MUSIC

Tom's Visit to Vienna - April 2006

 

Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito

Janna and Joe had already seen this opera, but didn't mind seeing it again. The last performance was on the day I arrived, so we were somewhat in doubt as to whether jet lag would allow me to enjoy it. But after a two-hour nap I was game for it and lucky that I was, because the experience was excellent. We bought rush tickets at the Theatre an der Wien and managed to get the last three contiguous seats.

The opera was performed in Italian with German supertitles. Fortunately, my reading comprehension is better than my conversational German, so they actually helped some. Although Tito is supposed to be a Roman emperor, the costumes were modern, except for one tableau pictured here in which the main characters dress up in Roman garb for a photo shoot. How this fits in with the action of the drama is never explained, although I imagine there was some kind of deconstructive intent. Janna tells me that this is typical of Viennese productions these days. So there; I had a typical Viennese experience! And it doesn't matter that I didn't get the point of this production, if there was one. I wouldn't have followed a straight-forward production that well either. But the music and the acting were enough.

Clemenza has not one, but two pants roles. One of them, the role of Sesto, was sung by mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca, and she was just amazing. Here's the cast:

Music Director: Paolo Carignani
Stage Director: Christof Loy
Set Design: Herbert Murauer
Lights: Olaf Winter

Wiener Symphoniker
Arnold Schoenberg Choir (Erwin Ortner, Cond.)

Tito: Kurt Streit
Vitellia: Silvana Dussmann
Servilia: Britta Stallmeister
Sesto: Elina Garanca
Annio: Jenny Carlstedt
Publio: Simon Bailey

Not listed are the continuo players, cello and fortepiano, who received their own standing ovation — and deserved it. They provided no mere harmonic filler, but enhanced the dramatic impact of each scene.

 

Les Voix Humaines,
a Viola da Gamba Recital by Jordi Savall

The viola da gamba is a fretted, bowed, seven-string instrument held between the legs like a cello. It was used during the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. Savall is the key figure in the revival, such as it is, of the gamba. The title of his solo recital refers to a remark by a Baroque music theorist that of all the instruments, the viola da gamba most resembles the human voice.

Savall's program included works by: K. F. Abel, J. S. Bach, J. Schenck, Mr. de Sainte-Colombe le père und le fils,
M. Marais, T. Hume, A. Ferrabosco, Th. Ford, and
J. Playford, as well as anonymous works. And if I never imagined that I was actually hearing a human voice, we were certainly treated to an extensive sampling of the expressiveness and variety of colors possible with the viola da gamba. I was particularly surprised by his employing a fair number of techniques that are now called "advanced" and which I associate with string playing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The performance was in the Minoritenkirche, which was built in the late thirteenth century, and is one of the few old buildings not made over with Baroque ornamentation. The sanctuary is cavernous. Imagine seeing and hearing the recital in this space, entirely darkened except for a spot on the soloist, filled with music by a single instrument, not particularly powerful by modern standards. It was quite an experience.

Our seats were to the right of where this picture was taken. We had a good view of Savall who was seated on a slightly raised platform in front of the altar area. It was so dark that those who had bought programs could not read them. As the recital went along, and it became difficult to tell any more where we were, some clever folks used their cell phones as reading lights, until, inevitably, one of them rang. After a while Savall started announcing the pieces and discussing them a bit as well — a Spaniard speaking German and an American doing his best to follow.

Yes, I said "bought." I was unprepared for the lack of the free programs Americans take for granted. And not thinking of the souvenirs I was denying myself, I followed the practice of Janna and Joe, who are too cheap to buy them. In fairness, they attend so many concerts it would be burden to buy very many programs. But I didn't have that excuse.

