Salzburg 2021, part 2

Skipping over the drama section and the Young Singers Project, the next category is Special Concerts which I can't access as I don't have the password. Wonder what that is about? The next section is a series of twelve themed concerts: Ouverture spirituelle · Pax from the 18th to the 26th of July. I haven't decided what weeks I want to attend so part of this exercise is simply seeing when the unmissable concerts will be.

Ok, this series is pretty varied and contains, among other things, performances of the Britten War Requiem, some L'homme Arme settings mixed up with George Crumb, an interesting pairing of Steve Reich Different Trains and Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time, various other interesting combinations from Medieval to Contemporary, but the one that caught my eye was this program conducted by Philipe Herreweghe:

GABRIEL FAURÉ

Requiem for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra op. 48

(original 1893 version)

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Begräbnisgesang for chorus and woodwind op. 13

IGOR STRAVINSKY

Symphonie de Psaumes

for chorus and orchestra

You almost never get to hear the Stravinsky in concert and it is one of my favorite pieces.

* * *

Composers that are receiving a lot of attention this year include the Italians Luigi Nono and GIACINTO SCELSI, both highly regarded in some circles. Steve Reich is also getting some performances, but a particular focus is on Morton Feldman with the opera performance plus a series of three chamber concerts titled "Still life — Time with Feldman." There will be seven chamber works altogether ending with a performance of Rothko Chapel. All these concerts are by extremely fine performers and the tickets are very cheap. So I will plan to attend at least one of the chamber concerts in addition to the opera.

* * *

One of the great things about the Salzburg Festival is that they manage to deliver a hearty dose of the most central staples of the repertoire as well as those works way out on the fringe. Another mini-series of concerts is devoted to Bach and titled: "Himmelwärts — Time with BACH." "Himmelwärts" just means "heavenwards" which is where your attention is usually drawn when listening to Bach. The series includes the solo violin sonatas and partitas played by Thomas Zehetmair. Another program is a selection of various works from solo lute music to cantatas. András Schiff will give a keyboard recital. The Freiburger Barockorchester will play all the Brandenburg Concertos. All the Cello Suites will be given in a performance choreographed by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. And finally Daniil Trifonov will give a recital that will include the Art of Fugue. Oh, and most of these tickets are also very reasonable.

* * *

Right about now is when I start twitching and moaning because, really, how many of these concerts can you miss? Even the ones of standard Bach repertoire are offered with a creative flair that is hard to resist. I was hoping to fit everything really good into two weeks, but that may not be possible. I may need three weeks. I guess I just have to look for a really reasonable AirBnB which I did find last year.

I have a lot more to review as there are recital series, lieder series, guest orchestra series and on and on.

Let's have a little Bach, shall we? This is Sviatoslav Richter playing the Bach Prelude and Fugue in E flat from the Well-Tempered Clavier Bk 1 in a 1970 performance.