Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Article on new tubist in Vienna


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Posted by Correct! More . . on June 27, 2003 at 19:30:01:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Article on new tubist in Vienna posted by John Swadley on June 27, 2003 at 13:52:08:

The VPO is an organization within, or more precisely, outside of the Wiener Staatsoper. Because they often times bring their own local students into the fold, there can actually be one group off touring as the VPO, while another remains in Vienna covering the operas in town. I've even heard of cases where one VPO was on the road, while another VPO puts on a concert in town. That one I find a bit hard to believe, but maybe it's true.

Mr. Ozawa is the artistic director for the Staatsoper, which certainly does not mean that he conducts every opera in town. As for the VPO, they perform nearly all of their yearly concerts with different conductors. I believe that their next tour is with Zubin Mehta, but I might be wrong on that point. For "Alpine Symphony" buffs, there's an excellent recoring of the work with Ozawa/VPO on Philips, but it was never made available in the U.S. It also comes with one of those really big and long fanfares that Richard Strauss wrote specifically for the VPO.

It should also be noted that while the VPO is considered to be the best orchestra in town, it's certainly not the only one. There's a very good radio orchestra in Vienna that does more than their fair share of the modern music duties. I heard that orchestra play the daylights out of some of those really big Edgar Varese scores more than 20 years ago. There's also the Vienna Symphony, which is not too many notches below the VPO in quality, and certainly plays far more concerts in Vienna than the VPO does. The VPO is almost like a cultural calling card for Vienna.

As for instruments, I'd be a bit surprised if the Yorkbrunner gets used in the VPO, but you never know these days. The Musikverein is a relatively small hall.

Barry Guerrero


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