Marian Schedenig

He performed it in Vienna. You could argue that it would feel less "inappropriate" here because Austria still acts like we were a victim of WW2, but I would argue that that reasoning would make it less appropriate, if anything. (I'm not saying it was inappropriate, and I don't think it was, but the reasoning would be). In contrast, Berlin acknowledges its role in the war, as countless prominent memorials attest. I don't think performing it would have been (or been interpreted as) inappropriate. Also, it doesn't just "restart" the processional and doesn't just change its key, but also adds counterpoint.

Also not an uncommon thing at all, especially with soundtrack recordings.

But he clearly goes beyond that. He says (or at least clearly implies) that Williams (and apparently all film composers) are incapable of writing music that can stand on its own, that they need the films to give them structure, and that they only work if you remember and recognise the melodies. Well, most of us here know and love lots of scores without knowing the films. And a film or any kind of programme will not give the music structure if the composer doesn't know how to leverage it (many today don't, but that's why I listen to Williams much more than current day film composers). And also, I know I'm not the only one here who does listen to a lot of classical music and was brought into that musical world by Williams, whereas the reviewer claims that this music is totally incapable of doing that. Essentially, he's confusing a) a composer who knows how to draw from a film (no matter how good or relevant) to write good *music* and b) people who enjoy the music for its own sake with people who only like it because they know the films (although I'm sure there were many of those at the concerts). Yes, the programme was somewhat more single-minded than it could have been, even for a greatest hits type of programme, but I doubt he would have written anything else about Vienna for example. I also think Williams' film concert arrangements have plenty of structure, certainly for the brief vignettes they are - obviously a structure of a full symphony is different from that of a 5 minute suite/overture. But the reviewer conveniently ignores other popular standards of the classical repertoire that have similar forms and sizes - think of any number of overtures by any of the great composers, or suites like Grieg's Peer Gynt suites (not to mention the purely "entertaining" Strauß waltzes - technically brilliant, but certainly more limited in their scope than Williams' output).

Basically, yes. But Abbado did record Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky suite.

It's not just 70-year-olds who cough and make noise during concerts. In that regard, the FFP2 mask rule actually helps. Sure, it would be more comfortable without them, but aside from the obvious fact that they make these concerts possible without killing people, they also make the audience very reluctant to cough during the concert. A week before Berlin I attended a chamber concert at the Musikverein and heard one cough throughout the entire programme. I wish people will still remember how to do that when we can finally leave the masks off.

You're a secret agent at a top music university?

That should make things… easier.

You mean I can type any random album name and it'll just put it where it matches?

It's hard to compare from recordings. And obviously the emotional live experience is also hard to judge. But my impression was that most of the ovations were actually more ecstatic in Vienna. But hall acoustics are also a factor, and applause often sounds much more subdued on a live recording (where the mics are of course not placed in the audience, which is where you get your live experience). Overall I would say that the excitement and respect by both the audience and the orchestra were on the same level in Vienna and Berlin.

There's two I can't place, but there doesn't seem to be a way to skip an entry or proceed to the next one without giving the correct answer, so I can't finish it…

It doesn't really. If it's the reason, it just confirms a certain general snobbishness that I've always said has still got a strong hold on Vienna's classical concert scene. I had been slightly worried about how it might affect the concert beforehand, but the musicians were clearly excited to play this concert and very happy with Williams, so it had no relevant impact on the orchestra (at least this time) or the concert.

Perhaps Joseph was busy with Toto stuff. He said that Hedwig is a white "bird" and that she delivers the mail to the muggles. Which is not entirely incorrect, because in the first film she's mostly seen delivering letters to the mostly muggle household where Harry lives. He said exactly the same thing on Thursday. I think he called it a "stick, or staff". It's as if he's never heard the word "broomstick" in his life.

By the way, if anyone is wondering what Williams is so delighted about in the audience between Marion's Theme and the Raiders' March: There was a very small (and very well behaved) child sitting three seats next to me who Williams obviously spotted at that point. Perhaps the Wiener authorities weren't too eager to show too many scenes of sloppily dressed fanboys with smartphones.

I had the same feeling. Vienna's video wasn't bad I think, but rather static with a small number of camera angles. Berlin, though live, was more dynamic, with changing angles (e.g. more than one closeup angle on Williams) and good coverage of the orchestra groups. A nice side effect is that you also get to see more of the audience, which is nice (though irrelevant) because I'm in it (I was at both of the Vienna concerts, but there's only one very brief shot of my part of the audience (from Saturday) on the Blu).

I'm one exciting backer.

It makes me a bit sad how unliked the Mutter arrangements seem to be here. If I could only have one of the two programs, I'd easily pick the Vienna one, for the violin stuff and War Horse. But I'm happy that Berlin was different enough to give us plenty of new highlights.

I was wearing a turtleneck on Saturday, but he was more chatty on Thursday…

RIP Edita Gruberova

RIP Edita Gruberova

That was when I realised that Capaldi might just be my favourite Doctor.

This hasn't aged well.

He was very happy and relaxed in Vienna, too, just more exhausted during the second concert and a bit confused in his speeches. He was overall more energetic in Berlin on Thursday, and particularly talkative about his Berlin experience, but again he was clearly more exhausted on Saturday (and apparently even more on Friday, when I wasn't there), and cut some of his speeches short.

Happened right before my nose. The security guy at that door had clearly been tired for at least the last few pieces of the evening. I don't know remember if he'd stepped outside for a moment when it happened or just didn't pay attention/react quickly enough, but it seemed like his colleague gave him a reprimand afterwards. He was still there on Saturday though. The cameras were moving on Thursday, but they were clearly replaced by others on Saturday (white "surveillance" cameras on Thursday, black film/video cameras on Saturday). Perhaps they were just rehearsing camera angles on Thursday? If so, I hope at least the sound was fully recorded.

The Imperial March had the perfect tempo in Vienna. Jurassic Park was way too fast in Berlin. Aside from that, I liked most of the brisk Berliner tempi (especially for the action material), but keep in mind that the halls are very different. The Musikverein sounds great, but it has a lot of reverb. If you play too loud too fast, you'll just end up with one ugly loud chord.