 
Così fan tutte
Don Carlo, Falstaff
Die Fledermaus
Concert 2001
Narrated Music
Shir Ha Shirim
Notes
Paumgartner
Musically insured
who am i...?
|
Arthur Honegger's "dramatic oratorio", commissioned by the
Russian Jewess Ida Rubenstein, dancer and actress, was composed in 1934/35
and is one of the most individual and at the same time one of the most
fascinating works deriving from that typically French mixture of semi-scenic
and scenic musical production whose long tradition goes back as far as
La Damnation de Faust, Hector Berlioz' "dramatic legend". Paul
Claudel's libretto starts with the day on which Joan of Arc was executed:
she was burned at the stake in the market-place of Rouen on May 30th,
1431. It reviews her life in a series of quasi "cinematic flashbacks"
in which concrete scenes (such as her reminiscences of her childhood in
Domrémy or the triumphal entry of King Charles VII into Reims)
alternate with allegories (such as the Court of the Animals or the game
of cards played by the kings for Joan's life). The work consists of a
large chorus, a children's choir and five vocal soloists, as well as the
narrator (André Jung) and the two central characters in speaking
roles, Joan of Arc (Dörte Lyssevsky) and the Dominican monk Frère
Dominique (Ernst Stötzner). The textual sources, a mixture of French
and vulgar Latin and consisting of quotations from the Bible, poetic meditations
and folk poems, are as diverse as the music itself which ranges from the
Gregorian antiphon "Aspiciens a longe", folk songs and Baroque
dance forms to grotesque jazz rhythms. A multi-coloured kaleidoscope of
style and language is the result.
Michael Stegemann
Apart from a solo concert (14 August) in which he interprets works by
Beethoven, Brahms and Webern, Maurizio Pollini is also responsible for
a concert of modern music to be given on 30 July in the Mozarteum.
 |
| Maurizio Pollini - Photo: Marion Kalter |
The programme consists of the world premiere of Oltre la soglia by the Italian composer Giacomo Manzoni, commissioned by the pianist; Gérard Grisey's Le temps et l'écume, and Brian Ferneyhough's The Doctrine of Similarity, the latter adding five new sections to his work for Pollini. (Tickets are available at ATS 300 and 900)
In addition to Pollini's selection and Hans Zender's musical arrangement of the Canticle of Canticles, the Festival's Next Generation cycle also presents a concert that includes works by Hanspeter Kyburz and Bernhard Lang (3 August - tickets at ATS 400).
The American poetic tradition is a particularly rich narration of both
being a people and becoming a culture; a culture chiselled out of a fierce
independence of mind and heart and soul forever grounded in the myriad
of racial histories from which it hearkens. Our great poet Walt Whitman
was the first prophetic American voice to sound the challenge to tell
the story:
"I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear ... / Each singing
what belongs to him or her and to none else, ... / Singing with open mouths
their melodious songs."
 |
| Thomas Hampson - Photo: Marion Kalter |
Song-singing-sound and words - these are the primary impulses of Leaves
of Grass, Whitman's epic book of verse first published in 1855. For the
bard of democracy, the voice - spoken or sung - was emblematic of the
soul of a nation.
In this mini cycle dedicated to the American Lyric, I and my colleagues
will explore the sounds of thought from "over there" often illuminated
and always embraced by the musical inspirations of the European creative
mind - the Old and the New World in dialogue, searching for the soul of
the global community in the 21st century.
Thomas Hampson
Tickets are available for ATS 1,400, 1,600 and 1,800 for the concert
on 30 July. The Ticket Office still has some tickets available for ATS
600, 900 and 1,200 for the concert on 12 August.
 |
| Alfred Brendel - Photo: Marion Kalter |
The Salzburg Festival is paying homage to Alfred Brendel in celebration
of his 70th birthday. Besides playing the five Beethoven Piano Concertos
with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Brendel will
accompany Matthias Goerne in a song recital (Beethoven's An die ferne
Geliebte and Schubert's Schwanengesang) on 16 August.
In a special celebration on 18 August in the Mozarteum by, with and for
Alfred Brendel, the pianist will read from his own texts, interspersed
with music by György Kurtág and György Ligeti.
For the celebration by, with and for Alfred Brendel tickets are available for ATS 300, 500 and 700.