualities of travel, and any big surprises no longer exist. That changed suddenly in 2020. Now you feel like you are in a vortex in which you have no choice but to give yourself to the spin cycle, even if some human beings might be better made for the delicate cycle.
So it happens that a journey no longer begins with packing your suitcase anymore, but with a COVID-19 test for most of us . What follows is the constant uncertainty of what the next day will look like. Only when you have actually arrived in your hotel room do you believe that the project is taking place – only when you are actually on stage do you believe that the concert is happening. But more on that later.
Thanks to generous funding from the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media through "Neustart Kultur", we could spend a few days on workshops on topics that are important for the future of our orchestra. On this project in Baden-Baden it was all about Community and Sustainability. After a short time I realized what a great opportunity this was, especially thanks to our board and our office staff who put a lot of effort into preparing the workshops. I was just as enthusiastic that it is possible to have constructive discussions with up to 20 people plus at least as many different opinions. Some ideas were more "blue-sky" than others, but mostly these workshops were about concretely and realistically thinking about what we want for our 'family'. As a relatively new member, I was very touched to see how this can work. The 'family' has had practice over the years.
In between we had a lot of time to enjoy what Baden-Baden has to offer: the good air, the intoxicating autumn colors, healing water in the thermal baths, wonderful walks over hills and through forests or just through the beautiful old town, endless shopping opportunities, Käsespätzle and a glass of wine (or two… anyway, we now have a lot of practice writing down our information!).
But after more than four days in the workshops, we couldn't wait to finally play together again. What a joy! Here we had time the freedom to play repertoire regardless of the concert program in string, wood and brass sessions. Matthew Truscott, our phenomenal concertmaster, selected the most wonderful music by Bach, Muffat, Haydn and Corelli for our string session, and was with us searching for a common sound.
Then the time had finally come and we had our first tutti rehearsal in the great hall of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with Teodor Currentzis and Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. In addition, a smaller cast rehearsed Folk Songs by Berio, with the wonderful young French singer Marianne Crebassa, plus an exciting piece called k-hole / schwarzer horizont by Marko Nikodijevic for orchestra and electronics.
During the rehearsal days we learned that Cologne is also a risk area and that only 250 people in total are allowed in the concert hall, whereupon it was decided to turn one concert into two. In addition, many concerts were cancelled completely, so I was very happy and relieved when we actually sat on the bus to Cologne and arrived at the Kölner Philharmonie. Even before the first concert I felt that it wasn't just something special for us as musicians. The concertgoers lined up in front of the main entrance long before the concert, distanced and masked, and it was really moving to see that our audience is supporting us under whatever circumstances. The emotions became even stronger when I actually came on stage and looked into the audience: each guest sat individually wearing a mask, three seats free in between.
The concentration in the hall was extreme, everyone seemed to be in the middle of the music. So on the one hand you are happy that now nobody dares to cough and nobody can chat anymore because everyone is sitting alone. But at the same time you realize how sad this situation is.
For me, the program was reflected in my feelings: Berio himself said about the instrumentation of his arrangement of the existing folk songs, that they should "indicate and comment on what I felt each individual song originally wanted to express according to its cultural background ..." which was very touching to experience musically at a time when cultural exchange can almost only take place digitally.
The sometimes very gloomy, but at the same time incredibly tender mood in Schubert's "Unfinished" leaves very open where the music wants to lead us, almost like our current state, in which nobody knows what state the world will end up in and when. Teodor Currentzis let us design the transition from Schubert to Nikodijevic's k-hole with indefinable noises on the instruments, while the hall was darkened and you found yourself in a completely new world of sound: on the one hand, direct sounds from the instruments, which were distorted and electronically changed and played from all sides of the hall through loudspeakers. k-hole describes a state of consciousness in which one is paralyzed, similar to a near-death experience. When awakening from this state, the emotions are said to come back in an extreme way and a feeling of great happiness sets in.
Let's hope that at some point (preferably as soon as possible) the vortex in the spin cycle of the Corona washing machine slows down, our paralysis withdraws and we can exchange our overwhelming emotions, unrestrained, between cultures.
Workshop/sound session photography by Geoffroy Schied. All else by Hildegard Niebuhr.
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