In the Mahler an­niversary year 2011 Pierre Boulez, the ‘grand­sei­gneur of subtle min­im­al­ism and ex­quis­itely be­guil­ing sounds’ (Der Stand­ard), was giv­en the hon­or of con­duct­ing this year’s tra­di­tion­al open­ing con­cert of the Wien­er Phil­har­monik­er at the Salzburg Fest­iv­al.

As a trib­ute to the com­poser, the con­cert cen­ters around Mahler’s ‘Das kla­gende Lied’ and be­gins with two works by his pu­pil and ad­mirer Al­ban Berg. The first, the ‘Lulu Suite’ of 1934, is com­piled from Berg’s un­fin­ished op­era of the same name and con­tains mu­sic for the tra­gic temp­tress. The sop­rano part of the ‘Lulu Suite’ is sung by ‘dazzling’ (Der Stand­ard) and ‘sen­sa­tion­al’ (Die Presse) young Brit­ish-Aus­tri­an sop­rano Anna Pro­haska, while Dorothea Röschmann de­liv­ers a ‘mas­ter­ful in­ter­pret­a­tion’ (Die Presse) of Berg’s con­cert aria ‘Der Wein’.

Alban Berg
Lulu Suite - Sym­phon­ic Pieces from the Op­era Lulu for Col­oratura Sop­rano and Or­ches­tra

Alban Berg
Der Wein - Con­cert Aria for Sop­rano and Or­ches­tra

Gustav Mahler
Das kla­gende Lied - for Solo Voices, Mixed Choir and Or­ches­tra (1898/99 Ver­sion)

Anna Pro­haska, sop­rano
Dorothea Röschmann, sop­rano
Anna Lar­son, alto
Jo­han Botha, ten­or
Konzer­tver­ein­i­gung Wien­er Staat­so­per­n­chor
Jörn H. An­dresen, chor­us mas­ter
Wien­er Phil­har­monik­er
Pierre Boulez, con­duct­or