I can report that Claire Frances is alive and doing well -- very well! Parents' Week at Franciscan University in Gaming, Austria brought me to see a Claire who is on her way to great health. You would all be happy to know that she has two tremendous roommates, Nicole and Megan. The place that she lives in right now -- the same place that Maureen resided in two years ago -- is one, huge, sweet, great and beautiful slice of heaven. We have no idea... Claire and formerly, Maureen, live in Franziskus Haus, the Gaming Residence Hall. You wake up and engage in a view that is a dream.
On my fifth night there, Claire and I met up in Austria, hopped off a bus, checked into the hotel that we were sharing with about 150 or so students and parents, and walked down the Karntner Strauss to see the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein. And what pieces! The one that Claire loves, Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto, particularly the adagio portion, was worth the trip to Austria, alone!
Just click on this link and you'll see why Clairehead and I love this piece. In the video that the above links up to, Glenn Gould, one of the best pianists ever, does a super job. Plus Glenn Gould was nuts!!
Because the concert was sold out, we had crappy seats, but who cared! It was absolutely great. We also so the Patetique Symphony 6 by Tchaikovsky. Kathleen and I saw the OSM do this piece with a very famous conductor, Valerie Gergiev. No one does it better than Charles Dutoit
http://youtube.com/watch?v=M1J5912WbAQ and click this link and you'll find out why. The word pathétique is often misunderstood by native English speakers due to the negative meaning of the modern pathetic. The term means "with pathos" and denotes a passionate rhetorical character intending to evoke sorrow. If you hang in to the end of the piece, it will move you -- or you are already dead.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=M1J5912WbAQ and click this link and you'll find out why. The word pathétique is often misunderstood by native English speakers due to the negative meaning of the modern pathetic. The term means "with pathos" and denotes a passionate rhetorical character intending to evoke sorrow. If you hang in to the end of the piece, it will move you -- or you are already dead.
The venue where the concert was played was the Musikverein, (Music Society), a beautiful old-style concert hall.
The Musikverein in Vienna, Austria was opened on January 6, 1870, and is famous for its acoustics. It is considered to be one of the three finest concert halls in the world, along with Boston's Symphony Hall and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, and is home to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
The concert hall was built by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Friends of Music) which had been given the land by Emperor Franz Joseph. The building soon came to be known simply as the Musikverein ("music club"). A historic organ was installed in the Konzerthaus by the Austrian firm Rieger in 1907.
The Goldener Saal (Golden Hall) is forty-eight metres long, nineteen metres wide, and eighteen metres high. It has 1,744 seats and standing room for 300. Every year on January 1 the Vienna New Year's Concert is held here.
Great time!
-Joe
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