Alban Berg (1885-1935)
Violin Concerto (1935)
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 4 in G major (1901)
Augustin Hadelich (violin); Christiane Karg (soprano)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Andris Nelsons
rec. 2023 Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg
Unitel 770008 DVD [109]

I was utterly smitten by Berg’s Violin Concerto when I first heard it as a sixth-form student, but the same cannot be said for most of my classmates. The opening, where the soloist simply passes over the violin’s four open strings, was received in polite silence, but each successive phrase provoked muttered comments, and even, in one case, guffaws. Many fine recorded performances have come my way over the years since then, but truth to tell, I have remained faithful to those from which I got to know the work, by two peerless and profoundly musical violinists, Arthur Grumiaux and Josef Suk. Augustin Hadelich’s live performance from the 2023 Salzburg Festival was my first encounter with the work for several years.

The work is presented here, as is often the case, as Violin Concerto, ‘To the Memory of an Angel’, but those words are present in the score as a dedication and are not part of the title. The angel in question was Manon Gropius, the daughter of Gustav Mahler’s widow, Alma, and her second husband, the architect Walter Gropius. Alma had four children in all, three of whom predeceased her: Manon was 18 when she died of polio. One accepted interpretation of the work is that the first movement is her portrait, elegant, sweet and tender. The first part of the second movement, though, is violent and grossly dissonant, representing the tragedy and the bitter pain that followed. These performers pull no punches in this passage, the harshness and anger in the music dramatically brought out and emphasised. Hadelich plays with stunning virtuosity and painful concentration that spills over into the unforgiving cadenza passage. Then, as the climax winds down, we hear the first four notes of the Bach chorale ‘Es ist genug’. One of my teachers once described this moment as ‘sick’. Perhaps he was right: not everyone is comfortable with the way Berg juxtaposes Bach’s harmonisation with a rich, ripe late romantic treatment. Hadelich turns to the first violins for the passage in which, little by little, they join in to play in unison with him. This is very moving to see. Many will find much of this too slow: indeed, the passage that begins when the harp intones the chorale tune almost comes to a standstill. But a live performance as committed as this one confounds most doubts. Both soloist and conductor stay immobile after the final note, but this is followed by a vociferous reception from the audience which the orchestra is clearly willing to share. As an encore Hadelich treats us to an unaccompanied Bach slow movement allowing us further to appreciate the extreme beauty of his sound. He has the audience in the palm of his hand.

If purchasing a film of an opera seems a perfectly logical thing to do, there is perhaps less reason to watch a filmed concert when one can easily listen to an audio-only recording. For many it will serve as a reminder of a particularly memorable occasion at which we were present. I can think of many concerts I would love to see on film, even many years after the event. Tickets for a concert at the Salzburg Festival will be, sadly, beyond the reach of most of us, so this film allows us to be present, albeit vicariously. If I find the Berg particularly striking, the symphony is given a more conventional performance, and having viewed it twice now I think it unlikely that it will be my choice the next time I want to hear Mahler’s 4th. The finale is a setting of a folk text in which a child describes heaven; another angel, perhaps. The score specifies that the part is to be sung with ‘childlike and cheerful expression’ but, crucially, ‘entirely without parody’. This presents the singer with a huge challenge. The utmost purity of line and subtle use of vibrato is absolutely essential, and an adult soprano can only succeed up to a point. (Bernstein’s experiment with a boy treble, did not fare well either.) Christiane Karg, whose operatic repertoire features a lot of Mozart and other roles requiring a lighter voice, does very well, using body language as well as her voice to convey the message. But going back to audio-only performances, I feel that Mojca Erdmann for Jonathan Nott (2006, Tudor) is marginally more successful, and further back in recorded music time – and with larger voices – I also feel the same about Felicity Lott for Franz Welser-Möst (1988, EMI) and the wonderful Margaret Price for Jascha Horenstein (1970, EMI). Perhaps the finest of all, and the most effortlessly childlike, is Miah Persson with the magnificent Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer, recorded for Channel Classics in 2008.

At Salzburg, a violinist flashes a smile at colleagues as early as the fifth bar as they negotiate the delightful first subject of the opening movement. There is a lot of contrast in this movement, from an intensely tender cello-led second theme to several exciting climaxes, notably the principal one that ends with a tam-tam crash. The short coda, very drawn out at the beginning and quickly rising to a rousing finish, is typical of the performance as a whole. I have never seen Nelsons in concert, but have sometimes found his conducting style distracting on film. Not here, though: his movements are economical and precise, perfectly conveying what he wants from these superb players.

The second movement requires the leader to play on a violin that is tuned one tone higher than usual, an effect that subtly but noticeably changes the tone quality. His interpretation of the important solo part features exaggerated accents and attack the more to convey the harsh atmosphere the composer surely intended. Towards the end of the movement he retrieves his other violin from the chair in front of him and immediately adopts a more flowing, singing style. Before a note of the slow movement has been played Nelsons has already used stillness and facial expression to establish a rapt, tranquil mood. This pays off in the profoundly moving playing of the opening passage. He is masterly in this movement, the many changes of mood perfectly managed, the one short, very rapid passage included. Some of the transitions are arguably too drawn out, particularly for repeated listening, but as a live performance it works very well, and the movement closes in extreme stillness without resorting to an excessively slow tempo. The finale is played without a break, thus establishing the new atmosphere without destroying the old, as the child’s version of heaven is revealed to us.

The film begins with a pretty view over Salzburg, complete with distant traffic noise and bells. The concert was given in front of a full house, and the audience’s thunderous and prolonged applause leads us to think that they went home very satisfied. Rightly so. It has been sensitively filmed, with no gimmicks. The camera is almost always where your ears want it to be and the sound is excellent.

William Hedley

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Video Details
Picture format: NTSC, 1080i/16:9; Sound format: PCM Stereo/DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Sung in German. Subtitles: German, English, Korean, Japanese