Sommernachtskonzert Schönbrunn 2024
[Summer Night Concert, Schönbrunn Palace, 2024]
Lise Davidsen (soprano)
Wiener Philharmoniker/Andris Nelsons
rec. live, 7 June 2024, Schloss Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria
Booklet with notes in German and English
Sony Classical CD 19802812502 [68]
For twenty years now, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has given a filmed summer evening concert in the park of Schönbrunn Palace, always with a programme of shorter pieces or extracts, some with a vocal or instrumental soloist. CDs and DVDs of these occasions have usually appeared later in the year. Andris Nelsons had conducted one earlier Sommernachtskonzert, but his soloist in 2024, star Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, was making her debut with the orchestra. Her three arias, by Wagner, Verdi and Kálmán, widely separated, are among the highlights of the programme.
Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries announces the orchestra as one of high pedigree, even though the score’s added verbal request for the correct stress is not always observed. In John Culshaw’s handy formulation, the correct stress of the theme is “I’m sick on a see-saw, sick on a see-saw, sick on a see-saw, sick on a swing”, but the main stress often falls instead on the ‘see’. One also always misses the Valkyrie voices in the middle section. Wagner’s Dich, teure Halle from Tannhäuser fares much better. It has been a calling card for Lise Davidsen, her voice well up to Heldensopran power and clarity.
Smetana’s bicentenary fell in 2024. Next, we have his best known work, The Moldau, the famous tune elegantly turned by the VPO. There follow two operatic extracts. The Dance of the Comedians from The Bartered Bride is especially welcome. The principal trumpet is excellent in its middle section.
The dramatic temperature rises considerably with the next item, the superb Overture to Verdi’s La forza del destino. From the minatory opening brass fanfare, Andris Nelsons sounds very engaged by the drama, and one ends up wishing for the curtain to rise on a staged production, ideally one with these players in the pit. We cannot have that, but to hear Leonora’s Act Four aria Pace, pace mio Dio!, which quotes the Overture at the outset, might be the next best thing. Lise Davidsen sings it with exquisite poise, her usual weight of tone moderated very expressively.
Augusta Holmès’s Ludus pro patria [Patriot Games] is a symphonic ode for narrator, chorus and orchestra from 1888. La nuit et l’amour [night and love] is an instrumental episode sometimes heard as a standalone piece, especially in France. It is an effective piece and nicely played, but does not increase one’s curiosity to hear the whole work.
There follow two Russian favourites, equally splendid but quite different. Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance from his ballet Gayane is given with all the fire it requires. The insouciant Waltz No 2 from Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra has great charm, as ever.
There were two encores. Emmerich Kálmán’s aria Heia, in den Bergen is a very lively item. Davidsen’s splendid singing earns a cheer from the audience. The final item was ideal for the occasion, the city and the orchestra: Johann Strauss II’s waltz Wiener Blut [Vienna blood], a mature work, his Opus 354 (!). The VPO are excellent throughout, but it is hard not to feel that this in particular is their party piece. Indeed, its 1873 premiere led by the composer was given by the Vienna Philharmonic in its Musikverein home, the first time Strauss had conducted the orchestra.
The sound is very good, given this is live and outdoors. The booklet notes are useful, but there are no texts or translations for the vocal numbers. This is a valuable souvenir of a very enjoyable concert, but not only those who were there will be pleased – surely most music lovers will.
Roy Westbrook
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Contents
Wagner: Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries
Wagner: “Dich, teure Halle” (from Tannhäuser)*
Smetana: Má Vlast: Vltava
Smetana: The Two Widows: Polka
Smetana: The Bartered Bride: Skočná – Dance of the Comedians
Verdi: La forza del destino Overture
Verdi: “Pace, pace mio Dio!” (from La forza del destino)*
Augusta Holmès: Ludus pro Patria: La Nuit et l’Amour
Khachaturian: Sabre Dance from Gayane
Shostakovich: Jazz Suite No 2: No 4 Waltz II
Emmerich Kálmán: “Heia, in den Bergen” from Die Csárdásfürstin*
Strauss, J, II: Wiener Blut Waltz, Op 354
* Lise Davidsen (soprano)
