Born on 11 February 1946, Rudolf Buchbinder celebrated his 60th birthday just two weeks after Mozart’s 250th birthday – a happy coincidence of landmark events that prompted the great Austrian pianist to present a series of Mozart piano concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2006 Vienna Festival. The works, recorded live at the Musikverein in Vienna on 7 May 2006, represent the crème de la crème of Mozart’s concerto output of the years 1784 to 1786.
Mozart, Piano Concerto No.25 in C major, K.503
Born on 11 February 1946, Rudolf Buchbinder celebrated his 60th birthday just two weeks after Mozart’s 250th birthday – a happy coincidence of landmark events that prompted the great Austrian pianist to present a series of Mozart piano concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2006 Vienna Festival. The works, recorded live at the Musikverein in Vienna on 7 May 2006, represent the crème de la crème of Mozart’s concerto output of the years 1784 to 1786.
Bastien und Bastienne (Mozart 22)
“Bastien und Bastienne” takes up the plot of the little French opera “Le devin du village” (The Village Soothsayer) by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The “soothsayer” Colas, a wise old shepherd, advises the unhappy shepherdess Bastienne to secure the love of the fickle Bastien by arousing his jealousy. The despairing Bastien then also seeks advice from Colas, who pretends to use magic to bring the two lovers together again. “Der Schauspieldirektor” revolves around an impresario’s problems in assembling a group of singers for a performance. With “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” and “Die Zauberflöte,” Mozart made immortal contributions to the genre of the German Singspiel – German-language opera with spoken dialogues. But in the course of his career, Mozart also wrote two short German-language works that are different in musical craftsmanship, but both utterly delightful: “Bastien und Bastienne” K. 50, one of Mozart’s earliest dramatic works, and “Der Schauspieldirektor” (The Impresario) K. 486, a mature work written at the same time as “Le nozze di Figaro.” Entrusting the two operas to the world-famous Salzburg Marionette Theater for the Mozart 22 cycle was perfectly natural, especially since “Bastien und Bastienne” was the very first work staged by this theater at its inaugural performance in 1913. Nevertheless, Thomas Reichert, responsible for the stage direction, sets and costumes, hit upon a truly brilliant idea: instead of performing one piece after the other, he combined “Bastien und Bastienne” and “Der Schauspieldirektor” in a way that captures the world of the Singspiel in Mozart’s day. Here the impresario is still holding auditions, but now he’s casting the Singspiel “Bastien und Bastienne.” Finding a Bastien is easy, but two potential Bastiennes sing their arias so well that the impresario can’t decide. He makes a run-through of “Bastien und Bastienne,” after which the women continue to argue about who should get the role. The clever impresario hopes to squirm his way out by hiring both, one as the A-cast and one as the B-cast. But this only provokes a new quarrel about who will sing at the premiere… Led by its founder Elisabeth Fuchs, the Junge Philharmonie Salzburg and a cast of fresh young singers provide the spirited, light-hearted music to this charming double fill.
Der Schauspieldirektor (Mozart 22)
“Bastien und Bastienne” takes up the plot of the little French opera “Le devin du village” (The Village Soothsayer) by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The “soothsayer” Colas, a wise old shepherd, advises the unhappy shepherdess Bastienne to secure the love of the fickle Bastien by arousing his jealousy. The despairing Bastien then also seeks advice from Colas, who pretends to use magic to bring the two lovers together again. “Der Schauspieldirektor” revolves around an impresario’s problems in assembling a group of singers for a performance. With “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” and “Die Zauberflöte,” Mozart made immortal contributions to the genre of the German Singspiel – German-language opera with spoken dialogues. But in the course of his career, Mozart also wrote two short German-language works that are different in musical craftsmanship, but both utterly delightful: “Bastien und Bastienne” K. 50, one of Mozart’s earliest dramatic works, and “Der Schauspieldirektor” (The Impresario) K. 486, a mature work written at the same time as “Le nozze di Figaro.” Entrusting the two operas to the world-famous Salzburg Marionette Theater for the Mozart 22 cycle was perfectly natural, especially since “Bastien und Bastienne” was the very first work staged by this theater at its inaugural performance in 1913. Nevertheless, Thomas Reichert, responsible for the stage direction, sets and costumes, hit upon a truly brilliant idea: instead of performing one piece after the other, he combined “Bastien und Bastienne” and “Der Schauspieldirektor” in a way that captures the world of the Singspiel in Mozart’s day. Here the impresario is still holding auditions, but now he’s casting the Singspiel “Bastien und Bastienne.” Finding a Bastien is easy, but two potential Bastiennes sing their arias so well that the impresario can’t decide. He makes a run-through of “Bastien und Bastienne,” after which the women continue to argue about who should get the role. The clever impresario hopes to squirm his way out by hiring both, one as the A-cast and one as the B-cast. But this only provokes a new quarrel about who will sing at the premiere… Led by its founder Elisabeth Fuchs, the Junge Philharmonie Salzburg and a cast of fresh young singers provide the spirited, light-hearted music to this charming double fill.
