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| Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo Muti – Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg Pageant (Picture: SF/Marco Borelli) |
Schubert: Symphony No. 4 ‘Tragic’, Bruckner: Mass in F minor; Ying Fang, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Pavol Breslik, William Thomas, Konzertvereinignung Wiener Staatopenchor, Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti; Salzburg Pageant at Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg
Reviewed 15 August 2025
Below veteran conductor Riccardo Muti’s deft course the Vienna Philharmonic have been on kind in giant scale symphonic accounts of a youthful Schubert symphony and one among Bruckner’s nice plenty
For the Vienna Philharmonic‘s live performance on the Salzburg Pageant on the morning of 15 August (the Feast of the Assumption) they have been carried out by the apparently ageless (he’s 84) Riccardo Muti in Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 in C minor ‘Tragic’ and Bruckner’s Mass in F minor with soloists Ying Fang, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Pavol Breslik, William Thomas, and the Live performance Affiliation of the Vienna State Opera Refrain.
There may be some 50 years between the 2 works. Schubert’s symphony was written in 1816 (the composer was a mere 19) for a superb newbie orchestra but not extremely regarded by the composer and apparently unperformed till ten years after his loss of life. Bruckner’s mass was written in 1867/68 for Linz however the conductor discovered the mass too lengthy and unsingable and it needed to wait till 1872 for its premiere. Each are works in all probability written for comparatively compact forces but each have what we’d time period symphonic aspirations and Riccardo Muti’s large-scale method in each reaped dividends.
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| Bruckner: Mass in F minor – Ying Fang, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Pavol Breslik, William Thomas, Live performance affiliation of the Vienna State Opera Refrain, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo Muti – Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg Pageant (Picture: SF/Marco Borelli) |
We had a really conventional line-up for the Schubert with a big physique of strings and double woodwind, the steadiness thus favouring the strings however when the gamers are these of the Vienna Philharmonic, who’s complaining. This was not a small-scale account of the work but the sound by no means felt artificially inflated.
We started comparatively intimately, restrained but wealthy, taking you on a journey to the far perkier Allegro vivace. This was participating but with fierce element, with a energetic bounce but critical and intent, making a efficiency that was alive and pressing, with flashes of extra tragic motifs within the improvement.
The Andante started gracefully but intimate with the good thing about fine-grained string tone. There have been temporary touches of drama and it was fascinating to listen to Schubert bringing in moments of participating counterpoint. The Menuetto was most positively a rustic dance, sturdy rhythms to the fore, but with a pleasant swing to the trio. The Allegro finale was participating, but with a way of urgency and, maybe surprisingly, nervousness. The center part at moments of urgency but there was additionally a Rossini-like insouciance.
For Bruckner’s mass the refrain was the live performance arm of the Vienna State Opera Refrain with the stage filled with a wholesome variety of singers. Muti’s unashamedly symphonic method to this music introduced out Bruckner’s transcendent sense of scale. No matter Bruckner’s unique intentions have been, the refrain sound was that we’d count on within the Te Deum. Bruckner’s mass settings have been influenced by the Cecilian motion with its emphasis on directness and readability of phrases in musical settings. This chimed in with Bruckner’s symphonic preferences and right here, for a lot of the work, the refrain sang in homophonic blocks of sound enlivened by orchestral textures. That mentioned, the refrain’ diction was not fairly what it may have been.
There was a hyperlink with Schubert in that Bruckner’s use of his soloists was very very similar to a semi-chorus quite as Schubert did in his plenty. Right here, with the large-scale of the refrain Muti introduced out the contrasts of scale between refrain and soloists.
The Kyrie was sober, the choral phrases unfolding in a method that was leisurely but with an underlying fervency. The Gloria started vividly vigorous, the choir’s nearly trenchant strains enlivened by orchestral counterpoint. Tender solos from soprano Ying Fang and mezzo-soprano Wiebke Lehmkuhl solely served to emphasize the facility of the choral-orchestral contributions. This dichotomy continued by the motion until Bruckner introduced issues to a triumphant, fugal conclusion.
The opening sections of the Credo have been notable for the vigour of the choral contributions, the music trenchantly striding throughout the orchestra, the singers assured in affirming their message. There was a second of pure aural magic as Muti and Bruckner used the soli as an echo refrain on the phrases ‘Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine’. When the assured proclamation halted, Pavel Breslik’s radiant tenor made ‘Et incarnatus’ an intimate solo intertwining with the solo violin. The darkness of the male refrain at ‘et homo factus est’ led to some extremely welcome chromatic refrain writing, echoed by William Thomas’ intense bass solo. Vivid vigour and choral affirmation returned, with Muti making a positively symphonic really feel to the textures, although there have been moments of thriller and the entire of the concluding part of the Credo may very well be summed up by the phrase ‘triumph and thriller’.
The flippantly seductive orchestral textures initially of the Sanctus complemented the extra direct choral statements, resulting in a joyful Hosanna that includes acquainted modifications of scale between the soli and the total refrain.
As somebody acquainted primarily with Bruckner’s sacred motets and for whom his symphonies can appear considerably lengthy winded of their procedures, Bruckner’s reluctance to maneuver on or attain a conclusion on this music made you perceive why the mass may appear too lengthy. Actually, a Benedictus of this size could be liturgically inappropriate these days and possibly was so in Bruckner’s day. But clearly, the motion was felt by Bruckner to wish this amplitude to cope with the sacred. Actually it moved from the intimate and tender to one thing extra intense with some quasi-operatic singing from the soloists.
The Agnus Dei was surprisingly sober and intense with some beautiful contrasts within the repeated ‘Miserere nobis’ from the soli, till the ultimate chorus when richer textures led to a symphonic improvement that returned to a way of the transcendent.
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