Witnessing a performance of Benjamin Britten’s monumental War Requiem is an experience. Scored for orchestra, large chorus, children’s choir and three soloists, it is certainly a challenge to perform. Gianandrea Noseda makes his debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra with a work he has championed and for which he has received critical acclaim in performances and on record. In 1964, the Concertgebouw Orchestra performed Britten’s War Requiem under the direction of Bernard Haitink with the ‘dream team’ Britten had actually envisaged for the world premiere two years earlier: the Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, the English tenor Peter Pears and the German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Now the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra has again invited a Russian soprano, an English tenor and a German baritone.
Betrothal in a Monastery
At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Dmitri Tcherniakov stages Prokofiev’s lyrical comic opera Betrothal in a Monastery under Daniel Barenboim’s baton. The Russian director recasts the complete opera as therapeutic role play for “Opera-Addict Anonymus”. Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin and “the uniformly excellent cast” (Financial Times), led by Aida Garifullina, Bogdan Volkov and Stephan Rügamer among others. “Musically, this performance is a celebration in every respect”, praises BR Klassik.
Salzburg Easter Festival 2021: Christian Thielemann & Denis Matsuev
Since 2013, Christian Thielemann has led the Easter Festival as artistic director. Due to Covid-19, the 2021 edition was moved to autumn. Together with the Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann presented Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Denis Matsuev, one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation. The second part featured the symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss, one of the orchestra’s showpieces. “Thielemann attached immense importance to subtleties and also took time to savour the phrases. The soloists from his own ranks also proved to be excellent, especially concertmaster Matthias Wollong with his long violin solo. Standing ovations.” (Kurier) PROGRAM Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor; Lyadov: The Music Box, Op. 32; Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
Salzburg Festival 2021: Blomstedt conducts Honegger & Brahms
Now in his nineties, Herbert Blomstedt, former conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, is still a powerful interpreter of the symphonic repertoire. His programme with the Vienna Philharmonic is straightforward: it begins with Honegger’s brilliant Third Symphony and ends with Brahms’ Fourth. The eminent maestro, one of the orchestra’s favourites since his debut at the 2011 Salzburg Mozart Week, continues to enchant audiences with his enormous presence, verve and artistic drive. “At the end, standing ovations and boundless cheers.” (br-klassik.de) PROGRAM Honegger: Symphony No. 3 “Liturgique”; Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Mozart Week 2021: Barenboim & Argerich
It is hard to believe that piano legend Martha Argerich is really celebrating her 80th birthday this year – her youthful wit and shrewd piano playing certainly still excite. Particularly her concerts with longtime friend and compatriot Daniel Barenboim, whom she knows from early piano lessons in Buenos Aires, are stellar moments not to be missed. A musical star hour with Mozart’s piano sonatas for four hands from the Great Hall in the Mozarteum Salzburg. “A very beautiful and intimate concert together” Deutschlandfunk. PROGRAM Mozart: Sonata in C major for Piano Four Hands, K. 521, Andante with Five Variations in G major for Piano Four Hands, K. 501, Sonata in F major for Piano Four Hands, K. 497,
Sonata in D major for two Pianos, K. 448
Mozart Week 2021: Barenboim & Bartoli
La Bartoli – wherever she performs, the audience goes wild. Usually. Thanks to Covid-19, this time the Great Hall of the Mozarteum Salzburg is empty when Cecilia Bartoli, accompanied by one of the residence orchestras of the acclaimed Mozartwoche, the Vienna Philharmonic, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim sings “Ch’io mi scordi di te”. Of course always with her own technical perfection, heartfelt warmth and at the same time great gesture. No one masters playing on stage like she does, even if it is a stage in front of an empty hall. Further on the program: Mozart’s famous “Prague Symphony” as well as conductor Daniel Barenboim slipping into the role of the pianist playing the Piano Concerto in C minor K. 491. PROGRAM “Ch’io mi scordi di te?” – “Non temer, amato bene”, K. 505; “Vedrai, carino” from Don Giovanni; Piano Concerto No. 24, Symphony No. 38 “Prague Symphony”
Mozart Week 2021: 94 seconds of new Mozart
Premieres and sensational finds are rare but there are still miracles happening: there is hardly any other composer whose life and work have been better researched and of whose complete works we have such a precise listing. Above all, because his enterprising father Leopold had compiled a catalogue of compositions by his child prodigy already in 1768. Now the almost impossible has occurred: a new, completely unknown work by Mozart has surfaced! The Allegro in D major K 626b/16, a three-part, dance-like piano piece lasts a total of 94 seconds. Examined for authenticity by the best international Mozart scholars, it is being performed for the first time ever in Salzburg, the birthplace of the great genius. But for what occasion was it composed, how was it handed down? Ulrich Leisinger, scientific director of the Mozarteum Foundation, answers these questions in conversation with Rolando Villazón. This lecture is embedded into a concert program starring Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho and putting the new work into context. PROGRAM Piano Sonata No. 12, Piano Piece “Pimpinella”, K. 33b; Allegro from a Salzburg Music Book; Allegro, K. 626b/16 “World Premiere”. Versions available: Talk in English: 50’/ Sonata K. 332 only: 20′
Looking for Beethoven – On the Paths of the Beethoven String Quartets
What seems to be the predominant impulse driving this music,” explains viola player Krzysztof Chorzelski of the Belcea Quartet, “is man’s yearning for freedom, the unquenchable desire to expand his limits and to learn the truth about himself in this process Beethoven inspires us as performers to take up this challenge.” The Belcea Quartet’s response to this challenge took place in the Vienna Konzerthaus. The ensemble embarked on the complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets, playing the whole program within twelve days, each concert featuring one work from the early, middle and late quartets.
Salzburg Festival 2023: Le nozze di Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro is Lorenzo Da Ponte’s and Mozart‘s first of their three jointly created operas about attempts at interpersonal relationships: a turbulent comedy with erotic entanglements, which was not a harmless comedy even in Mozart’s day. Director Martin Kušej moves the drama of love and jealousy to a mafia-like urban milieu where conflicts are fought out with pistols. Young French conductor Raphaël Pichon, “original sound expert” (Der Tagesspiegel) and for the first time on the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker, leads a young ensemble of singers around clan boss Almaviva (“vocally flawlessly brilliant: Andrè Schuen”, Hamburger Abendblatt). “Kušej’s staging is musical, Pichon’s conducting theatrical; the two work together to a degree that is far more rare than it should be. Every detail has been carefully thought through, and the symbiosis is breathtaking.” (Financial Times)
Saul
After his impressive Messiah of 2009, Claus Guth once again succeeds in a breathtaking realisation of a Handel oratorio with Saul. Florian Boesch in the title role dominates the production as the ruler slipping into madness. He is an elemental force that attracts attention on stage like a black hole. As David, British countertenor Jake Arditti gives a perfect presentation of the change from the innocent boy to the man who, after many dramatic events, becomes Saul’s successor. “The pure Handel stroke of luck!” (Neue Musikzeitung). Anna Prohaska, Giulia Semenzato and Rupert Charlesworth perform convincingly the roles of Saul’s children who succumb to David’s physical and spiritual charms. The Freiburger Barockorchester under Christopher Moulds holds a finely textured balance between powerful ensemble and delicate solo passages of Handel’s score. The Arnold Schönberg Choir’s nuanced singing – alternately exulting, admonitory or mournful – is as inspiring as the sound of the renowned period-instrument ensemble.