Ernani, Verdi’s fifth opera (1844) is melodic from beginning to end. Based on Victor Hugo’s play, whose tumultuous reception in 1830 marked a decisive turning point in the development of romantic drama, this violent and sombre story of frustrated passion, honour fatally impugned, and ambition thwarted and rewarded, is set by the young composer to a succession of irresistible tunes, unsurpassed even in his mature works. The opera’s dramatic impetus is unstoppable. For Luca Ronconi’s production, four of the world’s leading Verdi singers were engaged: Placido Domingo as the bandit, Ernani; Renato Bruson as the scheming, dangerously suave King Charles of Spain; Nicolai Ghiaurov as the proud Spanish Grandee whose implacable sense of honour propels the action to ist tragic conclusion; and Mirella Freni as the gentle heroine desired by these three rivals.
Muti conducts Debussy & Berlioz
“A fantastic ride between French refinement and waltz fireworks, ecstatic and Gregorian, bombast and apocalypse” (Der Standard) For many years grand master Riccardo Muti has been a regular guest at the Musikverein conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker. Undoubtedly, the orchestra and the Italian conductor have created a musical bond that exists for more than 50 years and guarantees stellar performances. In this concert, they offer “a fantastic ride between French refinement and waltz fireworks, ecstatic and Gregorian chant, bombast and apocalypse” with Claude Debussy’s Trois Nocturnes and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. “Frenzied applause for the orchestra and Maestro Muti, whom the audience honored with a standing ovation lasting several minutes!” (Der Standard). PROGRAM: Debussy: Trois Nocturnes; Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Muti conducts Brahms and Tchaikovsky – with Anne-Sophie Mutter
One thing you can rely on is the Salzburg Festival always offering compelling couplings of artistic personalities: in this case star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and Maestro Riccardo Muti. Exactly 30 years to the day since Mutter first performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at the festival, Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece is back on the programme. Mutter’s playing is stupendous, she succeeds in a way that draws astonishment. In Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, the veteran conductor Muti “lets the string and wind groups demonstrate in exemplary manner how it can sound when all the musicians are in perfect harmony with one another.” (Salzburger Nachrichten)
Muti conducts Beethoven 9th Symphony – 200th anniversary
On 7 May 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was premiered at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. The audience of this epochal event greeted Beethoven with frenetic applause and the “Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung” wrote “the impression (was) indescribably great and glorious, the jubilation enthusiastic, which was paid to the exalted master at the top of his lungs, whose inexhaustible genius opened up a new world to us”. Beethoven had truly created music for eternity, which was to conquer the world from then on. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of this great moment in music history, the Ninth will be performed on the day of the premiere with Riccardo Muti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein. The concerto is also a tribute to the memorable premiere 200 years ago in terms of the instrumentation, as it was played by the orchestra of the Kärntnertortheater, the former court opera – the predecessors of today’s Vienna Philharmonic.
Salzburg Festival 2021: Muti conducts Missa solemnis
Since the death of Herbert von Karajan in 1989, the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s concerts around Ascension Day (15 August) have firmly been in the hands of Riccardo Muti. Always sold out, they are among the highlights of every festival summer. For this year’s concert and on occasion of his 80th birthday, the maestro was acclaimed for his interpretation of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, a piece he has never conducted before. “Muti is a master in conveying extremes: monumentality, where it is compositionally intended, and highest internalization alternate with each other in a dense interplay.” FAZ
Salzburg Festival 2017: Aida
“Passionate and unconditionally dedicated” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Anna Netrebko makes her role debut as Aida at the Salzburg Festival, joined by Francesco Meli as Radamès and Ekaterina Semenchuk as her rival Amneris. In the pit: no other than Verdi expert Riccardo Muti, “our finest Verdi conductor” who “creates effects you didn’t quite think possible” (NY Times). This Aida is the first opera staging by award-winning Iranian film-maker, photographer and video artist Shirin Neshat, known for her critical examinations of gender roles and religious fundamentalism. “Lyric sensitivity and searing power – Ms. Netrebko is ready for Aida!” (New York Times)
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) (Mozart 22)
