Intermezzo

Vienna Parsifal - the casualties mount

Vienna's last two iterations of Parsifal were deprived of Jonas Kaufmann due to unspecified "illness".

Now it transpires that Franz Welser-Möst only managed to conduct one act last night. After being gripped by lumbago (surprised Slipped Disc hasn't picked up on this little gift), he had to leave his assistant James Pearson (below) to finish the job.

Austrian newspapers have been swift to point out that Franz has conducted four operas in five days - a feat he has previously described as "unacceptable".

Give Franz a break

Franz Welser-Möst has pulled out of all future opera engagements at the Salzburg Festival, citing unreasonable scheduling.

He complains that the 2013 plan is not feasible for the singers. The first three of five Così fan tutte performances are spread over five days, leaving just a day's rest between each. He had earlier in the week told an interviewer it's unacceptable to begin one of these at 11 am - "because then the singers would have to get up at three o'clock to prepare."(Probably a good job that it starts at 1pm, not 11am, then. Although most singers can and do manage morning engagements from time to time, but let's not digress).

Welser-Möst's outrage has compelled him to cancel not just the three offending performances, but the whole Mozart-Da Ponte cycle he was supposed to be conducting over over three years from 2013 to 2015.

Oddly, he doesn't mention why he didn't spot the flawed timetabling earlier; it's been public for several weeks, in the unlikely event he wasn't told way beforehand anyway. And while his own Vienna State Opera, like most houses, generally leaves two clear days between shows, they also sometimes schedule performances just a day apart - the very issue he's complaining about.

Coincidentally, Welser-Möst has just started rehearsals in Vienna for Ariadne auf Naxos, the dreadful Salzburg Festival production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf, who's also in charge of the Mozart cycle.

Festival management are apparently out of the country at the moment. So sadly we'll have to wait for Alexander Pereira's no doubt feisty response.

Curse of The Ring strikes Pappano - again

Five years almost to the day since his last Wagner-related injury, Antonio Pappano has once more been struck down by the Curse of The Ring.

The Royal Opera House report the maestro is suffering from "acute tendonitis in his right elbow" - aka tennis elbow - following a string of heavy-duty engagements including Otello, Les Troyens, several concerts with his Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and of course The Ring. This means he has to pull out of the ROH revival of The Minotaur in the new year, to be replaced by Ryan Wigglesworth.

Coincidentally, Franz Welser-Möst recently suffered a similar affliction. He's now back on his podium. Perhaps they could get together and share tips? 

Then again, perhaps not.

Hands off my Wiener Simon, hints Welser-Most

Straight-talking Franz Welser-Möst has been talking straight again.

Asked by Wien.ORF.at who he'd like to see conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker's New Year concert, frank Franz tells them instead who shouldn't.

Simon Rattle is "fantastische" but, one infers, not quite Austrian enough. As Franz puts it, Sir Simon  - whose numerous crimes against fashion have yet to incorporate lederhosen - doesn't know how to connect with this sort of music, and said as much to Welser-Möst. 

Franz concludes "Not everyone can do everything, that's how it is." 

Frankly, Welser-Möst

Is there any branch of showbiz that presents a more monolithic public front than operabiz?  Finances and future plans are concealed by mutual omerta and professional disagreements are the privatest of private matters. 

That's until a rare man comes along armed with the sword of truth and the bullets of pure snark - leaving the shield of diplomacy on the bus.

Welser-Most smacks down Mozart director

 

Franz Welser-Möst, music director of the Vienna State Opera, is so critical of Jean-Louis Martinoty's two recent Mozart productions that a planned third has been cancelled, reports the Kleine Zeitung.

Martinoty's traditionally styled but radically reconceived Don Giovanni and Figaro failed to find much favour with critics or public.

But that's not the reason he won't be invited back for Cosi in two years time. After all, everyone makes mistakes said Welser-Möst. The problem is that Martinoty didn't learn from his. His concepts didn't work because he didn't listen to the singers and musicians. From the outset, said Welser-Möst, Martinoty dismissed everything that went on in the pit.

The State Opera's director and fellow-Frenchy, Dominique Meyer, has tried to play down the differences: "There are sometimes cases where a conductor and a director don't get along. They're artists. You have to accept that sort of thing".

It's unusual though for 'artistic differences', usually kept well under wraps, to be aired in this way. And for Welser-Möst, a conductor not given to idle bitching, to react so strongly and so specifically - and in public. But then Meyer's appointment of the veteran but little-known Martinoty to replace two of Vienna's most significant repertory productions was somewhat unusual in the first place.

Welser-Möst spotted Salzburg Easter Festival scam last year

It took the Salzburg Easter Festival organisers until just a couple of weeks ago to spot that two of the Festival's most senior staff were defrauding it of vast sums of money.

But the Vienna Opera's canny incoming maestro Franz Welser-Möst worked it out last year, or so he claimed on Wednesday. He has decided to open his mouth belatedly because he's angry at the way the Vienna Philharmonic have been treated by the Festival.

What's on in London in September

Summer is nearly over, and at last the concert calendar is filling up.

Proms and alternatives
The Proms seem to have gone on forever, but it'll all be over for another year on 12 September.

Remaining highlights include Mariss Jansons with the Concertgebouw, Riccardo Chailly with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta and Franz Welser-Möst (replacing the scheduled Harnoncourt).

