Thanksgiving and Transcendence in Music and Vision 7 September

Thanksgiving and Transcendence

GIUSEPPE PENNISI listens to
orchestral and chamber concerts
at the Salzburg Summer Festival

During my stay in Salzburg last month, in addition to three fully staged operas and the marionette Ring, I selected two quite different concerts by widely travelled and internationally well known ensembles: a symphonic concert by the Gustav Mahler Jugend-Orchester conducted by Philippe Jordan (now artistic director of the Paris Opéra) and a chamber concert by the Hagen Quartet, given as part of a cycle of all the Beethoven string quartets. The choice was motivated not only by logistics -- ie selecting concerts fitting with my rather busy Salzburg schedule -- but also by the desire to listen to two quite different approaches.
The Gustav Mahler Jugend-Orchester is made up of young musicians selected after a keen competition among the instrumentalists of all the European Union countries. Created in 1986 at the initiative of Claudio Abbado, the orchestra has played under many well known conductors in the Union's main concert halls and also in some opera theatres; it has a long list of CDs and DVDs. Every year there are changes in the composition of the orchestra so that the average age remains young thanks to the continuing inflow of new talent who are often, after a few years with the Gustav Mahler Jugend-Orchester, recruited by other symphonic or chamber music groups. In spite of its name, the orchestra no longer specializes in Mahler but focuses on the main Romantic and late Romantic repertory.
I was at the 22 August 2013 concert of the Gustav Mahler Jugend-Orchester. A few days before, under the baton of Philippe Jordan and with a full complement of soloists and chorus, the orchestra had taken on an important challenge: a concert version of Wagner's Rienzi, composed when the author was a twenty-eight-year-old hothead revolutionary and a follower of Bakunin. Reportedly, they were quite successful in a demanding and impervious task [see Political Tragedy, 15 May 2013]; the singers included well-known Wagnerians (Christopher Ventris, Emily Magee and Sophie Koch) along with winners of the Young Singers Project competition. On 22 August they played a rather mixed program; youth's boldness can be seen as the theme connecting the various musical pieces. The introduction was the Vorspiel (ie overture) to Rienzi; a short but quite innovative (at the time) symphony in four movements (Molto sostenuto and maestoso; Allegro energico; Un poco vivace; Molto più stretto) which fully transmitted the generational and social class tensions at the roots of Wagner's opera.

Philippe Jordan and members of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. Photo © 2013 Wolfgang Lienbacher. Click on the image for higher resolution

The second piece was Ravel's 1932 piano concerto in G major (the pianist was Jean-Yves Thibaudet): three movements (Allegramente; Adagio assai; Presto) with a lot of influence from American jazz. After the intermission, Dmitri Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony of 1937; the four movements (Moderato; Allegretto; Largo; Allegro non troppo) were expected to be a 'return to socialist normalcy' after the controversies caused by Shostakovich's two operas. Philippe Jordan and the Gustav Mahler Jugend-Orchester molded with the composer's usual subdued irony [Full of Irony, 26 February 2011]. At the end of the program, the orchestra, conductor and pianist provided two encores: the C major overture of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, a real explosion of joy, and a four hand piano arrangement of Ravel's witty Ma Mère l'Oye. It was a tremendous success.
The Hagen Quartet was founded in 1981 by four siblings, Lukas, Angelika (first replaced by Annette Bik, who was then replaced by Rainer Schmidt in 1987), Veronika and Clemens; they were born and raised in Salzburg; even though they have an international reputation, they almost grew up in the Mozarteum. They specialize on eighteenth and nineteenth century chamber music. Thus, albeit based on a very limited sample, I was able to have a taste of quite different styles during my week at the festival. Mozart had been their staple for ages, but on 20 August, in the Golden Hall of the Mozarteum, I heard one of their six concerts dedicated to Beethoven's string quartets.

The Hagen Quartet - Clemens Hagen, Rainer Schmidt, Veronika Hagen and Lukas Hagen. Photo © 2013 Wolfgang Lienbacher. Click on the image for higher resolution

As explained last year, the Salzburg Festival is undertaking performances of all of Beethoven's chamber music; in 2012, Leonidas Kavakos and Enrico Pace handled the violin and piano sonatas [From Baroque to Romantic, 4 September 2012]. This year the Hagen Quartet dealt with all the string quartets. On 20 August, the program included quartets No 15 Op 132 and No 8 Op 598. The Hagen Quartet emphasized the meanings of these two works: thanksgiving (to those who had helped the composer while ill) and transcendence (ie looking at the Almighty). The Quartet provided very sophisticated and elegant readings -- much appreciated by the audience packing the Mozarteum.

Copyright © 7 September 2013 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy