Amsterdam's Mozart Requiem

Remember back in December when we went to the Christmas concert at the St. Martinuskerk in Amersfoort, ca. 30 miles east of where we live here in Gorinchem, NL?  And how one thing led to another...namely that the PR man of the choral series, Peter Streefkerk, gave us 2 tickets for another concert in appreciation for my images?!

The concert we choose was the Mozart Requiem in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. 4 reasons:

1. I had sung Mozart's requiem in the Columbia, SC, Choral Society back in 1971.
   
2. I have always wanted to see the inside of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw after seeing the outside many times.  It's considered one of the world's top concert halls because of its acoustics.
3. Mozart never finished this piece before dying in 1791:  he was 35 years old!  The movie Amadeus is one of my favorites which I'm now eager to see again.
4. We wanted to pick a concert in February, before our up-coming river cruise in March (yes, you heard me).

No sooner had we picked our concert than Peter had the above tickets in the mail to us for last Sunday,
a week ago, on a gloriously crisp and sunny winter's day.

We were there in plenty of time to mosey along from here to there.

It helps that we both are familiar with the city!
The famous Magere Bridge and Heineken Experience just happened to be on our way.
Interestingly, that's the Amstel River...and another beer altogether.

 Did I mention that the Concertgebouw faces the Rijksmuseum from across the Museumplein?

It's getting ready to show Rembrandt's Night Watch after years of museum renovation.

Once you see it, you never forget it, trust me.

But it was the Concertgebouw that held our interest this day, even if in the shadows.

At least the entrance around the corner (bottom above) was in the light.

Our seats were in the North Balcony, so first thing was to climb the stairs.

Talk about red-carpet treatment.

And before we did anything, we peeked in and found our seats while the place was still basically empty.

From the stage viewpoint (top left) we saw our balcony (top middle).

Little by little the heavenly space started filling up.

But first, we went for our gratis drink that came with our tickets.

Did I mention red-carpet treatment?!

And don't you love how Het Concertgebouw marks the stop line for the wine!

The Concert Hall's organ, built in 1891, is it's crown jewel.

But as you can imagine, I was short of eyes, bouncing off all the walls!

Schumann was right behind us.  Mozart was in front of us on the opposite wall.

All the ghosts of music past wrapped themselves around the hall.

 When the concert master started tuning up the strings...ahhh, it would begin.

It really was gonna happen!

Have you ever seen this kind of basset horn?  It was new to me.
Mozart asked for 2 of them and got them.

(click any image/collage to enlarge)

During the concert the tympani was hidden from us, under the balcony.

But I had fun watching her tune it up beforehand.

NO PHOTOGRAPHY DURING THE ACTUAL CONCERT!

So all these images are before and after pieces, often during applause.

Don't you love the prima donna...standing out like a sore thumb brilliant jewel!

Not to mention the conductor, Pieter Jan Leusink!

It really doesn't get any better than this....

...or this!  

They deserved every accolade in the book.

I wanted to watch them coming and going over and over again...

especially for the encore, which is my favorite piece of the Requiem:  Dies irae.
(Yes, I sang along under my breath!)

mozart requiem - dies irae door algeva

We hated to leave, but loved seeing Conductor Pieter signing his autograph in the downstairs lobby.
What a great way to end a beautiful concert!

We ended the beautiful day at one of our favorites, Wagamama.
And then picked up our car at the AJAX arena for our hour's drive home.

This was a Christmas that kept on giving.  We'll never forget it!