On 4 September there's an unmissable double header - first Matthias Goerne and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester in Mahler, Ligeti, Schoenberg and Strauss, then a late-night George Crumb special.

Incidentally, operatic highlights for the 2010 Proms - you heard it here first - are expected to include Die Meistersinger with Bryn Terfel, Glyndebourne's Don Giovanni, and a substantial chunk of Tristan und Isolde from the Orchestra of the 18th Century with Ben Heppner.

If you want to skip the ghastliness of the last night - something I cannot recommend too highly - alternatives include the Wigmore Hall season opener which is Die schöne Müllerin from Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis.

Or there's a FREE screening of the 1929 silent movie Piccadilly on an outside wall (don't blame me if it rains) of the Royal Festival Hall accompanied by a new score from composers Suki Mok and Ruth Chan. Following the screening, the score "will become the lynchpin of a cross-artform work incorporating dance, drama and video against a backdrop of the original silent movie".

Opera
The Royal Opera House season opens on 7 September with two concert performances of Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix conducted by Mark Elder and featuring Alessandro Corbelli alongside the hotly-tipped Eglise Gutiérrez and Stephen Costello.

Don Carlo has started rehearsals and promises to turn out even better than first time round. Semyon Bychkov conducts, Jonas Kaufmann is in the title role, and the rest of the cast is much the same as it was first time round, with Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside and Ferruccio Furlanetto reprising his definitive Philip.

Don't expect much on stage except the singers in born-again minimalist Christof Loy's new production of Tristan und Isolde. Tristan is Ben Heppner and Isolde Nina Stemme, with Matti Salminen, Michael Volle and Sophie Koch completing the cast. Pappano conducts.

English National Opera's season opens with the much-travelled, highly-praised production of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre by La Fura dels Baus.

The Arcola Theatre's variable but occasionally brilliant (and cheap) Grimeborn opera festival continues until 5 September. Handel, Poulenc and Mozart are included amongst the mostly contemporary works.

There's an opportunity to hear Rossini's rarely-performed Il Signor Bruschino and La Scala di Seta as well as The Rake's Progress from British Youth Opera between 4 and 12 September.

And Valery Gergiev conducts the LSO in a concert performance of La Damnation de Faust on 22 September, with a cast including Joyce DiDonato, Michael Schade, Thomas Quasthoff and Florian Boesch.

Concerts
The LSO's season opener is on 20 September, with Gergiev conducting Debussy, Dutilleux and Ravel.

At the Royal Festival Hall, Bernard Haitink conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on 23 and 24 September. And on 25 and 26 September Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO tackle Mahler's 2nd Symphony. Anne Sofie von Otter visits on 30 September with songs from her Theresienstadt CD.

At Wigmore Hall, Matthias Goerne continues his Schubert marathon on 18 and 20 September (a different programme on each night).

And on 28 September it's Imogen Cooper's bus-pass birthday concert. She'll be joined by Wolfgang Holzmair, Mark Padmore, Sonia Wieder-Atherton and Paul Lewis.

Nina Stemme's refrigerated Rosenkavalier

Der Rosenkavalier - Zurich Opera - Royal Festival Hall, 12 April 2008

Tackling the intensely theatrical Der Rosenkavalier without a full staging is rather like doing Star Wars as a radio play. Disguises, asides, gestures are so integral to the drama. Setting the singers for this concert performance on a small platform behind the orchestra wasn't an entirely successful compromise. It gave them a few inches of space to act and interact, but left them stranded far from the audience. My cheapie stage side seat became an asset -- people seated further back in the main hall had difficulty hearing some of the singers. It may have been the reason a fair number left after the first act, depleting the already far from sellout crowd even further.

Or it may have been the turgid morning-after feeling of the first act. Despite Franz Welser-Möst's crisp pacing, it tended to drag. This arid account couldn't be accused of over-indulgence. Piotr Beczala's brief appearance as the Italian Singer was a welcome highspot, and Alfred Muff's splendid and wily Baron Ochs provided the vital vulgarity that Welser-Möst seemed to fear. Nina Stemme was a commanding Marschallin, but stony cold as a pillar in her white draped Grecian goddess gown. At least she had the sheer power to soar over the orchestra, something the tailcoated Michelle Breedt's otherwise sturdy Octavian lacked.

The second act began a huge improvement. Finally Welser-Möst came out of his shell and injected a little spunk and vitality. A few ensemble problems were a small price to pay. Laura Aikin's bright, pure-toned Sophie complemented Michelle Breedt's warm and mellow Octavian perfectly. The Pavarotti-shaped Rudolf Schasching and Kismara Pessatti manoeuvred perilously around the narrow platform, but provided more comic counterweight as Valzacchi and Annina.

Nina Stemme's switch to a burgundy brocade ensemble for her final act appearance signalled a slight increase in performance temperature. Or perhaps she'd just spilled her interval snack down the white frock, who knows. Her voice positively but there was still no vulnerability, no wistfulness or regret. All passion was left to Octavian and Sophie.

Although the orchestra was buffed to a sheen under Welser-Möst's tight control, and despite some fine individual performances, the evening  - all four hours of it - was an endurance test at times. The danger with sidestepping sentimentality and vulgarity is that sometimes engagement - and entertainment - gets left by the wayside too.