ORF “Matinee”: Live concert of the Vienna Philharmonic from Salzburg and portrait of “Andris Nelsons – star conductor without airs and graces”
Before: “Austrian Icons – The Ausseer Dirndl”, “The Culture Week” and “Culinary Music – Puccini and Lucca”
Vienna (OTS) – In the “Matinee” on Sunday, August 7, 2022, the ORF will present the next live highlight of this year’s Salzburg Festival: a “Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic from the Great Festival Hall” conducted by Andris Nelsons at 11 a.m. on the ORF 2 The program includes Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. The piano soloist is Yefim Bronfman. To set the mood, the portrait “Andris Nelsons – star conductor without airs and graces” (10.25 a.m.) can be seen. Before that, the ORF culture morning presented by Peter Schneeberger will open with an edition of the short series “Icons of Austria” (9:05 a.m.) about a piece of clothing that is also worn in Salzburg and is a cultural statement for many wearers: “The Ausseer Dirndl”. “The Culture Week” (9.15 a.m.) with current tips on local cultural events is followed by an edition of the “Musical – Culinary” series about “Puccini and Lucca” (9.35 a.m.), which is expected to be based on the expected next festival broadcast, the opera cycle “Il Trittico ’, on a journey to the composer’s homeland.
“Andris Nelsons – star conductor without airs and graces” (10.25 a.m.)
Andris Nelsons is one of the conductors currently available worldwide. The press has dubbed him “a conductor in the fast lane” – given his stunning career, that’s probably true, though he never comes across as overbearing. The TV portrait of Carmen Belaschk traces the Latvian’s steep career: the musical beginnings in his native city of Riga, training as a trumpeter, his decision to conduct, his first position as chief conductor at the Latvian National Opera at the age of just 24 and his other stations. In 2020, Nelsons made his debut at the Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert, joining a list of important predecessors. At this year’s Salzburg Festival, he and the orchestra will interpret works by Béla Bartók and Gustav Mahler.
“Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic from the Great Festival Hall” (11.00 a.m.)
The Vienna Philharmonic has always set the musical standard for which the Salzburg Festival is renowned worldwide. They traditionally present five concert programs in Salzburg. The ORF live broadcast from the Großes Festspielhaus presents a top-class performance, which the festival management has placed under the theme “Time with Bartók”. With Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, the Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons and the Uzbekistan-born American-Israeli pianist Yefim Bronfman take on one of the most demanding works in concert literature. The composer himself premiered the work in 1933 in Frankfurt. It stands in the tradition of neoclassicism and reveals a clear affinity to the rhythm and counterpoint of Igor Stravinsky.
In the second part of the concert, this is contrasted with the 5th symphony composed by Gustav Mahler in Carinthia at the beginning of the 20th century. Today it is considered one of Mahler’s most famous and most frequently mentioned symphonies, although after its Hamburg premiere in 1905 it was met with incomprehension and prompted the composer to lament that his “Fifth” was cursed.
The work achieved great popularity through the extensive use of the Adagietto in the film “Death in Venice” by Luchino Visconti. The young Austrian Leopold Knötzl takes over the picture direction of the TV broadcast, as moderator Teresa Vogl accompanies the ORF audience through the top-class concert experience.