Gigantic pastry containing a symphony
Last night we attended the Palau de la Música Catalana to hear Dvorák's 9th New World Symphony. First, I should explain why we chose this specific concert: Osaka, Japan has a loop line with two lines, one running clockwise, the other, counter-clockwise. Our hotel was right next to one of the loop line’s stations, so close in fact, then when you sat in the large outdoor garden area in front of the hotel, you could hear the chime that played to announce an arriving train. And what was this chime? It was a bit of Dvorák's 9th New World Symphony! The great thing about this loop line is that each station has its own melody, so you know which station you are in just from hearing the melody. (As an aside, the Kyoto subway system uses a similar trick: a recording of a different bird call plays in each station. It is a subtle and relaxing way to know which station you are in.)
So when we saw this was being performed at the Palau, we had to go, not just for the music, but to see the Palau itself. While Antoni Gaudi gets all the attention, there have been other great architects contributing to the bizarre building collection in this city, in this case, Lluís Domènech i Montaner. When I say bizarre, I mean it in the best way. This building is like a hallucination of a gigantic pastry, with so much detail on top of detail that it takes multiple visits to absorb it all.
The front corner of the building. The sculpture looks like it is growing out of the building.
There is a lot of tilework all over the outside and inside of the building. Each of these columns has a different flower in the pattern! Even the underside of the balconies have flower patterns.
This was the view from our seats. We were way up in the second balcony, but the sound was so clear. The amount of decoration covering every surface was more than I could absorb in one concert. I love the horse leaping out of the ceiling right in front of us!
The attention to detail is unbelievable. Even this lamp has beautiful, thistle-like ironwork all over it. The whole building has a feeling of being alive and growing endlessly.
