Philadelphia Orchestra Europe tour encounters Begeisterungsfähigkeit
The Philadelphia Orchestra tour has hit its stride.
When they love you, the really love you. The German word for it is "
The audience wasn't huge, but there's a story in there: The Philharmonie was so keen to present Yannick Nezet-Seguin with the Philadelphia Orchestra - he has already been there with his Rotterdam Orchestra and the London Philharmonic, and returns next month with Chamber Orchestra of Europe - that it willingly took a less-than-favorable date on a holiday weekend.
An after-concert, backstage beer party is the local custom here, and the musicians took advantage of it – while being mindful that tomorrow is a travel day to Dresden, and their bags must be packed and in the hotel lobby by 9:30 a.m. I asked Lisa Batiashvili why they chose the Tchaikovsky Romance as their quiet violin/piano encore. They recorded the pieces together as filler on Nezet-Seguin's Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 disc on Deutsche Grammophon. She loves the idea of the conductor sitting down to play piano after such a loud Shostakovich finale. But also, the Shostakovich concerto is so bitter, she said, "We wanted closure." Together onstage, they come off like conspiratorial siblings. Another reason for "Begeisterungsfähigkeit".