Featuring two contrasting pieces that could not be more different, Daniele Gatti leads the Wiener Philharmoniker in one of their exclusive subscription concerts. Stravinsky’s rarely performed ballet suite Apollon Musagète starts off the concert, in which Gatti “carefully and objectively brings out Stravinsky’s neoclassical style as in a copperplate engraving” (Kurier). After, the Wiener Philharmoniker take on the masterpiece that is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E minor, “bringing the dystopian crescendos of the first movement to bear just as grippingly as the steamhammer scherzo and the happy ending. The wind solos are inspired across the board, from the clarinet lament to a warm Mahler horn to the final bassoon jubilation: cheers at the Musikverein” (Der Standard). PROGRAM: Stravinsky – Apollon Musagète, ballet suite; Shostakovich – Symphonie Nr. 10, Op. 93
Lorenzo Viotti conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker
“The Wiener Philharmoniker are phenomenal anyway. Under Lorenzo Viotti they were intoxicating: the strings sizzled, the audience raved” (Hamburger Abendblatt) Lorenzo Viotti makes a striking debut with the Wiener Philharmoniker, starting with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, which captivates the audience with its dynamic contrasts. He then shifts to Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead, transforming it into a “theater of sound.” Finally, with Dvorák’s Symphony No. 7, Viotti showcases his temperament, balancing powerful fortissimo and soft, clear accents. PROGRAM: Rimsky-Korsakov – Capriccio espagnol; Rachmaninoff – Isle of the Dead; Dvorak – Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70
Blomstedt conducts Brahms, Bach & Nielsen
“Leonidas Kavakos, together with the Philharmoniker, makes this beautiful work a true celebration.” (klassik-begeistert.de) Herbert Blomstedt made his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic late in life, only in 2011, at the age of 83. But since then he has been a regular guest and, since 2019, even an honorary member of the orchestra. In this concert he presents a work from his Scandinavian homeland: Carl Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony. “Carl Nielsen’s music breathes a special, unfathomable mood”, says Blomstedt. “It is full of Danish humour: very serious and at the same time very comic and yet sublime.” As a counterpoint to Nielsen’s exciting experimentation, Greek star violinist Leonidas Kavakos interprets Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto, one of the most beloved and frequently performed works in the violin concerto repertoire.
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
Popelka conducts Schönberg
“Schönberg is one of my heroes”, conductor Petr Popelka said in an interview (Der Standard) – and you can really hear his dedication to the composer as he leads the well-oiled machine of 400 musicians, consisting of the Wiener Symphoniker, three choirs and 5 soloists in their interpretation of Gurre-Lieder: “Perfectly organised, always striving for a balance between pointillist precision, a sense of the grotesque and romantic emphasis” (Die Presse). The soloists shone, above all Vera-Lotte Boecker as a “youthfully blossoming Tove with a bright, secure high register” (Die Prse) PROGRAM: Schönberg: Gurre-Lieder
Salzburg Festival 2022: De Temporum Fine Comedia
De temporum fine comoedia (A Play on the End of Time) is the Last Judgement, in a reinterpretation rooted in Carl Orff’s personal religious beliefs. The writing of the text in Ancient Greek, Latin and German took the composer a whole decade, from 1960 to 1970, with the essence of the work being increasingly determined by the apocalyptic vision of the Alexandrian theologian Origen, in which at the end of time even demons will be granted forgiveness and salvation. Brought to the Festival stage by Romeo Castellucci and Teodor Currentzis for the first time since ist premiere in Salzburg in 1973, Orff’s opera-oratorio overwhelms the listener with its primeval energy. The latter results not least from persistently iterated rhythmic patterns that involve a host of figures animated by a mechanical principle of motion that is translated into bodily movement scores by the choreographer Cindy Van Acker. “Castellucci and Currentzis celebrate music theatre of monumental sparseness in its images and an exuberant opulence in its means.” (TAZ)
Salzburg Festival 2022: Bluebeard’s Castle
A pinnacle of early 20th-century musical theatre, Bluebeard’s Castle was composed to a text by Béla Balázs in 1911. The story of Bluebeard has its literary archetype in Charles Perrault’s fairy tales and tells of a wife-murderer who forbids his latest wife, who is driven by curiosity, to open a door behind which he has hidden his previous victims. Bartók’s opera develops entirely out of the dialogue between the two protagonists, Bluebeard and Judith, revealing an approach to the drama as a kind of spiritual and emotional force field. ‘Where is the stage: outside or within?’, as the prologue puts it, an invitation to the audience to ask themselves questions about the enigmatic nature of theatre as an allusive reverberation of the real. “Truly fascinating […] Outstanding: Mika Kares and Ausrine Stundyte.” (La Stampa)
Wiener Philharmoniker & Welser-Möst: Mahler 9
An event – and not only for the listeners, but also for the orchestra as Philharmonic board member Daniel Froschauer emphasizes “This is an incredible work – really written for us. Mahler really pushes the limits in this piece!” Gustav Mahler and the Wiener Philharmoniker have indeed a very special relationship. Not only did the great composer, who was conductor and head of the Vienna State Opera, conduct the Wiener Philharmoniker regularly and – from 1898 to 1901 – even the famed Subscription Concert Series. The orchestra also premiered Mahler’s 9th Symphony in June 1912 – one year after the composer’s death. Bruno Walter conducted the world premiere, for this concert it is Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Möst, someone whom knows the orchestra better than most other conductors.