Copyright 2000 www.cosmopolis.ch Louis Gerber All rights
reserved.
Lucerne Festival in 2000 when the article was added still called International Festival of Music Lucerne 2000: Pierre
Boulez, Christian Tetzlaff and the London Symphony
Orchestra;
Christoph Eschenbach, Vadim Repin and the Houston Symphony Orchestra;
Haitink and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Click
here for hotels of all categories in Lucerne
The International Festival of Music Lucerne
was created in 1938, the year Hitler marched into Austria. Due to the political
circumstances, Switzerland became, for a few years, a safe-haven for a lot of
artists who could or would not perform anymore in Germany or Austria. The Concert
de Gala of the year 1938 was directed by Arturo Toscanini. He performed
Wagner's Siegfried-Idyl which the composer had written in his house in
Lucerne. In its more than 60 years of existence, the Internationale
Musikfestwochen Luzern, as the festival is called in German, has
become one of the leading events of classical music in the world. For its year
2000 edition, the organizers have published substantial programs, including a
book of 460 pages with essays on the festival's guiding theme, metamorphosis, and
on other subjects such as the anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach and the
composer's in residence, György Kurtág and Toshio Hosokawa, to whom another,
301-page book, is dedicated. The salle blanche, conceived for 1840 people
by the acoustics specialist Russell Johnson and the French architect Jean Nouvel,
who first wanted it blue and red, but changed his original plans after criticism
by conductors against too much color, was inaugurated in August 1998. The
acoustic are excellent thanks to the traditional shoe box hall-form with its its
1:1 relation of height to width. The insulation of the hall from outside noise
is perfect. Not only for these reasons, the festival can live up to its ambitions and
the prestige of its famous performing guests. By the way, the audience was
excellent too. No cell phone ringing! What a pleasant contrast to Zurich's
Tonhalle. The following article renders the impressions of three symphony
concerts of this year's edition.
The London Symphony Orchestra,
directed by Pierre Boulez and with Christian Tetzlaff, violin, August 20
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO),
London's oldest and Britain's first self-governed orchestra, was founded in
1904. Among its former conductor's are Hans Richter, Arthur Nikisch and Claudio
Abbado. Since 1995, Sir Colin Davis occupies the post of principal
conductor. At the festival in Lucerne however, Pierre Boulez directed the LSO.
On August 20, the program's first part offered zeroPoints, a composition
by Hungarian composer (and conductor) Peter
Eötvös (*1944). ZeroPoints was commissioned by several orchestras
and this was its Swiss premiere. The LSO's sound was precise and the composition
offered a great, but not always convincing spectacle. Eötvös said he was impressed by the year 2000 and its zeros, which he integrated into his work. It
is a composition of multiple beginnings from zero and it ideally fits into the
festival's theme of metamorphosis. Thunderstorms, heavy rain, lightning, zeroPoints
has it all. But the cymbals unnecessarily covered up to much of the orchestra's
sound. The strings were partly opposed to the rest of the orchestra, the
polyphony was entertaining, but, overall, the composition is quite traditional
in the sense that it could have been written at the beginning of the 20th
Century. Interesting were the use of bells as a rhythmic background and the
ironic end of zeroPoints. The composition is too weak and will hardly
make its way into the regular repertoire.
The evening continued with the Violin
Concert (1960) by Györgi Ligeti (*1923). Boulez played it in the
Hungarian composer's newly arranged version of the year 1992 - with only
half of the LSO's musicians. The concerto begins with dissonant sounds by
the solo violin. Christian Tetzlaff was slowly joined by the other
strings. The piece lives from its contrast between the violin and the
orchestra as well as between dissonant and harmonic tunes. It is demanding
for the musicians as well as the listeners. The second part of the
concerto for violin is inspired by Haydn and his economic use of notes.
Both, Tetzlaff and the LSO were convincing. The impression of a full, clear and
direct sound was enhanced by the salle blanche's sensational
acoustics which can be best heard at the stalls. Soft or extremely loud,
the concert hall reflects the sound without any distortion. As an encore,
Tetzlaff played the fugue of the second movement of Béla Bartók's Jolo
Sonata. It is a dramatic piece of high virtuosity which allows the
soloist to show his full capacities - and that's what Tetzlaff did,
proving himself to be one of the outstanding violinists of his
generation.
After the break followed Béla Bartók's
(1881-1945) ballet pantomime The Carved Wooden Prince op. 13 Sz 60
(1914-17) - in Lucerne with no pantomime of course. The few lengthy
moments of the composition stem from this fact - nothing visual happened
on the scene. But the overall impression is still overwhelmingly positive.
The LSO played at its full strength with about 70 strings. The orchestra
had no difficulty in musically illustrating the warmth, romantic and
dramatic story of a princess who at first takes a carved wooden puppet for
real and prefers it to the prince in flesh and blood who had made it. The
ballet pantomime allowed Bartók once to have a first and huge success in
Budapest. But the composition is rather traditional - hence probably the
success in Hungary's capital. It is not the Bartók who inspired more than
one composer and musician of classical and jazz music. Still, The
Carved Wooden Prince is a delight for its graphic description of what
is happening on scene. The music is easy to follow and was served as
dessert to the public in Lucerne. After the challenging piece by Ligeti,
it was sometimes difficult to concentrate on music which appeared, in
comparison with the Violin Concert, easy-listening. Would it have
been better to play Ligeti at the end? Probably not since a majority of
the audience preferred the romantic entertainment to the contemporary sound.
