Salzburg Festival Blog 12 (3 Aug)
After last night’s late finish I am relieved there is no morning rehearsal. I do however have a lunchtime meeting with Roland Geyer (the Intendant of Teater an der Wien) for which I am late, thanks to the torrential rain and the consequent impressive queue on Neutorstrasse leading to the Moenchsberg garage. His charm and erudition shine through in his conversation as does his balanced view of life. We discuss our future projects as well as our families and the difficulties of work/life balance. It turns out that we have both at some point taken on a ‘rescue’ dog and we share our satisfaction in giving an improved life to animals who previously had wretched ones.
After this I rehearse the Mozarteum Orchestra in the C minor Mass. Our orchestra plays this piece every year in St.Peter’s Church (it’s original performance venue) in a concert promoted by the Stiftung Mozarteum within the Salzburg Festival. The choir and soloists change according to availability. The orchestra probably knows this piece as well as any orchestra on earth (as with so much of the Mozart repertoire-operatic or symphonic). The playing is refined and purposeful and our ‘natural’ brass instruments (especially the trombones led by the masterful Bernard Jauch) are especially impressive. These parts – so often doubling virtuosically the choir lines – as was common in the Salzburg Church – music tradition – are treacherously difficult!
I return home to mark some parts for later concerts.