Salzburg Festival: Successful start to the “Ouverture Spirituale”

The Ouverture Spirituelle started on Friday with two extraordinary concerts on the annual motto “Lux aeterna” and thus the Salzburg Festival a week before the official opening. The program of the first concert in the Felsenreitschule, in which the SWR Symphonieorchester and Ingo Metzmacher performed in a huge cast, included Olivier Messiaen’s last completed work “Éclairs sur l’Au-delà”, which in eleven parts lets a vision of paradise flare up.

Images that are primarily inspired by the Revelation of St. John, but also allow you to experience your own deep roots in faith in brief sidelights. A work of immense intensity and tremendous expressiveness, which lets the entire cosmos of Messiaen’s tonal language pass by and condenses to an absolute climax. Ingo Metzmacher, with the excellently arranged SWR Symphonieorchester, has not only succeeded in letting the large soundscapes oscillate, but also in decoding the fine contrapuntal structure behind them and in translating the intoxicating sound with extreme transparency. The audience cheered accordingly when they encountered this fascinating work.

No less fascinating that evening were the Los Angeles Master Chorale under its brilliant conductor Grant Gershon, the cellist Julia Hagen and the percussionists Christoph Sietzen and Bogdan Bacanu, who presented Sofia Gubaidulina’s “Sonnengesang” in the Kollegienkirche. A work that focuses on the cello? it was created on the occasion of Mstislav Rostropovich’s 70th birthday. However, not in the sense of a cello concerto, but much more far-reaching. Because the cello almost takes on the role of the narrator here, is the voice of Francis of Assisi, who is visionary in illness, whose canticle not only praises the glory of God, but also expresses the hope of seeing him in paradise.

Julia Hagen as a great cellist

Terrific Julia Hagen, who lived out the expressive lines, the many playing techniques, the theatrical moment built in by the composer extremely intensively and animated them with great passion. But no less impressive was the collective of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, who impressively intoned the texts of Francis. A deeply moving thing.

But almost more impressive is the second part of this concert with Heinrich Schütz’s “Musikalische Exequien”, which, due to the scenic implementation, was sung by heart and with an impressive text clarity and in a quality that you don’t hear every day. Peter Sellars “staged” both parts, with Schütz referring to the repetition of one and the same scene ? the sacred concerts recreated the farewell on the deathbed with different soloists? and limited verbal gesturing with the hands. Put your hands up for heaven, put your hands on the ground for earth. Not exactly creative and maybe even a hindrance, because the only impressive thing was the singers, both solo and collective, and their choirmaster Grant Gershon, who also conducted by heart.

Conclusion: An absolutely successful start to the new festival season.