Bartók found wider appreciation and, therefore, the concert ended in
harmony. Judging by the performance on August 20, the LSO under the
direction of Pierre Boulez proved to have become one of the leading
orchestras of the world.
Krystian Zimerman, piano; director: Pierre Boulez; London Symphony Orchestra
and Cleveland Orchestra.
Maurice Ravel: Piano
Concertos. CD 1999. Get
it from Amazon.comor from Amazon.co.uk
Salle blanche, Lucerne.
Houston
Symphony Orchestra;
Director: Christoph Eschenbach;
Vocals: Renée Fleming.
Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs.
CD 1999. Get
it from Amazon.com
or from Amazon.co.uk
The Houston Symphony Orchestra, directed by Christoph Eschenbach, Vadim Repin
violine, August 25
The Houston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach
began its concert with the hugely popular Fanfar for the Common Man
(1942) by American composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990). Afterwards, in a Swiss
premiere, the orchestra played John Adam's (*1947) Concert for Violin and
Orchestra (1993). It is no piece of repetitive minimal music, but
influenced by the late romantic composers such as Liszt and even Schönberg.
The New York City Ballet was one of the three institutions who commissioned
the concert. Adams knew his piece would be interpreted choreographically and
that influenced its form and content. The solo instrument plays an
exceptionally important part. In the first movement, violinist Vadim Repin has
only one minute to rest. But it is no traditional composition in the sense
that there is no fight between the soloist and the orchestra. The violin is
always at the center. Vadim Repin first played elegiac tunes, but also had
dissonant parts to master before the music becomes tonal again. The calm end
of the (for the listener most demanding) first movement with a bell ringing
was a highlight. In the middle section, bells, strings and horns create an
atmosphere of resignation and contemplation. In the third movement, life
comes back and a lot of action goes on. The horns blew in a stirring way,
drumbeat, strings and horns alternated in a spectacular way. Adams'
composition is entertaining and virtuous, but he does not express profound
emotions and is never deeply touching (such as e.g. Shostakovich). Before the
break, Vadim Repin added three encores to his performance. He started with
Smetana's Dance of the Comedians from The Bartered Bride,
followed by Dvorak's Slavonic Dance op. 46 and a Sarabande by
Bach. Repin's play was warm, polyphonic and subdued. Nothing was too virtuous,
he did not try to show off, but remained well-tempered. After the break
followed Gustav Mahler's (1860-1911) Symphony no 1 (1884-88). The
Houston Symphony Orchestra was supposed to express youth, innocence and
strength. But as for all of the evening, the orchestra's sound remained
somewhat pale, especially in comparison with the LSO. Their best part of
rendering Mahler came in the movement described as solemn and measured.
In the dramatic ending of the Symphony no 1 the strings lacked some
volume and power. The sound lacked warmth, character and expression. Still,
the audience was enchanted - who does not like Mahler. The Houston Symphony Orchestra made an honorable
performance, but it cannot compete with the immediate and full sound of the
LSO or the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
directed by Bernard Haitink, August 31
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is the
orchestra which has performed most often in Lucerne, regularly since 1968.
So it is no surprise that, in August 1998 under the direction of Claudio
Abbado, it had the honor of opening the new concert hall built by French
architect Jean Nouvel. For health reasons, Abbado could not direct the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on August 31. Another leading conductor,
Bernard Haitink, replaced him. Let's say it right away: he made a
wonderful job. The first part of the concert was dedicated to Richard
Strauss' (1864-1949) Don Quixote op. 35 (1896/97). The German
composer was a master of the dramatic form. The colorful symphonic poem
based on Cervantes is full of dramatic effects and irony. The Berlin
Symphony Orchestra was able to make the story come alive. Russian cellist
Natalia Gutman played a key role. One could easily follow Quixote's
different adventures. Highlights were the
first ride of the strange pair, Quixote and his squire Sancho Pansa, and
their fight against windmills. Dissonant sounds alternate with the
description of idyllic scenes. Simply sensational was the ride through the
air, with popular tunes followed by breathtaking wind-effects which I have
never heard better before, although the Berlin Symphony Orchestra did not
play at its full personal strength and I was not in the stalls, but on
the first balcony, where acoustics are good, but less impressive. Not only
the orchestra's rendering of dramatic, tragic-comic effects, irony and
madness, but also Quixote's return to clear conscience and the calm and
peace of his last days before his death were convincing. The second part of
the concert was dedicated to Johannes Brahms' (1833-97) Third Symphony
(1883). It is not (purely) heroic as Hans Richter suggested at its
premiere in Vienna in December 1883 where he called it Eroica. It
is a composition of refined complexity, dramatic and romantic. Especially
the second part, Poco allegretto was rousing through the purity of
sound and the well-tempered, neither over-dramatic nor pale playing.
Especially the wind section did a remarkable job. In the Allegro,
the calm beginning with the outstanding, suffering transversal flute, the
dramatic play by the string section and the violent and exploding energy
of the orchestra before its return to an introspective ending were
stunning. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Bernard
Haitink offered a journey through the spectrum of human emotions, and
that's what music is all about.
