Paris, Paris … Have you read the raves from the Orchestra’s final night of tour?
“By intermission, it was clear that the Paris finale would eclipse the dozen concerts that had preceded it,” writes the Philadelphia Inquirer, “and this on a tour that has elicited not only unanimously good reviews, but also a sense of rediscovery of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s distinctive place on the international music stage.”
The Orchestra arrived in the City of Light by train, whisking from London to Paris on the Eurostar. The train’s incredible speed left the musicians with a few free magical hours to stroll the Champs-Élysées, do a little shopping, or indulge in a croissant, pain au chocolat, or other divine confection (or two) from one of the city’s famous patisseries.
While you’re perusing these tour dispatches, you might want to listen to the Orchestra’s magnificent sold-out performance (which was broadcast live on France Musique radio) at the Salle Pleyel—a concert hall tucked away on a pretty street near the Arc de Triomphe—while you read (available through October 9). You can almost see the resplendent Charles Dutoit leading the musicians in the attention-grabbing opener, Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila. The concert also featured Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and guest soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. Concertgoers rewarded both the Orchestra and Thibaudet with standing ovations (harder won in Europe than here at home) and their wild applause was rewarded with encores, first when Thibaudet played Brahms’s Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2, and again when the Orchestra let loose with Ravel’s La Valse.
Philadelphia Orchestra Board Chairman Richard Worley and his wife, Leslie Miller; Board member Carole Haas Gravagno and her husband, Lee; and Emeritus Board member May Belle Rauch and her husband, Ted, were all in the audience for what would turn out to be an exuberant and triumphant tour finale. If there was end-of-tour fatigue … or perhaps a bittersweet sadness over the retirement of violinist Louis Lanza, whose playing has been a bedrock of the Orchestra for nearly five decades, it was not evident on stage. The musicians played their hearts out.
Touring has always been a hallmark of The Philadelphia Orchestra. The band hit the road just four days after its inaugural concert on November 16, 1900, traveling to Reading, Pennsylvania; and Music Director Leopold Stokowski made history when he first took the musicians outside the United States in 1936. Since then, millions of people from all over the world have come to know the Fabulous Philadelphians not just through recordings, but from live performances in their hometowns. The 2011 European Festivals Tour has doubtless added to the ever-growing list of devotees.
In the end, though, the excitement of touring always becomes mingled with a yearning for home … and clean clothes. Violinist Philip Kates hosted his traditional end-of-tour party, where colleagues gathered on the balcony of his hotel room to toast their success—indeed, some are calling this the most successful tour ever—as the dreamy moonlight mixed in with a sparkling Eiffel Tower behind them.
