Last night I took part in the first of two concerts with the [Musikfreunde Heidelberg](Programme – Musikfreunde Heidelberg (musikfreunde-heidelberg.de)) in the Johannes-Brahms-Saal of the Musikschule in Heidelberg. Our conductor has long maintained a cycle of focussing on a conductor in the winter semester (last winter was Rachmaninov), and a country or a region in the summer: this summer’s theme is Hungarica!, which includes Hungary and Romania, with composers like Bartók, Kolály, Farkas - and lots of dances.
Whilst some of the music (Bartók’s Romanian Dances, with their genuinely cool baselines, especially) is genuinely appealing, I admit I do find a lot of the music rather tiresome, especially with all the repeats! Yes, those are perfect for dances, but for listening and playing, it’s a bit much, and gets a bit samey.
In the overheated concert hall last night (the passive air cooling system broke down, and apparently the technician measured temperatures of 48 °C in the hall), it was sapping. At least the cycle home in the edges of a thunderstorm was refreshing.
Hopefully tonight’s concert will be more bearable: we have another outing next weekend in Bad Rappenau, but I’m at the point now where I’ll be happy to have the concerts behind me, so I can return to my own music as Halledr, at my own pace…
… yes, with repeats.
