Salzburg Festival: Opening Concert 2009

Synopsis

The opening of the Salzburg Festival, for many regarded as the world's most renowned music festival, is by tradition a high-profile event. In 2009,this first concert given by the Wiener Philharmoniker was conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The program is, in honor of the 80th birthday of the great Austrian conductor (6 Dec. 2009), a purely Austrian. Though it may seem unusual at first glance, under Harnoncourt's direction, the disparate works fuse into a moving, slightly melancholy portrait of the Viennese dance in the early 19th century. The concert opens with Anton Webern's delicate orchestration of Schubert's "Six German Dances," which segue into two polkas and a waltz by Josef Strauß, the younger – and bolder – composer brother of "Walzerkönig" Johann Strauß Jr. With this alternation of bittersweet and brassy dances, the stage is set for Harnoncourt's staggering reading of Schubert's "Great" C major Symphony, in which the dance of death – so Viennese yet so universal – seems to have served as the composer's model. This concert adds a new milestone to UNITEL CLASSICA's longtime partnership with the Salzburg Festival, as well as with Harnoncourt and the Wiener Philharmoniker.

Additional Info

• No: A045005540000
• Composer: Franz Schubert, Anton von Webern, Josef Strauß
• Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
• Orchestra: Wiener Philharmoniker
• Production year: 2009
• Run time: 01:35:00
• Director: Michael Beyer
• Producers: ORF for UNITEL in co-production with ZDF/Arte in cooperation with Salzburg Festival and CLASSICA
• Format: HDTV