I'm back from my fifth Four-day Walk which I completed, thereby earning
a coveted silver cross.  You might want to check www.4daagse.nl for more
information about the event.  If you want to verify that I actually did
complete it, you can call up the above site, choose your language, English
or Dutch, click on "news"/"monitoring participants", and in the text that
comes up, click on "here" in the last sentence, to get to the search page,
after which type in my walk number, 30C607, for confirmation, and while
you're at it, you might at least want to check out the picture gallery
as well.

My musical experiences consisted of a concert in Middelburg which I didn't
attend (and which therefore wasn't really an "experience") and two in
Amsterdam's Concertgebouw that I did attend.

The concert I didn't attend was in Middelburg, which I visited after
completing the four days' walk.  There was a concert by the Young German
Symphony (Junge Deutsche Sinfonie) in Middelburg, featuring "Summer" from
Vivaldi's *Four Seasons*, Bach's Fourth Brandenburg Concerto, Tchaikowsky's
"Nocturne for Cello and String Orchestra", and Mozart's "Flute Quartet in
D", K.  285.  Unfortunately, I missed it.  The announcement described the
concert as taking place the following day (Sunday) at the Oostkerk (East
Church) w/ no further address.  None of the hotel personnel could tell me
its location or find out over the telephone as everything was closed for
the weekend.  Instead, I treated myself to a grand sea food dinner at the
Visrestaurant (Fish Restaurant) "Bij het stadhuis" (at the town hall), a
place I recommend highly if like me you like fish fresh and well prepared.

The two concerts I did attend were on my last two days in Amsterdam, at
the Concertgebouw.

The first featured Haydn's 9th and 99th Symphonies and Schubert's
Overture in C "in the Italian style", and Mozart's Piano Concerto No.
27 in Bb, K.  595, played by Eliane Rodrigues, w/ Dirk Vermeulen conducting
a group called Prima La Musica.  I had a fifth row seat, from which I
had the unusual view of Ms.  Rodrigues' hands from below.  For me, the
non-professional, it was amazing to watch her fingers hit the keys w/
the restraint one would imagine a person fingering a flower petal, and
yet elicit such clear defined tones of Mozart's last work in that genre.
She encored w/ a solo piece by Rachmaninoff.  I read in the program notes
that the Schubert piece was written by Schubert in protest of his friends'
enthusiasm over a performance of Rossini, contending that he could compose
an orchestral work a la Rossini in no time flat, over which he was prepared
to wager a good glass of wine.  While the notes mention that the overture
contains mocking references to all ingredients of the style that made
Rossini famous, the only references I thought I recognize were to other
works by Schubert.  I have a special affection for Haydn's 99th because my
first recording of it was a 10-inch lp given to me by a friend no longer
alive, a fine performance conducted by a (Sir?) Royalton Kish, whose name,
as I once discovered in an earlier Internet exchange, seems never to have
appeared in any other connection and may possibly have been a pseudonym.

The following evening, I heard the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, led by
Vladimir Ziva, playing Brahms' Violin Concerto, w/ violinist Ilya Grubert,
and Prokoffiev's "Romeo and Juliet Suite", op.  64.  I seem to be plagued
by disappointing live performances of the Brahms Concerto and this last
time was no exception.  Maybe it was my seat, last row balcony, far
left corner facing the orchestra, or maybe it was the performance, but
the soloist was barely audible above the orchestra, a problem I had
encountered before.  FWIW, the violinist was not called to play an encore.
The Prokoffiev was played w/ vigor and gusto, w/ the timpanist and
percussionists putting on a virtuoso act.  The conductor, also caught in
the music was dancing on the podium almost like Bernstein, and everybody
seemed to have a lot of fun.  The Tybalt's Death movement reminded of
Siegfried's Funeral March.  In what I believe is unusual for an orchestra,
it was held over for three encores, the "Nimrod" passage from Elgar's
*Enigma Variations*, a repeat of one of the movements from the *Romeo and
Juliet Suite*, which I thought was their way of signing off, but they
played one more piece, a Brahms (or was it Liszt) Hungarian Dance.

Unlike the experience in Middelburg, the Concertgebouw presentation wasn't
a case of music or a fine meal.  For the second concert, I also got myself
a ticket for their Italian buffet offered before the concert.  Starting off
w/ an Oude Genever as an aperitif I had quite a selection of appetizers
from the buffet.  The main course was brought to the table along w/ some
white and red wine, the various desserts again being available from the
buffet.

Music and food both highly recommended.

Walter Meyer