The Berlin Philharmonic was everything I expected to be…and SO much more!
For starters the architecture of the building is incredible…all of the angles, and sharp curves of the building make perfect sense once inside the building. The architecture is a beautiful container for the philharmonic…the design allows for outstanding acoustical resonance….that was the part that I expected, now for the “more”. If you are familiar with my love of music, especially movie scores and soundtracks then you will understand why today may have been the greatest “musical” day in my life (and I don’t use that phrase often). Zubin Mehta is currently in Berlin and will be a guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for tonight, tomorrow night, and Saturday night. Mehta has done a lot of reinterpretations of many movie scores and has an impressive résumé of musical accomplishments. Today I had the honor, privilege, pleasure, and blessing of sitting in the “presidents seats” of the hall while listening to Mehta and the Berlin Philharmonic practice for their performances over the next few nights. It was an absolute sense of euphoria that I cannot fully explain…I have never seen such a prolific, accomplished, and talented conductor or orchestra live. We stayed in the hall for about 20 minutes of the rehearsal; during the session I was able to recognize many of the musical concepts. Mehta was speaking in German along with everyone else but I could hear and understand familiar words such as “crescendo” and “pianissimo”; I tried to guess the time signature a couple of times but the piece, “Symphony No. 8” by Anton Bruckner, was very difficult…it is amazing how music knows no language boundaries nor needs no translation, it is the universal language! Hopefully I will be able to attend the full concert on Saturday night…our professor believes we can get student tickets for 7 euros!
After this highlighting feature of my day I experienced another “Sagrada Familia effect” in which everything else failed in comparison. Later we visited another “pavilion” by Mies van der Rhoe, the building contained a large collection of artwork; works by Roy Litchstien and Andy Warhol were just a few of the artists that the collection contained. We also visited the Brandenburg gate here in Berlin, which again contains such a rich history from WWII. After lunch we went to the “Krematorium Baumschulenweg” (Crematorium) which is a relatively famous work of architecture by architect Axel Schultes; little did I know that the “Sagrada Familia effect” I was experiencing after the philharmonic was about to wear off. The interior of the building is very minimalistic, it essentially contains a large empty “lobby” with 29 columns; the entire “lobby” is made of concrete and it gives off a very strong, heavy, and dominating presence. We were given a tour of the building by its architect (another surprise) who ironically was very similar to his design…blunt, dominating, and ominous. His views of life and death were very straightforward, and he openly stated that he was a non-believer and found the concepts of religion “a crazy fairytale”. Although I obviously did not agree with his point of views I could not help but respect his opinions…his explanations were strangely captivating and intelligent, not to mention I believed that his design of the building was very good. But this still was not the event that took away my “Sagrada Familia effect”; he gave us a tour of the actual crematorium, the part where they you know, CREMATE people!! It was eerily interesting…I witnessed a “fresh” body (in a coffin) go into the furnace, and saw the “sizzling” remains of a newly cremated body... all of the bones. I could not compel myself to take any pictures of this part of the crematorium, so sorry no pictures from there. It was not an experience that I will ever have to witness again, but it was an experience none the less; seeing the process uncensored was very eye-opening and Mr. Schultes views of life and religion added another effect to the event.
Had a very eventful day…tomorrow we are going to Hamburg! Remember how I said I wonder what the hamburgers are like if the size of the meatballs are that big, well tomorrow I will get to find out! Frikadelle is the German dish that the American hamburger originates from.
Mehta was not out on the stage yet...
What a day. I have never been to a crematorium and quite frankly have no desire to do so. Music is more of an interest for me. I would have loved to hear how the sound reverberates in the hall. Enjoy.
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