The performance was great, but the hall was a little disappointing…
Visit date: November 1, 2015, weather: cloudy.
Last day at the Berliner Philharmoniker in Frankfurt
After enjoying the beautiful autumn leaves, we drove on the Autobahn to Frankfurt. This night was the long-awaited Berlin Philharmonic performance. This is the reason why I chose Germany this time. It took about three hours from Kassel by car. As you would expect from a city like Frankfurt, there were a lot of cars on the Autobahn as we approached the city. Even so, it is amazing that some sections of the Autobahn can be traveled without speed limits. However, I was tired.
Parking lot under the station, there was a women-only lane.
This is my second time to drive in Frankfurt. I was going back to Japan the next day, but I was planning to drive to the airport, so I decided to park my car at the central station. Of course, the hotel is right in front of the station, and I will meet my parents who are traveling by train at the hotel.
There was a large public parking garage underneath Frankfurt Central Station. It was easy to find. It’s a big one, but there are so many cars that it’s hard to find an empty space.
Luckily I found a space near the exit, but I thought it was a women-only area. In other words, only female drivers can park here.
So this is how it works. It was my first experience. Of course I gave up here and managed to park my car a little further in.
A light beer before we start.
The concert starts at 8 p.m., so we had a light beer at a bar in front of the station. It was like a local beer in Frankfurt.
Beer is good everywhere in Germany.
To AlterOper
Finally, we headed for the venue, Alte Oper. My parents asked a female photographer who they happened to know on the train how to take the train. If you have Google Maps, it’s easy to find the way, but it was certainly a more detailed explanation than Google Maps. It can be said that the explanation was very German.
Google Maps is also good enough to check train routes in Germany.
If you take the S-Bahn, you can reach the nearest station to the Alte Oper in about 5 minutes. However, from the S-Bahn station you will have to walk a bit.
Then we arrived at the venue. Finally, the climax of the trip.
The program is Beethoven No. 1 and No. 3.
The program of this day was Beethoven, and it was all Beethoven program in Cologne on 28th. It was a great pleasure to hear four Beethoven symphonies in only one week, and all of them were performed by the best orchestra in the world.
The foyer is huge, but the hall is crappy.
Then it’s into the hall. First you leave your coat in the cloakroom, buy a pamphlet, and wait in the foyer while relaxing with a Riesling.
And about 30 minutes before, we could enter the hall. But this hall is unnecessarily wide and the stage is very far…. And the stage stand is high. Also, the first floor seats are almost flat from the front to the center. I bought a relatively good seat, but this is a waste of money!
The performance was great!
However, it was the Berlioz Philharmonic Orchestra. The performance was very impressive. Oh, if only the hall was better, I would have been even more impressed…
First of all, the first tune is symphony No.1. It might be because of the hall after all, and it is the part that I wanted the sound to echo a little more. Because it was distant, it sounded and it did not hear it. Even though it is the Berlin Philharmonic. This experience reminds me of the Vienna Philharmonic of the Paris Champs-Élysées theater 10 or more years ago.
And the main one is Eroica Symphony No. 3. It is one of the most favorite works of Beethoven. Because the music is also magnificent, and because I got used to the hall a little, I could hear it enough than the first. But it was still a little far from the sound I imagined. I thought that the hall is very important. When I think about it, I have listened to the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin and Suntory Hall, both of which are of the highest quality, so Frankfurt is too bad if I compare it to here.
Even so, the performance was wonderful, and the parents who went with us were also impressed. I think it was a good present for them.
こうして夜は更けていきました。いよいよ明日は帰国の途につきます、本旅行記は次回ラストです。（続く）
