cultural
In Grafenegg, the penultimate festival weekend came to an end with the Austrian premiere of the 2nd violin concerto by Georg Friedrich Haas, this year’s composer in residence – according to APA criticism, a “rainy ghost train ride”.
“How you do it can be wrong,” writes APA culture editor Ewald Baringer. The brilliant performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony” with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) under Simon Rattle had been moved to the auditorium the previous evening due to the bad weather forecast – which did not materialize – the decision was made the next day to hold the concert in the cloud tower, despite the light rain . Not an ideal starting point for Haas’ demanding and complex work, when the audience is busy for minutes putting on their rain skins and then anxiously watching the sky.
Tonkunstler mastered the challenge “with flying colours”
In a preliminary talk with the music journalist Oliver Lang, Haas explained that his composing is an expression of personal traumata, and that listeners can in turn find their own traumata in his works. This helps to understand, because the use of sound surfaces and microtonality in this case certainly evokes associations with ghost train rides through a startled inner life. The Tonkunstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, conducted by Baldur Brönnimann, rose to the challenge with bravura, the violinist Miranda Cuckson, who also played the solo part at the 2017 premiere in Tokyo, impressed with her virtuoso commitment.
Just as the rain had let up for the break, the move to the auditorium was announced and the partially ecstatic audience was invited to a glass of wine. Robert Schumann’s 4th symphony ended a turbulent day that had begun with a chamber music matinee: Rudolf Buchbinder and four LSO members had enjoyed the morning with piano quintets by Schumann and Antonin Dvorak.