Baden-Baden Ah... the reassuringly familiar “Queens Hotel” Baden-Baden finally appears in view after a torturous travel day of over twelve hours all the way from Cagliari in Sardinia. Our coach driver decides on an interesting approach, reversing down the narrow street in an attempt to unload us directly opposite the entrance. Ten minutes later and after a near mutiny on board, he finally lets us off. We are all completely shattered and a little grumpy!
So Baden-Baden – stage two of this gruelling 3 week project and one of my favourite destinations on our calendar to much amusement of my colleagues. I love this small spa town with its baths, gardens, fountains and old people. It is home to the oldest tennis club in Germany, Nordsea, and of course the inimitable bar and restaurant, “Leos”, second home to all visiting orchestras. I should also mention the Festspielhaus which is where I find myself heading the next morning after an amazing ten hours of life saving sleep!
This programme is sandwiched between two tours of Beethoven “Eroica” with Daniel Harding, and I guess will be a very different proposition to the intensity of the previous week. Fazil Say is a charismatic and eclectic performer, and along with conductor Kristjan Järvi and a much larger orchestra it proves exactly so. Music by Gershwin, Bernstein, Ravel and Say himself make for a very audience friendly concert and the standing ovation they give at the end is a pretty satisfying end to a fun few days.
A visit from my girlfriend and an interesting afternoon in a converted cow shed otherwise known by locals as the launderette are other highlights of these days. However I do need to mention an important moment in my career. After some persuasion from a colleague (thanks May!) and a visit to the local luggage shop near the cowshed, I decide to join the “Rimowa club”. If anyone reading this has ever seen the orchestra arriving or departing a hotel or at an airport then I’m sure you will know what I am talking about, but for everyone else, Rimowa is a German suitcase manufacturer and nearly all the members of the orchestra own one. Why? Can’t say for sure but I think it’s got something to do with the 4 wheels? Anyway, 320 Euros later I am the very proud owner of a one (see photo) and my poor, trusted old sports bag is confined to the dustbin.
Oviedo So on to Oviedo, the first stop on our Spain tour. Another arduous journey via Frankfurt, Madrid and some interesting motorway services (see picture) ensues. Twelve hours and five episodes of “Mad Men” – the highly addictive American hit TV show – later I stumble into my hotel room and give my new baby (the Rimowa) a thorough check over – no one warned me being a member of this club involved so much anxiety!
The next morning after a very late night/morning thanks to my viola colleagues and a stray member of the flute section, I arrive for rehearsal having definitely felt much better. We are re-united with Daniel and the Beethoven but also meet our new soloist, violinist Isabelle Faust who will play the Brahms violin concerto. After a difficult rehearsal of three hours for mainly self inflicted reasons in little more than a large office space, I take myself and my sore head back to our hotel. Amazingly, fifteen minutes later I find myself jogging towards the outskirts of the city with my friend and colleague Florent who thinks it’s a great way to deal with the excesses of the previous evening. He proves to be right actually and an hour later having sweat out what was left of my hangover I am back in my room scoffing a sandwich and catching up with the world thanks to CNN.
Concert that evening goes well as does dinner afterwards in a ship... well kind of a ship stuck in a building... well ok a mock ship built inside a restaurant then! What ever it was it was a great evening with lots of violinists, very unusual.
Bilbao Next stop is Bilbao, a few hours drive but still long enough for at least four episodes of “Mad Men”. After driving in a circle around the hotel at least three times the driver eventually stops and lets us off. I bang my head and loose my temper with him and myself, all witnessed by a colleague (sorry Tim!).
We are recording the Brahms that evening with Isabelle in a tiny hall which someone very cleverly built next to an amazing pastry shop. I think the owner must have had a very lucrative few days! That evening the board of the orchestra invites everyone to dinner in the restaurant of the hotel. I got some bad news today about a colleague in my orchestra in Stockholm and am feeling bit fragile but this is a perfectly timed occasion to be together for an evening and I soon feel my spirits lifting. So much in fact that later that night I find myself with half the orchestra in some bar across town until the early hours. How unusual. An altercation with some ice cubes and a taxi driver (thanks Florent!) and a lost viola player (where did you go Anna?!) bring the night to an interesting end.
