This is Hansel and Gretel land. The air of the cobbled streets is scented by the colourful flowered baskets and pots hanging from the balconies of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth century half-timbered houses, washed in shades of blue, ochre, vanilla and almond green. A former convent, it now houses works of art dating back to the end of the Middle Ages, including the beautiful Issenheim Altarpiece, painted by Mathias Grunwald in 1515. Not least of Colmar's attractions is the house of the sculptor, Auguste Bartholdi, whose most famous work was the Statue of Liberty, completed in 1934. The International Music Festival was created there in 1989, and since then, during the first two weeks of July, a series of exceptional concerts, each created for the Festival, is given in the historic churches, chapels, and synagogue.
Young people play in the streets, and strains of music are often heard from open windows.
And because I wanted it to be really special, and not like a mixed salad with any old thing thrown in, I came up with the idea of dedicating it to someone close to me who had brought light to the next generation with their music. After winning the International Violin Competition of Montreal in 1969, Spivakov received a phone call from Glenn Gould in Toronto, congratulating him and suggesting they played together with a view to recording. But the young violinist was a Soviet citizen and permission was refused, a lost opportunity he has always regretted. On my first visit to Colmar six years ago, the guest of honour was Yehudi Menuhin who had encouraged Spivakov to form the Orchestre Les Virtuoses de Moscou in 1979, after the latter's successful debut as a conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Ravinia. Composed of the best soloists and prize-winners of all the orchestras in Russia, the ensemble, with its unique sound and remarkable precision is now considered one of the leading chamber orchestras in the world.