giovedì 22 settembre 2016

A Great Success in Music and Vision 3 August



Ensemble

A Great Success

Spiritual and religious music at the Salzburg Festival,
heard by GIUSEPPE PENNISI


The Salzburg Summer festival has a very strong spiritual and religiouscomponent. This year there are nineteen concerts of religious content during the six weeks of the festival. Ten are of music directly related to theRoman Catholic tradition. The others deal with Christian music: Protestant (of various schools), Russian orthodox, Byzantine and Armenian. Some of the concerts make up the Ouverture spirituelle preceding the festival; others are part of the festival program until 31 August and are scheduled among the other events. A large section is devoted to contemporaryspiritual and religious music.
As I attended the first week of the festival, I had the opportunity to listen to two very different but very remarkable concerts: Mozart's Mass in C minor in St Peter's Church, sung at the start of each festival and the worldpremiere of Peter Eötvös' oratorio Halleluja.
Mozart's C minor Mass is almost the musical counterpart of von Hofmannsthal's Jedermann, in that since the 1920s, they have both been performed at the beginning of the festival, at 6pm in St Peter's Church and at 9pm in the Dom square, respectively.
I listened to Mozart's Mass on 29 July 2016, but due to my poor German I did not attend Jedermann.
Mozart's Mass was first performed on 26 October 1783 in St Peter's. It marked the composer's return to his native town. Many scholars consider that it was a wedding gift to Constanze when they married a few months before. The score is incomplete, either because Mozart left it unfinished or because of the poor conditions of the archives. Musicologist Peter Quantrill compares it to the unfinished Sagrada Familia by the Catalanarchitect Gaudí. On 29 July, Camerata Salzburg and the Salzburger Bachchor conducted by Ádám Fischer, and the four soloists (Christina Gansch, Claire Elizabeth Craig, Maximilian Schmitt and Manuel Walser) provided a performance full of love and devotion.
Christina Gansch, Claire Elizabeth Craig, Ádám Fischer, Maximilian Schmitt and Manuel Walser with (behind), Camerata Salzburg and the Salzburger Bachchor - Mozart's Mass in C minor as part of the Ouverture spirituelle at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2016 Michael Pöhn
Christina Gansch, Claire Elizabeth Craig, Ádám Fischer, Maximilian Schmitt and Manuel Walser with (behind), Camerata Salzburg and the Salzburger Bachchor - Mozart's Mass in C minor as part of the Ouverture spirituelle at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2016 Michael Pöhn. Click on the image for higher resolution
On 30 July 2016, in the huge and sold-out Grosses Festpielhaus (2,800 seats), Halleluja by Eötvös had its world premiere with the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Hungarian Radio Chorus conducted by Daniel Harding, a narrator (the actor Peter Simonischek), a high register tenor(Topi Lehtipuu) and a soprano (Iris Vermillion).
Peter Simonischek, Topi Lehtipuu and Iris Vermillion acknowledging applause at the end of their performance of Peter Eötvös' 'Hallelujah' in the Großen Festspielhuas at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2016 Andreas Kolarik
Peter Simonischek, Topi Lehtipuu and Iris Vermillion acknowledging applause at the end of their performance of Peter Eötvös' 'Hallelujah' in the Großen Festspielhuas at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2016 Andreas Kolarik. Click on the image for higher resolution
The libretto by the Hungarian poet Péter Esterházi is based on a plotabout a monk who was also a musician in St Gallen in the ninth century, Notker Balbulus, later canonized. He was a stutterer; thus he had difficulties in communicating his messages. In Eötvös' oratorio, the narrator tells about the communication difficulties between an angel (the soprano) and a stuttering prophet (the tenor) who because of his stuttering cannot respond in a timely fashion. The chorus sings Hallelujawith quotations from Monteverdi, Händel, Mozart, Mussorgsky andBruckner, but the angel and prophet cannot have a dialogue. It's a parable of the difficulties of our current age. A final grand Halleluja is the message that only the Almighty can solve the key issues.
Peter Simonischek, Iris Vermillion, Daniel Harding, Topi Lehtipuu, the Vienna Philharmonic and Hungarian Radio Chorus performing Peter Eötvös' 'Hallelujah' at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2016 Andreas Kolarik
Peter Simonischek, Iris Vermillion, Daniel Harding, Topi Lehtipuu, the Vienna Philharmonic and Hungarian Radio Chorus performing Peter Eötvös' 'Hallelujah' at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2016 Andreas Kolarik. Click on the image for higher resolution
The orchestra was set on three levels on the left side of the stage, with the chorus on three levels on the right side. The musical writingemphasizes the percussion, organ and cellos. There are echoes of Ligetias well as Bartók. It was a great success. In the Fall, the oratorio will be performed in Vienna and Budapest.
Copyright © 3 August 2016 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Salzburg, 
Austria
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Classical Music Programme Notes for concerts and recordings, by Malcolm Miller


