 
Heinrich Spängler
Helga Rabl-Stadler
Entführung
Masterpiece
Don Carlo
The concerts
|
FIVE DEBUTS AND THE END OF THE WORLD
The concert programme for 2003
Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeclum in favilla: the first day of the
Salzburg Festival can also be compared to the Day of Judgement. On 26
July 2003 Valery Gergiev opens the series of concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic
with horrifying visions of the end of time. The Grande messe des morts
by Hector Berlioz is on the programme, a fantasy on the end
of the world in gigantic dimensions – monumental, cryptic, eccentric
and terrifying. “The text of the requiem was a quarry I had long
lain in wait for”, confessed the French romanticist, who composed
his requiem mass in 1837 for the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris –
and he was very pleased with the effect it had on the shattered (in every
sense of the word) community. “It was an overwhelming impression”,
Berlioz reported to a friend. “The horror evoked at the Day of Judgement
by the five orchestras and the eight pairs of timpani in the tuba mirum
cannot be described. One of the lady members of the chorus had a nervous
breakdown.
To be sure its grandeur was spine-chilling”. In his creative excessiveness
Berlioz proved to be the epitome of the musician of the future: a boundless
egocentric and inspired visionary.
Hugo Wolf – Marathon with Thomas Hampson
But – “Even small things can delight us”. Hugo Wolf’s
Italian Song Book begins gently and inwardly with this admonition. Besides
commemorating the 200th birthday of Berlioz next year, there is a second
major musical anniversary in 2003. However, in this case it is a sad anniversary
if we remember that Hugo Wolf died a miserable death 100 years ago in
the lunatic asylum in Lower Austria. Thomas Hampson, one of the major
stars of the Salzburg Festival, will devote a long evening lasting several
hours exclusively to the œuvre of this most gifted of song composers
besides Schubert and Schumann. Since a marathon of this kind cannot be
performed by one singer alone, Hampson has engaged the support of such
prestigious singing colleagues as Barbara Bonney, Soile Isokoski and Kurt
Moll.
A portrait concert that will be equally demanding and extensive is devoted
entirely to the music of Sergei Rachmaninov, his songs, his preludes,
the cello sonata, the piano trios. These compositions are quite literally
in the best of hands when played by the German pianist Alexander Lonquich,
a musician of impressive versatility. And he is joined by an illustrious
circle of artists: baritone Sergei Leiferkus, violinist Nikolai Znaider
and cellist Boris Pergamenschikow will make music in honour of Rachmaninov.
Rudolf Hradil, Venice,
San Giorgio, ca. 1987
Mozarteum Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg
The Mozarteum Orchestra will be inviting its loyal public to go on a
great journey of discovery. Besides music by Mozart the programmes of
the Mozart Matinees will include his under-represented contemporaries,
for instance Josef Mysli-vecek, whom Mozart held in high regard, was celebrated
in 18th century Italy as an opera composer and admired as Il divino Boemo.
Or Ignaz Holzbauer from Vienna, who made his mark in music history as
kapellmeister in Mannheim; Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Mozart’s pupil
and Haydn’s successor in service at the court in Esterházy,
and not least the brilliant Joseph Martin Kraus who was engaged at the
Swedish royal court in Stockholm. The concerts by the Camerata Salzburg
are, like the Mozart Matinees and no less so, central to the programme
and an indispensable tradition of the Festival. The chamber orchestra
was founded fifty years ago and for the concerts in summer 2003 it
will be joined by three world famous instrumentalists, the violinists
Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham (who will perform Vivaldi’s The
Four Seasons in a concert specially for children) and the pianist Murray
Perahia.
A vintage year
For connoisseurs and enthusiasts of sublime piano playing the Salzburg
summer of 2003 indeed augurs well for a good season. In the Grosses Festspielhaus
recitals will be given by Yevgeny Kissin, Arcadi Volodos, Alfred Brendel
and Maurizio Pollini. Furthermore, next door, so to speak, in the Schüttkasten,
highly talented musicians of the younger generation will have a chance
to demonstrate their stupendous ability as pianists in a new series entitled
“Salzburg Debut”. Florian Krumpöck from Vienna will give
the world premiere of a suite by Korngold; the German pianist Michael
Wendeberg, winner of the International Piano Competition in Graz, has
entitled his programme “Franz Schubert and Modern Music”;
Anna Gourari from Russia, who has in the meantime also become
a film star through her appearance in Werner Herzog’s Invincible
will give a recital. Also appearing are Yundi Li,
a pianist from China who won the Chopin Competition two years ago in Warsaw,
and Fazil Say from Turkey, who will perform Stravinsky’s Le sacre
du printemps in the composer’s own version for piano for four hands
– alone and without a duo partner. How does he do it? Come and hear
and see for yourself!
And when in the last days of August some of the world’s most renowned
orchestras make guest appearances in Salzburg – the Royal Concertgebouw
from Amsterdam, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic
and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra – visitors to the Festival
will certainly be glad and thankful that the world did not come to an
end on 26 July after all.
Wolfgang Stähr
Rudolf Hradil, Mozart
Bridge, 1986
Vienna Philharmonic
Saturday 26 July 7.00 p.m.
Sunday 27 July 9.00 p.m.
Grosses Festspielhaus
Dirigent Valery Gergiev
Tenor Ramon Vargas
Chorus master Johannes Prinz
Wiener Singverein
Hector Berlioz
Requiem
Grande messe des marts op. 5
Tickets
€ 8 / 22 / 45 / 80 / 110 / 150 / 190
Hugo Wolf Marathon
Monday 4 August 7.00 p.m.
Kleines Festspielhaus
Soprano Barbara Bonney
Mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager
Tenor Michael Schade
Baritone Thomas Hampson
Bass Georg Zeppenfeld
Piano Wolfram Rieger
Hugo Wolf
Selected songs
Tickets
€ 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120 / 150
Standing room tickets: € 8
Rudolf Hradil, Salzburg,
from the Hohe Weg, 1994
SALZBURG DEBUT
Sunday 27 July 4.00 p.m.
Piano Florian Krumpöck
Works by
Egon Wellesz
Max Reger
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Alexander Skryabin
and
Igor Stravinsky
Saturday 2 August 4.00 p.m.
Piano Fazil Say
Works by
Joseph Haydn
and
Igor Stravinsky
Venue: Schüttkasten
Price
€ 20
Tickets are available from the Ticket Office
of the Salzburg Festival.
Sunday 3 August 4.00 p.m.
Piano Michael Wendeberg
Works by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Anton Webern
Pierre Boulez
and
Robert Schumann
Saturday 9 August 4.00 p.m.
Piano Anna Gourari
Works by
Hans Werner Henze
Alexander Skryabin
and
Rodion Schedrin
Sunday 10 August 4.00 p.m.
Piano Yundi Li
Works by
Frédéric Chopin
and
Franz Liszt
Venue: Schüttkasten
Price
€ 20
Tickets are available from the Ticket Office of the Salzburg Festival.
Telephone: 0043 662 8045-500
Telefax: 0043 662 8045-555
E-mail: info@salzburgfestival.at