TRAVEL
By travel editor DAVID BRAY
It’s an important rule for this life: Never, ever, agree to conduct an orchestra if you don’t have the training. I remember when an experienced media adviser allowed her Arts Minister to have a go with the Queensland Symphony at a season launch. He was in fact one of our better people in that portfolio, but the stunt didn’t work. The orchestra did what orchestras tend to do in such a circumstance – ignored him.
But you might care to try, as I did not so long ago. Here’s the scene: I raise the baton and the mighty Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra gives me its full attention. We launch into the Radekzy March but they don’t think much of the inexpert beat and no matter how the antipodean imposter tries, we just can’t get it together. Things grind to a halt with much muttering among the players and some firm advice from their leader.
So we have another go. Blue Danube. Same inharmonious result. Still, if you’ve always aspired to conducting one of the world’s great orchestras, your wish can come true at the House of Music – virtually, at least. The latest jewel in Vienna’s musical crown, the House of Music includes a “virtual” Vienna Philharmonic which you can put it through its paces as a virtual conductor. But be warned: the patience of the orchestra is not unlimited! The virtual conductor is just one of many fun but thought-provoking exhibits at the Hausdermusik, which opened in June 2000 in the historic palace of Archduke Karl, in the heart of the Austrian capital. The palace has been closely connected with the music world for nearly two centuries.
Otto Nicolai, the legendary founder of the Vienna Philharmonic, to whom the orchestra still dedicates a concert every year, lived in the building in the 19th century. The House of Music project, financially supported by electronics giant Siemens AG Austria, is a fascinating blend of the old and the new.
The former state rooms of the palace also house the Vienna Philharmonic Museum. The six floors house heaps of interactive displays where you are invited to try all sorts of things for yourself, to play instruments, to compose a waltz, to learn about sounds and music. I now have some idea of what the world sounds like to a baby in its mother's womb.
I can, barely, coax sounds from the interactive music theatre of the Brain Opera. And there are excellent more formal displays about Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Schubert, and assorted Strausses. Hausdermusik, Seilerstatte 30, is open 10am to 10pm, every day. More info: www.hdm.at.
And when you’re ready to move on there are so many super museums in Vienna it’s hard to decide. I would start at the Kunsthistorisches which not only has a fine collection but also a nice bit of technology that’s almost a match for the Hausdermusik. You can use the Audioguide that comes as part of the admission fee to keep a record of pictures you really like.
When you finish your visit a technician uses the information sorted in the guide to print your personal catalogue with excellent quality reproductions of the works of art and a printed record of the spoken commentary on each that you heard on the way around.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Maria Theresien-Platz.
Open Tuesday - Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. info@khm.at
