A Trip to Vienna (2)

Sunday morning was the Lipizzaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School. Seeing these fully mature stallions performing their intricate choreography and spectacular acrobatics was one of the special experiences of Vienna.

Visits to the beautiful Augustiner Kirche, the Stephansdom and the Peterskirche made up our Church visiting. I reckon that the last is now an Opus Dei Church and a priest friend reckons that the Karlskirche may be so as well. Our sight-seeing for the day was completed with a visit to the Punkhalle: the wonderful baroque library within the Hofburg Palace. The special display was of "Loyal Addresses" to the Emperor Franz Josef, many of them contained in rich and elaborate cases. It was interesting to note those coming from Muslim and Jewish groups: it would seem that multi-culturism was not an alien concept to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Sunday evening was Mahler's seventh symphony, played by the Bayerische Rundfunks Orchestra conducted by Maris Janssons at the Muzikverein. This was a little disappointing. The 'front of house' at the concert hall is very poor. There are only bare stone steps up to the balcony level and bars and other 'facilities' were in very short supply.

The concert hall itself is very spectacular to look at and it has a very rich acoustic. But it also has the feeling that more people have been packed into it than really should be there. We were sitting on something like kitchen chairs, had no view of the conductor and could only see about one third of the orchestra. To listen to a difficult and long Mahler symphony in these conditions was quite a challenge.

Dinner after the concert was at the Korso restaurant in the Hotel Bristol - rated by the "Top 10" guide as the best restaurant in Vienna. Very traditional and formal, we felt at home there in our dinner jackets - and the food was excellent: lovely lamb and more terrific desserts.

Monday morning was a visit to the beautiful baroque Karlskirche. I was surprised to be charged an admission fee for this and even more surprised that, having been charged the full fee, half the church was under scaffolding and plastic tarpaulins while restoration work is carried out.

An attempt to get into the opera museum was unsuccessful - closed on Mondays. So we walked around the outside of the Hofburg Palace in the sunshine instead.

Our hotel - Das Triest - was generally very nice although our room was not big and inclined to be a bit stuffy. The weather was beautiful (shirt sleeves during the day).

This was an unforgettable weekend in one of Europe's most beautiful and cultured cities.

A Trip to Vienna

Loyal readers of this blog will know how much I enjoyed Laurent Pelly's new production of Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" when it was first performed at the Royal Opera House in January.

With a little difficulty (and at not inconsiderable expense) I managed to secure a ticket for the final night of its second outing - at the Vienna Staatsoper. Having enjoyed it so much in London I feared possible disappointment but, on the contrary, this was if anything an even more thrilling and enjoyable evening.

The production was very much the same. The humour was a little broader (more slapstick) in places. The Duchesse de Crackentorp disappeared from stage before the denouement - possible because of Monsterrat Caballe's physical condition. There was a lot more back-chat with the audience - some of it obviously ad-lib.

In the title role Natalie Dessay repeated and built on her triumph in London. Not only was her acting completely compelling but every note was absolutely spot-on. This was a performance of astonishing accomplishment.

Is Tonio Florez's best role? It seems to suit him both vocally and dramatically to perfection and I cannot think of any way his performance could be improved.

Carlos Alvarez was a much more gritty Sulpice than Corbelli had been in London but that made him more rather than less convincing in the role. Janina Baechle could not match Felicity Palmer's wonderfully eccentric grande dame as the the Marquise de Berkenfield but was more than acceptable.

Montserrat Caballe's first entrance as the Duchesse de Crackentorp was greeted with great applause. While waiting for Marie's delayed appearance she offered to swing a Swiss folk song - and then did so. Of course the voice is long past its sell-by date but the audience cheered. Caballe herself stopped the applause at which point there was a shout from the audience (in German) of 'we love you!'. More applause. Caballe responded 'I love you all too, but we must get on with the opera...'

The orchestral playing was as good as at Covent Garden, with particular mention for the wonderfully warm playing from the cellos in the second act. Yves Arbel was generally a much more alert conductor than Campanella; the speeds were generally faster, the rhythms sharper and I felt that overall the musical performance had much more bite.

Last but not least - the audience. The Viennese have a reputation for discernment and sophistication and it soon became clear that they recognised just what a remarkable performance this was. Several times Dessay had to act (usually staying within character) - not to acknowledge the applause but to quell it. After Florez's first act aria the house exploded; after minutes of 'bravos' the shouts turned into 'bis' and - yes -we did get the encore. The final top C of the encore flew into the house and went on, and on , and on... A mid-act standing ovation followed. More shouts of 'bis' followed Dessay's "Salut a la France", only controlled by her breaking free of the chorus and continuing with the dialogue.

I don't know how long the curtain calls lasted. The clapping, the stamping and the bravos were still going strong when I left after 25 minutes because I was worried about my supper reservation.

A night at the opera I will never forget.

And supper at the Hotel Sacher was very good too: elegant surroundings, impeccable service and delicious Tafelspitz and Sachertorte.