 

Gidon Kremer, violin, and the Kremerata Baltica

Again, we passed up the paper program, but here's my translation of the on-line program:

Lera Auerbach: Dialogues on Stabat Mater (after G. B. Pergolesi)

Alexandr Raskatov: 5 Minutes from the Life of WAM

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto Violin and Orchestra in A major, K 219

The Kremerta Balitca was founded in 1997 by Gidon Kremer and is today one of the most prominent ensembles in Europe. Through his work with this chamber orchestra Gidon Kremer wants to pass along his vast musical experience to young musicians of the three Baltic states and at the same time to further and inspire a revival of an independent musical life in the Baltics.

Thus the contemporary music of this region makes up a significant part of the orchestra's repetoire. The Dialogues on Stabat Mater by Lera Auerback, which were premiered at the Lucerne Festival in 2005, stand next to the A major Concerto, the crown of Mozart's series of violin concertos. The young Russian composer started with Pergolesi's world famous Stabat Mater, inserting intermezzi between the twelve movements as prayers, commentaries, and personal reactions.

Three problems here, none of which is the accuracy of the translation. (1) They played at least two pieces not listed in the on-line program, one of which was a sinfonia concertante for violin, viola and orchestra other than the one by Mozart. I couldn't tell you who the composer was, but I'd sure like to know. The other was Gorecki's Three Pieces in the Old Style. (2) The Auerbach and Mozart pieces were not together and not in the middle of the program. (3) I'm no expert in Eastern European politics, but I don't think a Russian composer would be regarded as a representative of an independent Baltic musical life. This is not to detract from the piece, which was very interesting. But I must quibble.

I have long admired Kremer's playing, so it was a treat to finally hear him live. And the orchestra! As you can see, these kids are in their 20's. Nevertheless, their ensemble was tight, even when playing without a conductor, and their playing was energetic and nuanced. I understand that the pay isn't great. They are doing it for the training and experience, and for help in buying better instruments.

The concert was in the Brahms Saal, one of the smaller rooms in the Musikverein, which goes back at least to Beethoven's time. Our seats were in a part of the balcony that was directly over the stage. Thus we had an excellent view . . . of the audience. We soon saw what the game was as we observed some of our neighbors move to standing places behind empty seats with better views. We did likewise, and Janna and Joe kindly allowed me to nab a seat with an excellent view of the stage by stepping over it just as the performance was about to begin. My new neighbor was a 70-ish woman – in a gown – who did the same thing. There I am on the left side of this picture, which was taken during intermission from about where our original seats were.

 

Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier

Seeing this most Viennese of operas performed at the Vienna Staatsoper is, I suppose, somewhat like seeing West Side Story at the Met. Anyway it was an ideal introduction to the Staatsoper. There is considerable contrast with the production of La Clemenza di Tito with its period instrument pit orchestra. Here we had strings numbering 14-12-12-10-8 and some of the winds were doubled. That's about as many as the Minnesota Orchestra puts on stage for Sinfonie Fantastique, and of course no singers are trying to make themselves heard over that. Also, whereas Theatre an der Wien used supertitles, the Staatsoper had individual LED's. The advantage was that I could get my titles in English; the disadvantage was that I had to take my eyes further from the stage action and to an entirely different focal length. In those parts of the opera where I knew well what was being sung, I turned mine off. Finally, we were treated to a very traditional, almost reverential, production; no post-modern shenanigans.

Our seats were in a box for six. I was in one of the front three with a very good view; Janna and Joe were behind me with no view at all unless they stood up and moved directly behind me. During intermission, we joined the traditional promenade through the various salons in the building. Janna and Joe took me to the official standing room area on the main floor, where the view is better than that of most of the seats in the house, and could be had for 11 Euros that night. Janna introduced me to some of her standing room buddies, some of whom she has known since 1997 when she first stayed in Vienna. Most remarkable was a Japanese woman who retired from whatever she did in Tokyo, moved the Vienna, and attends the opera every night she can.

Once again, here is the on-line program:

DER ROSENKAVALIER
(315. Aufführung in dieser Inszenierung)
[The 315th performance of this production!]