Irrfahrten III: Rex Tremendus (Mozart 22)
The Irrfahrten (Odysseys) trilogy comprises three independent, self-contained performances that are motivically interwoven into a compelling whole through a great variety of references. Various artistic genres – music, theater, dance and video – are fused into an original form of music theater that could very well point to the future. The trilogy was conceived by Joachim Schlömer, a noted dancer, choreographer and director. He sees his project as the “odyssey of an artist from external control to self-determination.” (Schlömer) This concerns not only Mozart himself, but also the artist in general, and, by extension, everyone who has overcome a crisis in their life to achieve their personal freedom. At the beginning of the trilogy is the twelve-year-old Mozart’s first opera buffa, “La finta semplice” (The Make-Believe Simpleton), a full-length opera with commedia dell’arte-style characters. “The music,” says Schlömer, “tells of wanting something – even if the characters still don’t really know what they want.” The second Odyssey, “Abendempfindung” (Evening Sensation), a pasticcio of Mozart arias, songs, instrumental pieces (including some for the rare and evocative glass harmonica) and letters. The great Ann Murray is the featured performer here. The third Odyssey, “Rex tremendus” presents a thought-provoking combination of two opera buffa fragments, “Lo sposo deluso” and “L’oca del Cairo,” along with various unfinished pieces and fragments from Mozart’s last work, the Requiem. It represents the artist’s ultimate liberation from the restrictions and conventions of society, his farewell from the world, in total darkness… Schlömer on his Odysseys: “It is about the path the artist follows from his entrance into adult life to a period of artistic crisis, comparable to the midlife crisis we all go through, and on to a fragmentation and liberation from all interpretation of the artist’s activity.” Irrfahrten / Odysseys is one of the most illuminating productions of the Mozart 22 cycle, one that makes Mozart’s genius shine in all of its facets.
Mozart, Piano Concerto No.23 in A major, K.488
Born on 11 February 1946, Rudolf Buchbinder celebrated his 60th birthday just two weeks after Mozart’s 250th birthday – a happy coincidence of landmark events that prompted the great Austrian pianist to present a series of Mozart piano concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2006 Vienna Festival. The works, recorded live at the Musikverein in Vienna on 7 May 2006, represent the crème de la crème of Mozart’s concerto output of the years 1784 to 1786.
Mozart, Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor, K.466
Born on 11 February 1946, Rudolf Buchbinder celebrated his 60th birthday just two weeks after Mozart’s 250th birthday – a happy coincidence of landmark events that prompted the great Austrian pianist to present a series of Mozart piano concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2006 Vienna Festival. The works, recorded live at the Musikverein in Vienna on 7 May 2006, represent the crème de la crème of Mozart’s concerto output of the years 1784 to 1786.
Gala Matinee – Mozart Arias
The most spectacular homage to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on his 250th birthday in 2006 was incontestably the presentation of all of his operas and operatic fragments at the Salzburg Festival, ‘Mozart22.’ Recorded on film, this monumental project has been preserved for posterity as a benchmark of Mozart interpretation in the early 21st century. The ‘Mozart Gala’ held at the Felsenreitschule on 30 July 2006, in the first days of the 2006 Salzburg Festival, presents a kind of microcosm of the Mozart festivities, with a selection of arias and orchestral music performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Daniel Harding and featuring some of the top vocalists of the 2006 Salzburg Festival.
