Last night the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Maxim Vengerov, and Hakan Hardenberger gave an open air concert at the Brandenburger Tor. “Nice!”, some of you may think, “what a cool place to have a concert!” Right. Alas, as those of you who follow the world cup will know, the place in front of the Brandenburger Tor is currently used for the world’s biggest football party, the FIFA Fan Fest where thousands of football fans are watching the games, drink beer, dance throughout the night, and cheer loudly for their favorite team. “How does this go together with classical music?”, you may wonder. – Don’t ask me, I have no clue.

Ingo Metzmacher – soon-to-be conductor of the DSO, avid football fan himself, and less eloquent than some may think – was the master of ceremonies. He tried hard to relate each and every piece on the program to some aspect of football. What a futile undertaking! It was no wonder that he made a fool of himself.

And the music? It sounded horribly. The loudspeakers, amplifiers, and microphones that were used may be fine for watching a football game, for listening to a symphony orchestra they were not. It sounded like a pocket radio on full blast, not like one of the best orchestras in Germany. The programming wasn’t any better either: a not so well balanced potpourri of classical music and its younger offspring such as Silvestre Revueltas, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Sven-David Sandström.

Why is it that classical music, when trying to reach out to those who are doing just fine without it, is lowering its standards to a point where no one cares any longer!? Why are musicians always trying to please those who aren’t listening anyhow? Why are we chumming up to those who consider music a background noise, devoid of any “real” value?

Maxim Vengerov gave a demonstration of music’s real power and value when, after having performed Brahm’s inevitable Hungarian Dance No. 5, he silenced the crowd of a couple of thousands with a stunning performance of Jules Massenet’s Meditation from Thais (admittedly one of the cheesy pieces always played at events like this). The piece contains this inconspicuous but unearthly transition that consists of one chord only. It comes up after the first run through the lyrical theme. In most performances this chord that leads into the tonic and back to the beginning of the theme is played like any other harmony with a dominant function: with a lot of intensity and a gesture of great tension. But Vengerov and the DSO played it with less intensity, drew it out a little bit longer than usually, and by playing it without vibrato they added a scent of coldness and an idea of Verlorensein to Berlin that night. At that moment the crowd that just couldn’t stop chatting during all other pieces was paralyzed and stunnend – they were dead silent.