Metamorphosen under Marek Janowski at Salle Pleyel, Orchestre de Paris 13/03/14.

Sometimes some changes have huge echos in one's mind.
 I was fairly disappointed at Anja Harteros 's cancellations (both nights12, 13 March) at Salle Pleyel. Then I reorganised my first evening, had the two tickets refunded, got a cheaper one for the 13th, and really was absolutely flabbergasted by the whole concert.
How could I find words to  even try to describe what I felt during those two Strauss pieces seperated by schubert's Inachevée... luckily, because it offered a space to breathe and feel on safe grounds.
Marek Janowski looked completely part of it all, he did not make one move to the audience, just got into it and made the orchestra express what I believe to be his own breath, which could fairly well be what Strauss felt the last year of his life.
This tall, elderly man who simply bathes in this music was astonishing, and made the orchestra give their best. The 23 string instruments involved in this half an hour dense meditation captivated my whole mind and body. I felt numbed and aching like the lead violin when it cries. And the cellos in these minor long phrases  bring tears.
The audience who was fairly noisy during the 8th, even applauded  between the two movements, was dead silent, caught in it just like me. I could feel the change of atmosphere.
Now, reading the programme, the historical background of this last composition makes me wonder how my  young parents went through  that time. I cannot believe I was born in the middle of it...
Marek Janowski had the orchestra applauded several times but did not linger on stage, not indulging himself in pleasing the audience. I admire him even more.
But why no recordings  were done by France Musique when such a kapellmeister is visiting Orchestre de Paris?

parc floral(Yvette)

Early Sping in Paris under a huge toxic cloud made me tour the Parc floral once more. Breathing was easier under the trees.
The camelias and Magnolias were in full bloom.
Reassuring, even under high pollution....
Back home, I am still under the spell of this  Richard Strauss concert conducted by Marek Janowski.