“The Magic Flute” is Mozart’s most popular and beloved opera, and its melodies – from Papageno’s folkloric tunes to the Queen of the Night’s breathtaking coloraturas – are familiar even among non-listeners of classical music. In this production by Pierre Audi, however, it is the eyes and not the ears that first fall under the spell of this truly magical “Magic Flute.” From the illustration on the stage curtain to the incredible, wildly colored, primeval-looking monsters, animals and decorative elements on the stage, the production is dominated by the unmistakable expressive world of the Dutch artist and sculptor Karel Appel. A co-founder of the acclaimed Cobra Group, Appel developed a darkly expressionistic idiom and was the “secret dramaturge” of the production, says director Audi. Appel died at the age of 85 three months before the premiere of “Die Zauberflöte” at the Salzburg Festival. Blending smoothly into Appel’s exotic designs, director Pierre Audi’s production is neither a contemporization nor a deconstruction of Mozart’s German Singspiel, which was written in 1791 and was one of Mozart’s last works. Instead, Audi leaves the alleged stylistic breaks and unresolved conflicts between good and evil as they are and seeks to “give them a home,” as he puts it. He relates the fairy-tale story of the “Magic Flute” in a sensual and playful, but never childlike or childish way, using Appel’s sets as a component of his vision. While the sets may be a treat for the eyes, the music is a feast for the ears. Metropolitan Opera and La Scala star Diana Damrau shines as a Queen of the Night who effortlessly tosses out her coloraturas with dazzling accuracy. René Pape’s Sarastro is a worthy counterpart, a solemn figure with balsamic bass tones. Paul Groves’ supple tenor voice ensures a faultless Tamino next to the captivatingly natural lyricism of Genia Kühmeier’s Pamina. Christian Gerhaher is a welcome, almost restrained Papageno. His Papagena, Irena Bespalovaite, brings her fresh musicality to the ensemble. The Vienna Philharmonic is led with an expert hand by the great Riccardo Muti.
Don Carlo
Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Don Carlos” was based on Schiller’s drama and exists in several versions. Commissioned by the Paris Opéra, it was given its world premiere there in 1867. The work comprised five acts and a large ballet – in conformity with the conventions of the French grand opera at that time. Five years later, Verdi created a heavily cut Italian version which is still the version generally performed today, as in this recording from Milan’s La Scala. For many years, “Don Carlos” was generally given in four acts; the first act was often completely cut and other scenes were left out. A return to the complete, five-act French-language version was ushered in during the second half of the 20th century. The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters, he is reminiscent of Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding ruler at the podium. His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music director in 1980. Always a conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world.
La donna del lago
Giocacchino Rossini (1792-1868) is known today above all as a composer of comic operas. However, he was much more than the admittedly brilliant creator of “Il barbiere di Siviglia” and “La Cenerentola.” The intensive study of his oeuvre over the past decades has brought to light Rossini’s multi-facetedness: Rossini was an important figure and major musical precursor both in the field of opera buffa and opera seria. Following a popular trend, Rossini wrote a number of works in which the rigid boundaries between opera buffa and opera seria are blurred. One example is the romantic melodrama in two acts “La donna del lago”, which was premiered in Naples in 1819. It was based on the novel “The Lady of the Lake” by the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. (Donizetti’s successful “Lucia di Lammermoor,” written about 15 years later, was also based on a source by Scott, who was extremely popular in Italy at that time.) It is the most romantic of all of Rossini’s operas: the beautiful Elena, the daughter of a Scottish rebel, wins the heart of the king who, without knowing her true identity, offers her a ring that ultimately helps Elena find happiness. Love, jealousy, political intrigues and royal benevolence set the accents in this melodrama, which is closely connected to the nature, forests, lakes and mountains of the Scottish highlands. Rossini’s wish to depict the Scottish spirit on the opera stage led him onto musical paths that he had never trodden before. Acclaimed movie director Werner Herzog stages this production from Milan’s La Scala. The title role is sung by the fascinating American belcanto soprano June Anderson. The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters, he is reminiscent of Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding ruler at the podium. His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music director in 1980. Always a conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world.
I vespri siciliani
Verdi’s opera “I vespri siciliani” was written after “Rigoletto,” “Il Trovatore” and “La Traviata,” this triumvirate of immortal stage works. It was commissioned by the Paris Opéra and was designed to respect the French taste for large choral scenes and lengthy ballets. The libretto of the “Vêpres siciliennes” was written in verse form by Eugène Scribe and was based on a historical event from the 13th century, when Sicily rose up against the French occupiers. Verdi achieved great success with this work in 1855, and the Opéra continued its collaboration with him twelve years later by commissioning “Don Carlos.” The Italian version of the work was premiered that same year and became known throughout the world. La Scala of Milan brought out several major productions of this work, including the one recorded here in 1990. The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters, he is reminiscent of Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding ruler at the podium. His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music director in 1980. Always a conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world.