Comments on On An Overgrown Path: I am a camera - Leipzig

And a nice blog of Leipzig related stories via thi...

2006-03-10T13:12:00.000Z

And a nice blog of Leipzig related stories via this link.

Wonderful to see the truly international response ...

2006-03-10T09:58:00.000Z

Wonderful to see the truly international response to this article, here are just some of them:

Russian Federation

Germany - Leipzig

North Carolina

Many thanks to all my fellow bloggers for the links.

I have your blog on my radar. I made a short note ...

2006-03-09T20:22:00.000Z

I have your blog on my radar. I made a short note that our Karl Richter in Munich readers and friends should visit and enjoy your great blog.

Karl Richter got his grounding on Bach's music performance in Leipzig under Karl Straube and Guenther Ramin, and the younger brother of my friend Pia was a member of the Thomaner Choir and we have still good and regular contacts.

Best regards,
Hugo
http://karlrichtermunich.blogspot.com/

Hi Garth and many thanks for your kind words, and ...

2006-03-09T20:15:00.000Z

Hi Garth and many thanks for your kind words, and yes we were lucky with the weather. But we had quite a bit of snow which could have caused a problem for the return flight. Ryanair's highly profitable business model involves finding municipal airfields in the middle of nowhere, and then getting the local town to pay handsomely for the privilege of a daily flight which brings tourist money. Altenburg is a perfect example, a disused Lufwaffe base complete still with numerous blast shelters. The once a day Ryanair flight is the only commercial traffic - thankfully the runways were clear of snow, but I would not like to be there in a blizzard.

Leipzig is one big building site. The main project is the 'city tunnel' which puts rail links across the city centre, but currently means virtually every public space is a large hole with pile-drivers, look to the left in my photo of St Thomas' and you can see the omni-present scaffolding. As you say many old buildings have been renovated, but the problem remains of the communist public housing. The four large GDR apartment blocks between the main railway station and the city centre (next to the new Art Museum) are all empty (complete still with Welcome to Leipzig in Russian on one fascia!) awaiting demolition.

Even sixteen years after Wende the economic blight is startingly evident, particularly outside the cities. Everywhere there are empty houses, derelict factories and warehouses,and disused railway buildings - many pock-marked still with bullet and shell scars from WWll. The green shoots are definitely there, and town centres such as Zwickau are immaculate because all the infra-structure is new. But travel on the trains and you see the huge challenges facing the whole German economy. Yes, we even saw Trabants on the road, and I have a photo for my next article to prove it.

I can confirm the Universitatschochhaus is still the broadcast base for the Leipzig channel of MDR, and by the miracle of the internet I listen to Telemann's Der Herr ist König, TWV 8:6 (Kantate für Sopran, Tenor, Baß, 4stimmigen being webcast by MDR as I type, just follow this link to listen.

Welcome back, Pliable, and thank you for your wond...

2006-03-09T19:10:00.000Z

Welcome back, Pliable, and thank you for your wonderful pictorial, musical mini-travelogue -- and the many interesting links!

First, I must say that I was very happy seeing the blue sky in your photos, given that you were worried not only about Arctic temperatures, but also March Central European snowfalls.

Your report brought back memories of my trip to Leipzig 5 years ago at Easter-tide; and I enjoyed the musical, architectural, urban, and political focus of your report.

A few brief comments/questions as we await your recovery and separate Zwickau/Schumann report:

I recall the 34-storey Universitatschochhaus skyscraper having the MDR (Middle German Radio) logo and transmitter at its apex. Did you notice this? I remember broadcast cables running from the Gewandhaus Concert Hall into this skyscrapper. Also, did you see the bizarre 19th c. Max Klinger sculpture of Beethoven in the Concert Hall atrium, and the, in my opinion, aweful neo-expressionist/graffiti art mural in the same atrium?

Did you and your wife happen to catch the new white Leipzig Art Museum, designed by O M Unger, which opened, I think, in 2002?

I also recall the beautiful urban park on the west side of the city, as well as the vast tracks of slums on the east side of the city near the beautiful Mendelssohn House. I hope that the slums, largely comprised of fine architecture, are beginning to be redeveloped. However, given the high unemployment rates in eastern Germany, I someone doubt much progress has yet been made. [I remember some of the buildings were slated to become specialized museums and student housing for the huge Leipzig University.]

Thanks again for your report and camerawork!