Dirigent: Peter Schneider
nach einer Inszenierung von: Otto Schenk
Bühnenbild: Rudolf Heinrich
Kostüme: Erni Kniepert
Chorleitung: Ernst Dunshirn

Feldmarschallin: Ricarda Merbeth
Baron Ochs: Wolfgang Bankl
Octavian: Elina Garanca [That's right; last week's Sesto in another pants role]
Faninal: Peter Weber
Sophie: Ileana Tonca
Leitmetzerin: Simina Ivan
Valzacchi: Michael Roider
Annina: Margareta Hintermeier
Polizeikommissar: Alfred Šramek
Haushofmeister bei der Feldmarschallin: Johann Reinprecht
Haushofmeister bei Faninal: Benedikt Kobel
Notar: Alfred Šramek
Sänger: Keith Ikaia-Purdy
eine adelige Witwe: Maria Bierbaumer

drei adelige Waisen:
Felicitas Thyringer
Maria Gusenleitner
Arina Holecek

Modistin: Laura Tatulescu^
Tierhändler: Martin Müller
Wirt: Herwig Pecoraro

vier Lakaien der Marschallin:
Jacek Krzyszkowski
Meng-Chieh Ho
Hiro Ijichi
Oleg Savran

vier Kellner:
Wolfram Igor Derntl
Andre Potgieter
Hannes Lichtenberger
Hacik Bayvertian

Leopold: Mario Steller
Hausknecht: Ion Tibrea
ein kleiner Mohr: Jan Labner

(^ Stipendiatin der WAZ-Mediengruppe)

Beginn: 18.30

Diese Produktion wurde ermöglicht mit Unterstützung von JULIUS MEINL
[Like Dunn Bros. underwriting a show at the Guthrie]

 

Mozart: Die Schuldigkeit des Erstes Gebot

So, have you ever heard of this one? I certainly hadn't prior to learning of the opportunity to see it performed at the Theatre an der Wien. Mozart wrote this when he was 11 (K 35). Apparently all manner of obscure Mozart works are being put on during Mozartjahr. And while it's probably too much to say that I'll never have another chance to see it, it is unlikely that I'll see it put on by such heavy-weights.

Musik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Ignaz Anton Weiser
Music Director: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Stage Director: Philipp Harnoncourt
Set Design: Renate Martin & Andreas Donhauser

Concentus Musicus Wien

A Christian: Christoph Genz
Christian Spirit: Michael Schade
Worldliness: Patricia Petibon
Mercy: Juliane Banse
Justice: Elisabeth von Magnus

As you can see, the work (described as a Singspiel, but it looked like an opera to me) is an allegory. The title is variously translated. I would render it "The Requirements of the First Commandment." The general theme is that there is no short-cut to the Christian life. In this production Christian Spirit is a priest, Worldliness has horn-like tufts of hair, Mercy is a nun, Justice is some kind of amalgam of judge and bishop, and the Christian is Mozart himself. Again, post-modernism is at work.

The music, while it is occasionally possible to imagine that the mature Mozart would handle things in a more sophisticated manner, is recognizably Mozart and pretty darn good. One is reminded of Tom Lehrer's quip, "It is sobering to remember that when Mozart was your age he had been dead for ten years." One of the more interesting inventions is an extended solo for alto trombone followed by a trombone/singer duet.

Dramatically, despite the serious theme, there is a fair amount of comedy. A good proportion of that must be in the original and not an addition of this production. There is an absolutely hilarious scene where Christian Spirit morphs into a surgeon who operates on the Christian. The scene could easily have been done in vaudeville.

It is fitting that we attended this opera on my last night in Vienna. While my visit was, by design, far from all-Mozart-all-the-time, I did manage to bracket my stay with two Mozart operas that I had never seen before. Afterwards we went to Cafe Mozart, where, since I hadn't had any yet and time was running out, I ordered Sachertort as well as the best Earl Grey tea I've ever had.

Vienna

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