The recording continues in the morning via a very necessary pit stop at the pastry shop. Few hours later and it is all over. Everyone is feeling good as it has gone well and Isabelle is happy. Other memories of this day are a bit sketchy, but I do remember trying to teach Geoff how to say “Squirrel” just before the concert. Weird you probably think? I agree, but hilarious anyway... Just ask anybody from France to say “Squirrel” and you’ll see what I mean.
Madrid Did I forget to mention how much it has rained on this tour so far? Incredible. I remember looking at the schedule a few months ago and thinking how great it was going to be to escape the crap weather in the UK. How wrong I was. Anyway the rain finally stops as we fly into Madrid. Today is going to be slightly unusual as our concert is not until 10.30 and with no rehearsal before hand. I am slightly panicking after finishing the whole first series of “Mad Men”. What am I going to do on the next few journeys? I have to get hold of the second series as soon as possible...
After a delicious lunch in a vegetarian restaurant I head back to the hotel for some serious sleeping. I am woken up by a telephone call from my tenant in London informing me that the hot water in my house has stopped working... Great! Just what you don’t need in the middle of a tour. After various attempts to contact plumbers and insurance companies I conclude that cold showers aren’t really all that bad and she will have to hold on until my return in a couple of days. It’s around 8pm now so I grab a sandwich, pick out the least grubby shirt of my now very weary collection and get on the bus to the concert hall.
To my surprise the hall is totally packed. Apparently this is the fourth concert today and unlikely to finish before 12.30 am I reckon. Amazing!
Concert is great and after an argument between my head and heart over whether to head into town to celebrate I opt for a couple of beers in the hotel lobby to the delight of the night porter... not!
San Sebastian Next morning we hit the road for the last time to Madrid airport and a short flight North West to San Sebastian. I am definitely starting to feel a bit tired of all this moving around and the grumpiness is really kicking in now especially as I still haven’t managed to steal the second series of “Mad Men” from anyone with a computer. I decide not to inflict my bad mood on anyone else and head straight up to my room when we reach the hotel. Actually I desperately need to practise some music for the next week with my orchestra in Stockholm, so it could be a good move anyhow.
However an hour later with the viola still in the case and my bad mood hanging around like a bad smell I decide to go for a walk along the river instead. Turns out to be a major stroke of luck as I come across an amazing delicatessen just at the moment I remember it’s my girlfriend’s birthday the following day. Bingo! 75 Euros later I am feeling much better about life. Manchego, jamón iberico and a lovely bottle of rioja. Great thing about a present like this... Well it’s obvious I guess?
The final concert of the tour, and possibly our best performance, is to another packed out hall. Apparently there are over 2000 people here and from a population of only 150000 it’s very impressive. Now San Sebastian is famous for many things but most of all its fine dining and innovative restaurants. There are three 3* Michelin restaurants within the city limits which is pretty amazing, and I was lucky enough to be invited to one of them after the concert as a guest of Daniel Harding.
“Wow” is all I can say. The restaurant was called “Arzak”, and is an experience I will never forget. Poached egg with truffle, steak, fish and some incredible chocolate desserts, just some of the memories. We also met the head chef, Juan Mari Arzak, apparently a well known celebrity in Spain (see picture). Altogether it was a brilliant evening and free! A perk of being a very old school friend of the maestro I guess!!
So that’s it. Next morning I head home after a long and tiring but satisfying tour. Oh, I nearly forgot! I finally manage to get hold of the second series of “Mad Men”, downloaded from my friend Alexandre’s computer at the airport... had to virtually get on his plane with our computers connected together as we ran out of time but just managed it thanks to a very patient airline official. I’m sorted!
