Salzburg Festival (8) and (9) - noted, not reviewed

These ones are just to be noted as diary items, for which apologies. I normally try to write something up irrespective of whether I have had a press ticket, but in this case, time has run away and I have had to restrict myself. In any case, both concerts will, I am sure, have been extensively reviewed elsewhere - and I shall publish my programme note to the first concert next month anyway. Both were excellent, the concert from Igor Levit and friends quite outstanding, as you might have expected. My silence means nothing more than a lack of time in this case...

Grosser Saal, Mozarteum (12 August 2017)

Schoenberg: Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, op.41

Beethoven:  Fifteen Variations with a Fugue in E-flat major, ‘Eroica Variations’, op.35

Rzewski: The People United will Never be Defeated!

Igor Levit (piano)

Dorte Lyssewski (speaker)

Klangforum Wien (Sophie Schafleitner, Annette Bik (violins), Dimitrios Polisoidis (viola), Andreas Lindenbaum (cello))

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (15 August 2017)

Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg

Boris Timofeyevich Izmailov – Dmitri Ulyanov

Zinoviy Borisovich Izmailov – Maxim Paster

Katerina Lvovna Izmailova – Evgenia Muraveva

Sergei – Brandon Jovanovich

Aksinya, Woman Convict – Tatyana Kravtsova

Shabby Peasant – Andrei Popov

Millhand – Igor Onishchenko

Coachman, Teacher – Vasily Efimov

Porter, Sentry – Oleg Budaratskiy

Pope – Stanislav Trofimov

Chief of Police – Alexey Shishlyaev

Policeman, Office - Valentin Anikin

Sonyetka – Ksenia Dudnikova

Old Convict – Andrii Goniukov

Manager – Gleb Peryazev

First Worker – Martin Müller

Oleg Zalytskiy – Second Worker, Drunken Guest

Third Worker – Ilya Kutyukin

Andreas Kriegenburg (director)

Harald B. Thor (set designs)

Tanja Hofmann (costumes)

Stefan Bolliger (lighting)

Christian Arseni (dramaturgy)

Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus (chorus master: Ernst Raffelsberger)

Angelika-Prokopp-Summer Academy of the Vienna Philharmonic

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Mariss Jansons (conductor)