La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart 22)
Mozart was still working on “The Magic Flute” when he was commissioned to write a festive opera for the coronation of Leopold II in Prague as King of Bohemia on 6 September 1791. Though in poor health, he accepted, even though he had little more than four weeks to write it. He immediately had Metastasio’s text revised by the poet Mazzolà, who not only built in the duets, trios, quintet and sextet that Mozart needed to hone the work’s emotional veracity, but also brought the abstract political dimension down to a human, emotional level. From a lofty reflection on politics and justice, it became a conflict between friends and lovers. Emperor Titus plans to marry Berenice, thus arousing the rage of Vitellia. She urges Sesto, who loves her, to lead a revolt against Titus. After further complications, Titus resolves to marry Vitellia. Vitellia tries to stop Sesto, but in vain: he has burned down the Capitol and tried to kill his best friend Titus. The Emperor escapes, but, surrounded by manipulation and betrayal, the future seems bleak¿ This opera seria, Mozart’s very last opera, is both a distillate of late 18th-century opera as well as an anticipation of the 19th-century opera with its tormented heroes. Director Martin Ku¿ej tells the story straightforwardly, digging into the substrata of the work to bring out the complex psyches of the characters, their neurotic impulses, their sexual drives and the motives of their intrigues. Ku¿ej’s “Clemenza” is a mad whirl of love, murder, arson and rebellion. He is ably supported by the Vienna Philharmonic under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and a stellar cast that proves just how much flesh and blood pulses through this work. Michael Schade, one of the most exciting lyrical tenors of today, is a Titus who sings with fire and dignity. The dramatic soprano Dorothea Röschmann, who made her international breakthrough in Salzburg in 1995 as Susanna (“Figaro”) under Harnoncourt, portrays Vitellia as a power-hungry schemer with a broken soul. The incomparable mezzo Vesselina Kasarova paints her Sesto with all the passion and torment of a lover forced to betray his best friend. On a par with them are Aleksandra Kurzak (Servilia), Malena Ernman (Annio) and Luca Pisaroni (Publio). Premiered in 2003, this production of “Tito” was universally acclaimed as a musical and dramatic triumph in its 2006 reprise within the Mozart 22 cycle.
Idomeneo, Re di Creta (Mozart 22)
Written for the court of Munich in 1780/81, “Idomeneo” is often regarded as the first of the seven undisputed masterworks in Mozart’s dramatic oeuvre. Never before had he cast such bold, impassioned music into a dramatic form or devised such a well-calibrated dramaturgy. Was it the plot that drove Mozart to such extremes of expressive power? The story evokes countless other opera seria subjects: King Idomeneo has promised to sacrifice to Neptune the first person he meets if he is saved from shipwreck; this turns out to be his son Idamante, who stands between two women, the Trojan Princess Ilia, whom he loves, and the Greek princess Elettra, who loves him. Four people on the edge of the abyss, drawn together by passion, torn apart by reasons of state… Though respecting the tenets of opera seria, Mozart repeatedly burst out of the rigid corset of the genre. Arias are heightened by unexpected twists and turns, accompagnato recitatives reach unheard-of levels of jagged emotional rawness, and stereotyped set pieces such as the vengeance become entire scenes in themselves. Mozart also treats the instruments in a far more liberal and imaginative manner than ever before, blending the voices with solo instruments and creating new tone colors that prefigure the Romantic era. Such an extraordinary work deserves an exceptional interpretation. And this is ensured by Sir Roger Norrington and the Camerata Salzburg playing on an “island” (the action unfolds on Crete) surrounded by narrow ramps on which the singers, literally “on the edge of the abyss,” pace about in search of one another, of love, of redemption… Simplicity and elegance stamp both the production of Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, and the playing of the Camerata Salzburg. Norrington entices entire catalogues of nuances from his players, but never yields to manneristic over-refinement. His Mozart is slender and suave, rigorous and concise. Under his baton, the soloists blossom. First and foremost is Ramón Vargas as Idomeneo, who colors his despair with exquisite delicacy and rousing bravura. Magdalena Kozená is a passionate, glowing Idamante and Ekaterina Siurina a lyrical Ilia. As Elettra, Anja Harteros triumphs with dramatic fire and intensity. Every inch a noblewoman, she hurls out her vengeance aria with repressed fury rather than scenery-chewing theatrics. They and their colleagues Jeffrey Francis, Robin Leggate and Günther Groissböck, along with the Salzburger Bachchor, lend their artistry to this unforgettably intense performance.