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With a string of sold-out concerts to look back on and a fistful of glowing reviews to add to their scrapbooks, Lorin Maazel and the musicians of the New York Philharmonic traveled from Braunschweig to Berlin for the final concert of the 75th Anniversary European Tour, Part I, before heading back to New York. This tour commemorates the Orchestra's 1930 visit to Europe with Arturo Toscanini. That legendary maestro was one of Lorin Maazel's earliest musical mentors, and one press account of this 2005 visit praised Mr. Maazel as "the legitimate successor to the great Italian."
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The Orchestra's stay in Essen was punctuated by a quick trip to Bonn, where the musicians and Lorin Maazel participated in the 2005 Beethovenfest. Then it was off to the city of Braunschweig where two concerts were scheduled, including one on the evening of September 11, attended by the new American Ambassador to Germany, William R. Timken, Jr., and featuring violinist Gil Shaham. Awaiting the Orchestra ― warmly welcomed here as it had been at its other stops ― were more receptions and parties, but also something unique: a chance to visit Wolfsburg's Autostadt, a theme park devoted to the art and craft of the automobile.
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The city of Essen, in Germany's Ruhr region, welcomed the Philharmonic with open arms. Luncheons, receptions, and sell-outs for both of its concerts followed on the heels of performances at Switzerland's Lucerne Festival, where one critic praised Music Director Lorin Maazel as a "baton wizard," and described the Orchestra's treatment of works by Richard Strauss as "perfection that will be remembered for a long time." The visit to Essen provided the musicians with a free day, but there was no rest for Mr. Maazel and President and Executive Director Zarin Mehta. While the Orchestra relaxed and toured Essen, they traveled to Dresden for a press event in anticipation of the Philharmonic's November appearances at the historic Frauenkirche (Church of Our Blessed Lady), during Part II of the 75th Anniversary European Tour.
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Following a triumphant sold-out concert in Frankfurt, during which, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Lorin "Maazel and his musicians effortlessly succeeded in astonishing the audience," the Orchestra moved on to Baden-Baden for its next concert at that city's Festspielhaus. That brief overnight visit was followed by a longer stop in Lucerne for a three-concert appearance at the Kultur- und Kongresszentrum. With a few days in this stunning Alpine city, the musicians could take a breather to drink in the beauty of lake and mountains, play a few rounds of golf, and recharge for the journey back to the German city of Essen.
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TV cameras were waiting when New York Philharmonic musicians stepped off the plane at Frankfurt Airport for the start of the Orchestra's 75th Anniversary European Tour — a celebration of the historic 1930 tour led by Arturo Toscanini. After a day to rest and recuperate from the flight, the musicians begin rehearsals for the first concert, on September 1, at Frankfurt's historic Alte Oper. The sold-out concert, which was dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, opened with one of the works most closely associated with the New York Philharmonic: Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World," which it premiered in 1893.
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