By Lyn Bronson
Well, it was a real circus!
We had purchased tickets (at $90 a ticket, $180 for the pair) to Rudolf Buchbinder’s solo recital at the Salzburg Festival expecting to hear a serious recital by one of Europe’s better known pianists. Of course it wasn’t Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich or Maurizio Pollini, but nevertheless Rudolf Buchbinder is still a name to contend with.
We had been advised that concerts at the Festival were dressy affairs, and accordingly we were smartly dressed. However, when we turned the corner from the Getreidegasse and spotted the exterior of the Grosses Festspielhaus, it was obvious that we were in the middle of a media event. A good proportion of the audience was dressed for the opera (hey, remember that this was only a piano recital). There were a significant number of women in long gowns and men in tuxes, and we observed elegant people socializing in the street in front of the concert hall. I immediately spotted three TV camera crews (it was the usual gig with a young woman holding a mike and interviewing arriving patrons, while a young man held and operated a camcorder on his shoulder). There were several policemen directing traffic, since the backup of taxis and cars depositing people at the entrance was causing a traffic gridlock for several blocks around the Festspielhaus.
