Barry,
I think the book will be available at the Gewandhous website. They released it for the Fest. It cost me 39.80 Euro and the price goes up 10 on June 1st. The book itself is very nice, thick pages, great photo's and an entire listing of everything he conducted here while at the opera. Let me tell you, he conducted a hell of a lot of Wagner here. I'd say if you've got the extra cash, this book would be worth while for anyone that shares the same interest. It's in both English and German.
I wanted to hear the Dresden 3rd badly, but couldn't fit into the schedule. I also lost out on a chance to hear Haitink conduct M9 in Amsterdam because of a near soccer riot outside the Concertgebouw when Ajax won a rather serious match. It was quite interesting to be leaving the Rijsmuseam; it's nice tranquil setting, beautiful painting then hoping to walk across a park to the RCO and get some tickets, only to find tens of thousands of insanely wasted soccer fans chanting down a street. Every single one of them had a 6 pack. My girlfriend and I trudged our way through all this, getting to the Concertgebouw only to find every single door locked.
I really felt the M7 got better as it went along; 1st movement was a bit rough in spots, but it got progressively better. And that Rondo...damn. My girlfriend didn't like the cow bells at all. This is her first Mahler and that's what she pointed out. You should have seen their gong though, it was HUGE!
I'll report more later. Hopefully the 5th tomorrow with New York and Gilbert. That could truly be something special. His 3rd, to me, was monumental.
The sign at the Gewandhous shop read like they DVD's of the 2nd and 8th would be available world wide. If not, the shop their is very helpful. They REALLY love their orchestra here.
Cheers,
Chris