Hi Keith,
for photos and credit, the  link è www.salbugererfestpiele.at/fotoservice
G

TO THE GLORY OF GOD
Giuseppe Pennisi

The Salzburg Summer festival has a very strong spiritual and religious component. This year there are nineteen concerts of religious content during the six weeks of the festival. Ten are of music directly related to the Roman Catholic tradition. The others deal with Christian music: Protestant (of various schools), Russian orthodox, Byzantine and Armenian. Some of the concerts make up the Ouverture spirituelle preceding the festival; others are part of the festival program until 31 August and are scheduled among the other events. A large section is devoted to contemporary spiritual and religious music.
As I attended the first week of the festival, I had the opportunity to listen to two very different but very remarkable concerts: a) Mozart’s Mass in C minor played in St. Peter’s church sung at the start of each festival and b) the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’ oratorium Halleluja.
Mozart’s C-Moll Mass is almost the musical counterpart of von Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann in that since the nineteen twentieth, they are performed at the beginning of the festival, respectively at 6pm in St Peter’s church and at 9pm in the Dom square.
I listened to Mozart’s Mass on 29 July and due to my poor German I did not attend Jedermann.
Mozart’s Mass was first performed in 26 October 1783 just in St. Peter’s. It marked his return to his native town. Many scholars consider it a wedding gift to Constanze he had married a few months before. The score is incomplete either because Mozart left it unfinished or because the poor conditions of the archives. Musicologist Peter Quantrill compares it to the unfinished Sagrada Familia by the Catalan architect Gaudí. On 29 July, the Camerata Salzburg, conducted by Ádám Fischer, the Salzburger Bachchor, the four soloists (Christina Gansch, Claire Elizabeth Craig, Maximilian Schmitt e Manuel Walser) have provided a performance full of love and devotion.
On 30 July, in the sold out huge Grosses Festpielhaus (2,800 seats) Halleluja by Eötvös had its world premiere with the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Daniel Harding, the Hungarian Radio chorus, a narrator (the actor Peter Simonischek), a high register tenor (Topi Lehtipuu) and a soprano (Iris Vermillion). The libretto by the Hungarian poet Péter Esterházi is based on a plot about a monk who was also a musician in St. Gallen in the ninth century, Notker Balbulus, later canonized. He was a stutterer; thus he had difficulties in communicating his messages. In Eötvös’ oratorium, the narrator tells about the communication difficulties between an angel (the soprano) and a stuttering prophet (the tenor) who because of his stuttering cannot respond timely. The chorus sings Halleluja with quotations from Monteverdi, Händel, Mozart, Mussorgsky and Bruckner but the angel and the prophet cannot have a dialogue. A parable of today’s difficulties. A final grand Halleluja is the message that only the Almighty can solve the key issues.
The orchestra is set on three levels on the left side of the stage. The chorus on three levels on the right side. The musical writing emphasizes the percussions, the organ and the cellos. There are echoes of Ligeti as well as Bártók. Great success. In the Fall, the oratorium will be performed in Vienna and Budapest.

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