Hats off to the ORF (Austrian broadcasting) for the creative intermission film they put together, showing the cake and waltz side of Vienna as well as the skilled handworkers.
New Year’s Concert 2017 – First Half
1 JanGustavo Dudamel, this year’s conductor, is the youngest at 35 years of age. After listening to (and watching) the first three or four pieces I have to say I’m afraid he’s a little too young for the task. Not that the age itself is a problem, but he doesn’t seem willing to let go as an older, more experienced conductor might. (Karajan towards the end conducted more or less using only his little fingers. This is an orchestra that doesn’t need more than that.)
I hear / see this in two ways. He has been charging through the pieces, pushing rather than pulling any hypothetical waltzers, all very clear but a little cut-and-dried. He also seems to be trying to exercise too much control over the orchestra. Maybe he’ll relax as he goes along. If not this time, then next time.
He does look nice in the new Philharmonic suit, though. 😉
They’re at it again
10 DecThe EuroSkills championship has just taken place in Göteborg, Sweden, and once again Austria has done extremely well for such a small country (see below).
At the top of the list is Lisa Janisch, painter. She had the highest points of all competitors and with that got a gold medal and was “Best of Nation” and “Best of Europe”. The tasks she had to complete: painting an inside door in two colors, putting up wallpaper, painting Göteborg’s opera house on a wall (with some technical details I can’t translate because I don’t understand them), speed painting, and finally using a technique of her choice to decorate a 2 m2 wall area. (She chose to paint her shadow on the wall using a sophisticated stucco technique.) She said the hardest part was completing these tasks well in the time allowed and that she was helped by the fact that she had been practicing all day, every day for months until her boss told her to go home and get some sleep. I continue to love the fact that there are competitions for work performance.
From today’s Kurier the list of winners:
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Still cold
7 DecOn our walk this morning, Maylo and I went past a construction site. One of the men took one look at Maylo in his little coat (it’s still below freezing here) and said, with a smile, to me, “You forgot something. Where are his gloves?” From his accent and his good humor at that hour of the morning I think he was one of the thousands of Poles who help keep this city running.
And the former president …
4 DecAnd the former president of Austria, Heinz Fischer, recently was at a gala concert in the Musikverein to celebrate pianist Rudolf Buchbinder’s 70th birthday. One thing I have always appreciated about Fischer is that he likes classical music and can often be seen at concerts, usually without any obvious security. The first time I saw him, I was dissecting a concert with some Austrian friends and interrupted to point and say, “Der Bundespräsident!” They glanced over and said, more or less, “Of course. What did you expect? He often comes to concerts” and turned back to continue our conversation. What did I expect??? A security detail taking the president out through a back passage, not this short, middle-aged man walking out alone looking contemplative.
A new president for Austria
4 DecAustria has elected Alexander van der Bellen as its new president. Van der Bellen was formerly head of the Green Party and ran as an independent. He won against Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the right-wing, nationalist party. Thank you, Austria!
Vanillekipferln
3 DecIt’s that time of year again. The Kurier has printed a recipe for Vanillekipferln (an essential and quintessential Viennese Advent and Christmas cookie) with the comment that there are probably as many recipes as there are “Omas” (grandmothers). Here is their version this year.
You will need:
250 gms of flour
210 gms of (cold) butter
100 gms ground almonds
70 gms of sugar
salt
4 – 5 tablespoons of powdered sugar
one packet of vanilla sugar.
(1) Mix the flour, almonds, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Cut the cold butter into pieces and knead it quickly into the flour mixture. Wrap the dough in foil and cool for at least 30 minutes.
(2) Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper, turn the oven on to 180 degrees C. Knead the dough one more time. Cut about 1/3 off and put the rest back into a cool place.
(3) Shape the dough into a roll with a diameter of about 5 cm. Cut the roll into slices of about 1 cm each. Out of each slice roll the dough between the palms of your hands until it is 6 – 8 cm long. Bend the dough into a crescent shape and place on the cookie sheet. Bake the batch for about 15 minutes.
(4) Remove the cookie sheet from the oven, take off the cookies, and let them cool for a few minutes. Mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla sugar and turn the warm Kipferln carefully in the sugar mixture. Put the finished cookies on a plate to cool and then store for a few days in a tin before eating.
Back
1 DecAfter four months in the U.S. Maylo and I are back in Vienna. Anyone who’s been following this blog at all knows how much I love this city, but what did I notice most in the last 48 hours? Sadly, how much and how indiscriminately people smoke. Ah, well. Nothing is perfect.
Vienna time
14 NovSome of my readers know that I have been in the U.S.A. for a few months now. Shortly, I will be heading back to my life in Vienna. It’s been a wonderful time here and I am also looking forward to going back.
I’m looking forward to going back partly because of a photo a friend sent of the vineyards in Neustift magnificent in their autumnal splendor, but it was also helped by a drive to visit friends outside of Boston yesterday. I realize that along with Hall’s concept of monochronic and polychronic time and Levine’s studies of the pace of life there is another aspect of time not yet researched (that I know of)–when the periods of high activity are vs. the periods of low activity. I assumed (having now internalized Viennese time in a way I wasn’t aware of) that my hour and a half drive on Sunday morning at least would be restful. (I was mentally prepared for a Sunday afternoon rush hour.) I thought people would be enjoying a quiet Sunday morning at home with family, the newspaper, and a nice breakfast. Imagine my shock when by 10 a.m. the traffic was only slightly less heavy and fast than on a weekday. (The drive back late Sunday afternoon was completely overwhelming to someone who avails herself of public transportation wherever possible.)
The other side of this is that I’ll be going to the supermarket today and expect to have an easy time of it. This is something I try to avoid in Vienna as a lot of people go on Monday because the stores are closed (thank God) on Sundays. My experience here over the last few months tells me I’ll probably have an easy drive and short lines at the cash registers. Many people did their shopping yesterday instead.
Different periods of high activity and low activity …
ecbinvienna 