The RSO Vienna works councils, Geert Langelaar (left) and Bernhard Ziegler(right) at the press conference of Sept. 11, 2009. Photo Credit: Matthias Wurz
“The RSO Vienna and the Gordian knot; that’s how you might want to call the whole affair,” works council Bernhard Ziegler paused for a moment and the audience was on the edge of their seats for him to continue. Dressed in black, wearing the orchestra’s T-shirt with defiance, he looked up from his notes and smiled nervously. Little did one expect that the press conference on the uncertain future of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO Vienna) on Sept. 11 at Presseclub Concordia, would include a short excursion into Greek mythology.
But Ziegler was not referring to the so-called ‘Alexandrian Solution’, when Alexander the Great famously cut the knot of his ox-cart with his sword as he could untie it – the legend that led to his conquest of the Persian Empire in 333 B.C. However, the well-read orchestra’s works council cited a lesser-known version of the story, where the Macedonian monarch opened the knot by simply pulling out the cart’s dowel.
