Hans Werner Henze

Passed away at today.

I attended in Salzbourg the Dress Rehearsal of his opera l'Upupa which has been preserved on DVD. The composer was there, a little stiff but dignified. He said a few words to thank the musicians. The music was fresh and ensembles sparkling like what you find in some of Richard Strauss's works. Well, he might not have liked the comparison but ...

A couple of years ago in Geneva, Janowski conducted his 9th Symphony with the OSR. No doubt there was a clear intention to write such a dark work for his "9" Symphony as if this could help to distance from the Germanic art. But in the end, it was a very Germanic work, full of ambition and attempting to rewrite the entire world in music.

Very quick bullet points on my 2011 Salzbourg stay

My day work has forced me to shorten my stay in Salzburg very significantly. I managed though to pack 4 performances in two days as well as see many friends from across the world and basically had a great time.

For the sake of swiftness, here are my quick takes on bullet point format just like last year:

• I love my blackberry ... It has something which Iphone afficionados do not have which is push technology (for the Iphone, you have to ask for your mail). So I got a mail informing me of the open rehearsal of the Rossignol/Iolanta open for booking and rushed to get tickets for family and friends. The Rossignol was somewhat tentative but the Iolanta, a one act Tchaikowsky Opera about a blind girl was simply stunning. Strong and varied music and vocal writing of the highest order. Netrebko sang the title role and gave one of her best performance I have had with her. Her tenor partner was P Beczala whom she shared a wonderful duo culminating with a genuine crescendo. There were three bass-barytones roles, each important and each getting a full aria. Of them, Alexey Markov is one to watch out for.
• After this, I have to confess being somewhat disappointed by the Salonen - Marthaler  "The Makropolous case". A Denoke has vocal chords made of steel and singing was very strong overall. The Orchestra played beautifully, perhaps too beautifully ... but the Marthaler staging did not work as his Katya did. Action was muddy with too many secondary characters disturbing the flow.
• Think of this, however. A friend told me that the Easter Festival Peter Grimes was far from being sold out whereas there were many "Suche Karte" on display for this more demanding work.
• Muti delivered his usual magic in the Verdi Requiem performance in the matinee concert. Wait, magic or craft ? Balance, color, rubatos, phrasing ... was present in ample abundance. So much to admire but a little less to experience. Stoyanova had an uneasy start but rose to her usual self, Borodina is impressive, ..., perhaps too much, Pirgu was a little light - is not this work a little too much for him, Abdrazakov was solid ( in the program notes, it was revealed that he is sponsored by the company that manaufactures his suits, no name there but does this really work ?). 
• Tons of applaudes. Muti knows exactly when to enter the stage a good 10 seconds after his soloists so that everyone can be aware of the specific greetings he gets. Also, when Karajan and Abbado played this work, were not there Austrian silence after this religious work ?
• I ended my 2 days with a concert by the ORF Radio Orchestra playing Hans Rott's Symphony. Yes, this work has been played in Salzbourg and deserves more hearing. For French readers, my comments on Concertonet.
• Needless to say, Salzbourg is much more than the music, it is the ability to see so many friends and take leisury time to discuss and enjoy their company. I hope I have more time next year.

and Elektra in some other quick bullet points ...

We were a little disappointed by this Elektra, perhaps were we expecting too much ..

• Main problem are Gatti's tempis, just too slow and not moving forwards enough. Yes, he brings a lot of details, but where is the support that Albrecht gave to his singers in Lulu or the team-ensemble of Muti in Prokofiev's Ivan the terrible the day before ? And why was the orchestra so consistently loud ?
• The Elektra should have been Irene Theorin but she was replaced by Janice Baird who had 1/2 day of rehearsal. She did actually quite well. She has the notes and can sustain them well. She was somewhat lacking  the full depth of the character but let us not forget that she stepped in. If Theonin is stilll unwell, then Baird could then stay and settle in. In any case, she definitely knows how to project her voice and has the notes and stamina for this sort of role.
• Westbroek was good although I had in mind she had a freer top when I heard her in this part in Paris, but then there was another conductor Dohnanyi who knows his Strauss well ... She is still special.
• Great performances by Waltraud Meier and René Pape. Both have outstanding techniques, lots of colors on the voice and a supreme capability with words. They project really well and make everyone aware of what they sing. No better praise can be said. (Was this really in 1983 that I first heard Meier doing her debut in Kundry ?)
• Average staging by N Lenhoff with no real ideas ... and the Grosses Festpielhaus is so big ... I miss Wernicke

It is late and I will try to find some time to write on why I have consistently returned to Salzburg for the last 30 years ...

Lulu from Salzburg in a few bullet points ...

I am in Salzbourg for a few days and attended yesterday Lulu. I am not on Concertonet duties but cannot escape the habit of leaving the place with a list of comments:

• 6 Women on the pit, times have changed in the VPO
• the veterans are a formidable force: Grundheber in Schigolch and Zeidnick as the Prince, if some of the shine of the voice has gone, they do so much with words
• Surprisingly lively and "entertaining" production of act 3 with singers on the hall, 2 adjectives I would not have thought to use for Lulu with a fair amount of jokes in spoken dialogues (fake-ushers asking Schigloch for his ticket ...)
• Act 2 central settings was around a pyramid which became somewhat tiring after a while. While I am there, the "menagerie" of the prologue was not really staged, the trainer was in front of a multi-colored curtain and this just did not worked well
• Solid conducting of M Albrecht whom I did not knew before, bringing particular clarity and order in Act 1
• The 3 act version is now really established and it enables to preserve Berg's symmetry but there are notable differences in the orchestration, more piano in the beginning of Act 3 and at later phases more emphasis on double-basses
• After a tentative start, P Petibon grew into the role but memories of C Schäfer are hard to forget, strong performance of M Volle

Do I need to add, what an outstanding masterpiece this is.

PS: the singers distributed fake Lulu - Salzburg Festival logo-ed E(u)ros bills during act 3. Here is a scan of them:

A few interesting posts

More on the Salzburg Easter Festival scandal can be found here.

Also go to the LSO on Tour blog to read some of Valéry Gergiev's comments during a rehearsal and understand what he would imply as characterisation.