MOBILE RED HEDGEHOG - Flipbook - Page 26
Café Danube
ZRI
Ben Harlan clarinet
Max Baillie violin
Matthew Sharp ‘cello
Jon Banks accordion
Iris Pissaride santouri
Music flowing into Vienna from the East
No city ever celebrated its river in music quite like
Vienna and the beautiful blue Danube. But even in
those glory days the Danube was more than just a
symbol of gilded elegance; it passed through nine
neighbouring countries, could boast the largest
river shipping company in the world, fuelled by
coal mined in Hungary and running over a
thousand vessels all the way to Odessa; in the age
of steamers and heavy industry, the Danube was
the new silk road.
It also brought in people. The imperial citadel that
Schubert and Beethoven once knew was a
sprawling metropolis for Brahms, the quadrupled
population mostly made up of immigrants from
down river. The Hungarian Roma bands arrived on
this tide, deeply traditional but also priding
themselves on learning Strauss favourites and
even whole operas instantly and by ear.
