More than 140 concerts and a multitude of celebrated recordings connect Christian Thielemann with the traditional Viennese orchestra. The live recording of his debut on the podium at the Vienna Musikverein almost 23 years ago promptly became a reference recording. On the programme then as now: Richard Strauss’ monumental Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony). This work, often regarded as the final and climax of the “symphonic poem” genre, is juxtaposed with Arnold Schönberg’s probably most famous tonal composition, the orchestral version of the string sextet Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night). “A truly persuasive performance.” (The New York Times)
Jakub Hrusa & Bamberger Symphoniker
Depth of feeling, melancholy and sadness: the programme of this concert with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under their chief conductor Jakub Hruša revolves around this triad. The concert begins with the Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a musical declaration of love by the composer to his wife Alma. An ideal prelude to Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), the composer’s “swan song”, written in 1948, at a time when Strauss saw his world in ruins after the war and was already plagued by illness. American soprano Corinne Winters “shone with intensity and bright heights” (Der Standard). The concert closes with Suk’s symphonic monumental work Asrael. In it, Suk deals with two strokes of fate, first the death of his father-in-law Antonín Dvorák and a little later also the surprising death of his wife, Dvorák’s daughter. “What a blast” (Der Standard)
Evgeny Kissin plays Bach, Mozart, Chopin & Rachmaninoff
In this piano recital, master pianist Evgeny Kissin spans the programme from Bach to Mozart to Chopin and Rachmaninoff. For the latter, Kissin makes a passionate commitment in the year of the composer’s 150th birthday: “Rachmaninoff’s music”, he says, “has a quality that speaks directly to people. There are no language barriers”. With the selection of one piece, Kissin consciously positions himself against Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine. Chopin’s Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44, became part of the recital at short notice. Composed in 1841, it was written at a time when Poland was in a similar situation as Ukraine is now: Warsaw was occupied by Russian troops. “Goosebumps, new insights, unanimous cheers” (Frankfurter Neue Presse)
Springtime in Vienna 2023
For more than 40 years, “Springtime in Vienna”, the TV Easter Concert of the Wiener Symphoniker, has been a major highlight of Vienna’s musical calendar. Featuring the world’s most in demand soloists, the Wiener Symphoniker celebrate the upcoming spring with a colorful bouquet of lively melodies. This edition features Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann. Within just a few years, she has established herself as one of the leading sopranos of her generation being acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for her exceptionally beautiful timbre and sensitive performances, most recently “outstanding as a radiant Pamina” (The Telegraph) at the Salzburg Festival. She has received numerous awards and prizes and in 2015, she was finalist of the “Cardiff Singer of the World” Competition.
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.
Where the Wild Things Are
Based on Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, one of the world’s best selling and most beloved children’s books, this opera will enchant children and adults alike. To turn his story about a young boy who travels to a faraway island full of wild creatures into an opera libretto, author Maurice Sendak let his imagination run riot. He invented, for instance, a new language for the wild creatures that Max meets on the island. This inspired British composer Oliver Knussen to what is probably his most adventurous music: It whistles, squeaks, sparkles, shines, entices and dances with delightful lightness. This production at the MusikTheater an der Wien “captivates as a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk” (Kurier). With loving attention to even the smallest detail, director and puppet virtuoso Nikolaus Habjan and his team created fabulous life-size puppets for Max and his “wild things”. The singers are in the bodies of the puppets and puppeteers handle the gestures and facial expressions. “The result is a visually stunning round dance of monsters” (Kleine Zeitung).
Les Martyrs
Love, faith, death and the question of what people are prepared to risk for their values and convictions. Gaetano Donizetti deals with these themes using the example of Christian martyrdom. An outrage for the Italian censors of the 1830s, prompting Gaetano Donizetti to switch to France and enlist the help of librettist Eugène Scribe to publish the opera he had been planning, Poliuto, as a grand opéra. Under the title Les martyrs the work had its premiere in Paris in 1840 and included, among other things, a ballet scene, an innovative score structure that presaged the music-drama form, and a spectacularly reworked tenor part. Today, it is one of Donizetti’s lesser-known and rarely performed works, but for Polish director Cezary Tomaszewski it is nevertheless “the best Donizetti opera. A hybrid of bel canto and grand opéra. A masterpiece, thrilling, cinematic with multi-layered and exciting characters”. He transfers the plot to a fantastic, amorphous and futuristic world that focuses on the attempted domination of power over the body. American tenor
John Osborn is debuting in the demanding bel canto part of Polyceute (“heroic, confident in the heights, and supple the Polyeucte of John Osborn”, Der Standard). He is joined by Roberta Mantegna as Pauline (“her singing is enchanting – firm, yet soft and radiant tones with sparkling coloratura”, klasikaplus.cz) The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Jérémie Rhorer, a specialist in historically informed performance practice. “An absolute event is the […] consummately singing Arnold Schoenberg Choir.” (Kurier)v
Salome
French director Cyril Teste does not interpret the opera Salome, which was banned by the censors at the time of its creation, as a mere tragedy. Nor does he set it during the Roman occupation of Palestine at the time of Christ, but in the context of an illustrious evening party, underlining one aspect of the play: the traumatisation of a four-teen-year-old child by her family. Live video projections onto the back wall of the stage are showing us faces, expressions and actions that help flesh out the action. Swedish soprano Malin Byström “is the central star that carries the evening scenically and vocally. […] She shows a present torn woman who is ground between powerful men.” (Wiener Zeitung) “The Vienna State Opera Orchestra was on excellent form too, full of rich, warm tone in which to luxuriate, yet ever precise and directed” (Seen and Heard International) by the Wiener Staatsoper’s musical director Philippe Jordan – “a master of sound dramaturgy” (Kurier).“The Vienna State Opera simply has Strauss in its DNA.” Kurier
Jedermann
“Excellent, to-the-point acting” (Salzburger Nachrichten)
Salzburg Festival 2023: Thielemann conducts Ein Deutsches Requiem
When Brahms composed his “German Requiem”, he thought little of the salvation of the deceased. With his music, Brahms wanted to give comfort to the bereaved, so he decided against the usual Latin text of the Roman Catholic Church and chose German texts from Luther’s Bible instead. Nevertheless, or precisely because of this, the work thrilled the audience and made it a triumphant success for Brahms. In this performance Christian Thielemann, doubtless one of the leading conductors for the romantic symphonic music, at the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker, together with the Wiener Singverein, the choir that first performed the first three movements of the Requiem in December 1867, and a duo of outstanding singers, “conjures unforgettable moments” (BR Klassik). Soloists of the evening were French-Danish soprano Elsa Dreisig (“delicate”, Der Standard) and German baritone Michael Volle. Thielemann’s “differentiated conception finds a harmonious balance between intimacy and archaic moments and transports Brahms’s core message of consolation to the audience’s delight in an immediate way.” (Salzburger Nachrichten)