“Blue and green pump jacks nod like mechanical farm animals in a field.”
This phrase was extracted from an New York Times article documenting how Austria stopped its flow of Russian gas—highlighting how the country itself has the room, space, and jacks to satisfy its appetite. Given how absorbed Americans are with Russia and Ukraine, going in-depth about economic and foreign policy feels like overkill.
But not many Americans know something else inside the belly of Austria: the violin. With bricks that define its architecture, The Musikverein has hosted many types of musicians. Artists such as Hilary Hahn, an American violinist known for her perfect playing; Itzhak Perlman, an Israeli violinist known for his sweet vibrato; and others have performed here numerous times. This has led almost every classical music enthusiast to know about it—even if they can’t spell its name correctly.
It opened in 1863 under an Austrian emperor. But even OMV, an Austrian gas company hyper-focused on diverting gas resources away from Gazprom (a Russian gas company controlled by the Russian state) as early as 2006, knows about it. Its lights and chandeliers, testing the limits of Newton’s laws, require a lot of energy. Its 49m × 19m × 15m volume demands extensive heating, and maintaining its architecture is a staggering expense. It’s a different kind of hot mess.
The Musikverein may be seeing some changes in the coming years. According to Alfred Stern, OMV’s chief executive—whose organization is funded by both the Austrian government and the Middle East—liquefied natural gas will soon enter the stage from Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Norway via Germany. And while gas is gas, whether it’s Russian or Austrian, the Musikverein will be happy to hear that morning concerts during those teeth-clattering, wanting-to-stay-in-and-not-venture-out winters will now have a guaranteed heat supply, unlike the “unreliability of Gazprom,” as Stern puts it.
In fact, members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra—whether commuting to Vienna from the outer suburbs, vacationing in Salzburg, visiting the western part of the country, or just admiring Austria’s 1,500 square miles of flat land—will soon be able to see the pump jacks and the drilling of wells from polymers.
A new symphony in awakening. Allegro, Austria!
