Mahler in all his might: Nelsons and the Vienna Philharmonic raise the roof in Salzburg

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Mark Pullinger

Nelsons/ Vienna Philharmonic

Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg, 8th August 2020

In your average concert-going year, Mahler symphonies are ubiquitous. But 2020 has been no ordinary year. Social distancing has meant the only live Mahler I’ve seen streamed post-lockdown has been in chamber versions: the Berlin Philharmonic in Erwin Stein’s reduction of the Fourth Symphony; and Das Lied von der Erde from the Royal Opera House in Arnold Schoenberg’s calorie-controlled version, completed by Rainer Riehn. A reduction of the Sixth does exist – by Klaus Simon, premiered only last year – but when it comes to the Vienna Philharmonic and Andris Nelsons playing at the Salzburg Festival, no compromises are required.

Andris Nelsons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic
© Salzburg Festival | Marco Borrelli

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School for lovers: Loy’s bitter lessons at the Salzburg Festival

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Mark Pullinger

Mozart: Così fan tutte

Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg, 2nd August 2020

Così fan tutte is usually translated into English as “All women are like that”. At this summer’s Salzburg Festival, Christof Loy prefers to focus on the opera’s subtitle, La scuola degli amanti (The School for Lovers). In a typically minimalist, monochrome setting, the German director has some bitter lessons to deliver and it’s not just the four lovers who come off badly. Johannes Martin Kränzle’s quick-tempered, wiry-toned Don Alfonso – the opera’s manipulator-in-chief – soon becomes despondent that his experiment is going to cause so much turbulence, making one wonder why he proposed it in the first place.

Andrè Schuen (Guglielmo), Elsa Dreisig (Fiordiligi), Marianne Crebassa (Dorabella)
© Salzburg Festival | Monika RittershausChristofChristof

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Kitchen sink Carmen: Cristian Măcelaru rounds off the ONF season in style

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Mark Pullinger

Cristian Măcelaru/ Orchestre National de France

Maison de la Radio, Paris, 23rd July 2020

Let’s hear it for the percussion department! They literally take a back seat in the orchestra and, in these days of slimline orchestral performances, are often reduced in the ranks to an isolated timpanist. So bravo to Cristian Măcelaru, music director designate of the Orchestre National de France, for programming Rodion Shchedrin’s deliciously subversive Carmen Suite for the final concert in the Maison de la Radio’s Le Temps retrouvé season. Bizet’s music is rescored for strings and five percussionists, who tackle a battery of drums, marimbas, gongs, guiros and castanets – more percussion than you could shake a stick at.

Orchestre National de France
© France Musique

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Rattle returns to Munich via a fairy garden

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Mark Pullinger

Simon Rattle/ Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Philharmonie im Gasteig, 20th July 2020

Simon Rattle’s passport has seen more action of late than my Oyster Card! Since his last encounter with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in June (played to an empty hall), Rattle has been busy. As well as conducting the Czech Philharmonic in a packed Rudolfinum, he and his wife, Magdalena Kožená, gave a lovely recital in Aix-en-Provence. Quarantine rules meant he wasn’t able to return to the UK to conduct his beloved London Symphony Orchestra play their first post-lockdown concert (also part of Festival d’Aix) but he’s now back in Munich… this time with a scattered audience in attendance.

Simon Rattle
© BRSO

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Two “Firsts” as Beethoven opens the Pärnu Music Festival

Posted on July 17, 2020 by Mark Pullinger

Paavo Järvi/ Tallinn Chamber Orchestra

Pärnu Concert Hall, 16th July 2020

What a difference a year makes. Last July, I was basking on the white sands of Pärnu, Estonia’s summer capital, dotted about with spa hotels and pretty dachas. I was there to attend Paavo Järvi’s labour of love, the Pärnu Music Festival. With international travel the last thing on my mind in the wake of Covid-19, it is still possible to enjoy this summer’s festival tenth edition from a safe distance, with all the concerts streamed on its website, along with the Järvi Academy conducting masterclasses.

Harry Traksmann and Paavo Järvi
© Kaupo Kikkas

Click here to read the full review on Bachtrack.

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