Tour de Mendelssohn: Day 18

Yesterday I was really lucky. At the end of (another …) nerves-destroying day we were up to film MDR Symphonic Orchestras „Overture to: A Midsummer Night’s Dream“ by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. And somehow I managed not to stay with the crew but get a seat with the „important“ members (= Frau K. + Gefolgschaft). The concert was absolutely marvellous!!! First one was FMB’s overture, then Drvorzak’s „Concerto Violoncello“ with Germany’s shooting star Daniel Müller-Schott, and then Beethovens „7th Symphony“. The first half was absolutely beautiful. Romantic music has just got the power to create pictures. That’s something I really appreciate (especially about FMB’s music). You do feel AND recognize what inspired (and still does) the composer, conductor and musicians. And FMB’s „Midsummer Nicht’s Dream“ is so lovely and full of exploding happiness it makes one feel positive. The best word to describe this song is „great expectations“, I think. So it is a perfect overture, huh.

But then came Beethoven’s „7th“. This one was just incredible. Listening to the last movement made me almost pass out. It felt like sitting (swimming? flying??) in the eye of a hurricane made of sound. Sound and me as one. Brain full of Adrenaline, Dopamine and much more. Völlig gaga. I think I became a classic music addict yesterday …
What made the experience even more special: We sat behind the orchestra in the gallery where the chorus stands for Cantatas etc. That meant: Best position for studiying the conductor’s (again Jun-san) gestures and expressions. It was amazing how he used every single part of his body to communicate with the orchestra. I still can’t imagine how a single person manages to control 100 or 200 people … Voller Körpereinsatz. And despite of his exhaustig job, all the concentration and tension, he had still capacity to do jokes at the end. Jun-san yappa kakkoii.

My own private highlight today was much less of that dignified kind: While we were driving from Leipzig to Weimar through the Niemandsland between Sachsen and Thueringen, we passed „Unterkaka“. I think our driver and me couldn’t stop laughing for at least 5 minutes. Yes, sometimes (?) I’m like a primary school kid.

In general, all of us are in quite a good mood now, probably because end is near. Of course, Frau K. had another „outbreak“ today when she shouted at Producer 2 who was filming her privately while she was doing an interview. And of course, she still talks too much and gives stupid instructions to the camera that show that she definitely hasn’t have a clue how documentary filming works (Schätzelein, wir drehen hier nicht irgendeine Scheiß-TV-Serie, klar??). And yesterday she was really rude towards our sound-guy... But everybody got used to it. Still, yesterday I realized that she’s sitting on her high horse. She speaks in a cold manner, showing that you are (and will be) never as good as her. When I was supposed to leave the concert after first half in order to have dinner with the guys, she said: „Ooh, you CAN’T go out with those dumb guys after listening to such high class music!“ OMG she’s so narrow minded …unbelievable.