LACO's last night in Vienna... Tues. Mar. 4

The LA Chamber Orchestra waltzed away with the audience tonight! Led by music director, Jeffrey Kahane, LACO sounded perfectly at home in the "Great Hall" of the nearly 100-old Konzerthaus, a five-minute walk from our hotel. The stunning hall was completely renovated in the late 1990's and is all gold and red.....gold-leaf inlaid ceilings, red velvet seats, pristine white walls. From a box on the balcony level, the sound was ideal: clear, crisp, yet brilliant. In the Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite, solo violinist (and concertmaster) Margaret Batjer and the solo winds and brass were particularly thrilling. So many of them have been with this orchestra for decades, and they sound like family.

The concert appeared to be just about a sell-out......and, again, an encore was the only way to appease them, even after a long program of the Stravinsky; Uri Caine's virtuosic and improvisational-flavored Piano Concerto entitled, "Mosaics", with the composer as the dazzling soloist; Haydn's Symphony No. 99 and Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, in German, announced they'd play Rossini's Overture to "The Italian Girl in Algiers," borrowed from the other tour program.

For those of us who knew about some drama backstage, all eyes were on the second flute for the bulk of the concert. You see, she has never played with this orchestra before. She's a Viennese-based young musician, called in today to replace ailing Susan Greenberg, who came down with an ear infection in Hamburg and couldn't fly. I was told she got only about 15 minutes to rehearse the ultra-demanding Prokofiev, which barely allows the flute section to breathe under normal circumstances.

LACO's second trumpet, Darren Mulder, also had a white-knuckle night. He was thrust into the very much in the spotlight (especially in the Stravinsky) first chair, when David Washburn was diagnosed with pneumonia. Again, a Viennese musician was hired to take Darren's chair. It all went brilliantly. As LACO Executive Director Andrea Laguni said, if you have to find great players at the last minute to play without a rehearsal, Vienna's the ideal place for a topnotch game of musical chairs.

After this greatly successful and no doubt exhausting program, Kahane, his wife Martha, some LACO patrons traveling with the orchestra, and orchestra officials Andrea Laguni, Ruth Eliel and Danielle Harrell (who took the photos on this blog) strolled for ten minutes or so to the massive and endlessly alluring MAK Center of Applied Arts. You may know the relatively intimate, though fascinating LA offshoot at the Schindler House in West Hollywood. Well, this building is gargantuan, houses all manner of old and new design and decor, hosts avant garde readings, films, concerts and happenings, and just happens to boast one of Vienna's most wonderful restaurants right inside. Well, there I go bringing up food again. What do you want from me? The Johannes Brahms diet is strict. Music and food. Music and food.

Anyway, after a wonderful tour by of this mind-boggling museum by several of its top officials, we sat down for a full meal at around 11:30pm. Salad with potato chips (you had to be there), pasta with ham, and, yes, a typically creamy, sugary, cheesecake-like dessert served with a bowl of sweetened rhubarb.

Earlier today, before the orchestra arrived, I wandered into the Albertina, an art museum/palace filled with drawings, water-colors, and a world-class exhibit of the newly acquired Rita und Herbert Batliner collection. Had a pretty fair wiener schnitzel in the swank museum cafe. It's on the diet.

Tomorrow it's on to Berlin! 4:43am! Bedtime!