Music in Vienna

We spent some time in Vienna...
Three days to be exact. The weather was not particularly great. 
In fact it was cloudy and intermittently it rained.
This,however, did not bother us. The first night we went to see and hear the Canadian Superstar Songstress and Pianist Diana Krall. Accompanied by String Bass, Guitar, Violin, drums and an electronic keyboard, she played the piano and sang, as only Diana Krall can. She is truly a superior artist. Her voice is so utterly expressive, that it seems to change in timbre when the mood of the song changes. Her Piano playing is simply superb, ranking her among the finest Jazz pianists of today. The Great Oscar Peterson wrote about her:

"....I admire Diana because her approach has a dignity and truth to it that immediately captures one's musical attention....."

Diana Krall plays with a youthful exhuberance but at the same time with the soulful experience of a seasoned Musician.
Her side men also were of the highest quality. 
The concert lasted about 90 minutes. Ninety minutes of sheer enjoyment. I would gladly have sat there listening for another 90.

The next evening, we visited the "Grosse Musikvereinssaal," a magnificent concert hall, where we heard the "Wiener Philharmoniker" (the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra). It is difficult to immagine a more perfect body of sound.. 
The conductor was a relatively young man from Columbia: 
Andres Orozco-Estrada. He brought a seldom heard vigor and speed to the three pieces on the program.
And what a varied program it was: 
Luigi Cherubini (1760 -1842) Konzertouvertüre G. Dur
Igor Strawinsky (1882 - 1971) "Concerto en Re"
Franz Schubert  (1797 - 1828) "Symphonie Nr. 4 

It is hard to imagine three much more divergent compositions then those three. All were performed at an up- tempo which made even Schubert's "Tragic Symphony" a true joy to hear.

No sooner did we get back home, than we drove to Klagenfurt's Opera and a performance of the Check composer Leo Janacek's "The Clever Little Fox"...   a bit weird.... with all the performers running around dressed like different animals... oh well, I shall not bore you with a detailed description of the plot... You can find it yourself... I am sure it's on Google-

Tonight, I'll rest a while with John Irving's "Last Night in Twisted River".

For the next couple of days I shall not travel:

Bertstravels.