A musical excursion into the Alps

My first stop on the road trip was to visit my parents outside Philadelphia. While there, we went to a concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra. The major work was Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony.

Since I expect mountains to figure in this trip, this seemed particularly apposite.

This work is a monster -- it requires an orchestra of about 130 players, including players for organ, heckelphone, and two oddities seem almost nowhere else:


I apologize for the picture quality -- it is from a cellphone. I highlighted the wind machine off to the right of the bass drum.



The "thunder machine" is the metal sheet hanging center-left in this picture. The percussionist who operated it struck it with a large wooden hammer and then rattled it about, to create a thunder-like effect.


Before the concert, we were treated to a performance by these, the second time I've heard actual alphorns. The first time was in Switzerland, in the mountains, an almost surreal experience, since the players were almost never visible (you hear the echos off the mountain walls).