Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Davide Penitente, Oratorio/Cantata K469 (1786)
Adagio and Fugue in C minor for Strings K546
Christiane Karg (soprano); Marianne Crebassa (mezzo); Stanislas De Barbeyrac (tenor)
Salzburger Bachchor
Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski
Horses and riders of the Académie équestre de Versailles
Director of Horse Dressage: Bartabas
rec. Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, Mozartwoche, January 2015
Video Director: Andy Sommer
Filmed in HD. Picture Format 1080i 16:9. Sound Formats PCM Stereo, DTS-HD MA 5.1.
Subtitles: Italian (original language), English, German, French, Japanese, Korean
C MAJOR Blu-ray 731704 [66:00 + bonus: 7:00]
This could go down as the most unusual performance of the
year as far as Mozart’s music is concerned, even allowing for the diversity
and not unusual abuses inflicted on his operas by various directors, not least
in Vienna. The picture on the front gives the clue, three riders seated on
three magnificent horses with the less obvious view of some of the arcades
hewn from the rock in the Felsenreitschule, Vienna. Originally built as a
riding school for an equestrian tradition that flourished during the Habsburg
Empire, the Felsenreitschule is now the home for some of the Salzburg Festival's
opera productions.
In this performance, filmed during the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation Week
in January 2015, Mozart's music is associated with the movement of
mounted horses from the Académie équestre de Versailles choreographed by its
Director, Bartabas, who appears, cloaked, astride a magnificent stallion in
the first two items. Although taking the title from Mozart’s Oratorio
Davide (Davidde) Penitente the programme involves
other items. The first is The March of the Priests from Die Zauberflöte,
K620, (Ch.2) and the second the Masonic Funeral Music, K477, (Ch.3).
For his Davide Penitente Mozart used the music of an earlier uncompleted
Mass, adding aria solos (Chs. 6, 9 and 12), a duet for female voices (Ch.
8) and a trio for three singers (Ch. 13) intermingled with the choral parts
from the mass. Also added here is the Andante from Symphony in C
(K96). The equestrianism is not of the Olympic type, or that sometimes seen
in the offerings from the Spanish Riding School during New Year’s Day
concerts from Vienna involving Lippizaners performing in the Imperial Hofburg
palace. The dressage is choreographed by Bartabas to match the music, much
as in classical ballet, rather than to display horse-and-rider skills and
near-acrobatics. Bartabas has a bonus solo to the Adagio and Fugue
in C minor for Strings K546.
At the end of the day, it is Mozart’s rarely performed music that is
the focus. Under Minkowski the composer is properly served except for a couple
of mis-co-ordinations that were probably due to the separation of the chorus
and musicians in the arcades. The creamy-voiced mezzo Marianne Crebassa sings
with warmth and clarity in her solos (Chs.6 and 12) and the trio (Ch.13) and
contributes with taste to the duet with soprano Christiane Karg (Ch.8). The
tenor, Stanislas De Barbeyrac sings with pleasing open tone and graceful phrasing
whilst Christiane Karg sings with clarity and vocal grace in the trio.
If you can listen, as I did, a second time round, to Mozart’s music
without concentrating on the graceful elegance of the equestrianism, I also
suggest that you take in the five minutes of applause from the enthusiastic
audience. This allows you to see the tiers of the audience and the sand-covered
stage as well as the arcades in all their glory.
Robert J Farr
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