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Rands, Cerha, Weill and Janáček at Salzburg Festival

Jun. 28, 2011

Following its acclaimed world premiere with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in May, Bernard Rands’ most recent orchestral work Danza Petrificada goes on the road with the CSO this summer throughout Europe. Riccardo Muti and the orchestra present the work at the Salzburg Festival on August 26, the Lucerne Festival on August 28, the Luxembourg Philharmonie on August 31, the Salle Pleyel in Paris on August 2, and the Musikverein of Vienna on September 5. John von Rhein wrote in the Chicago Tribune following the premiere in Chicago:

The composer… extracted the essence of sounds and rhythms common to Mexican music, filtered them through his sophisticated orchestral imagination and came up with a nine-minute gem of magical musical realism. Rands' scoring is laced with all manner of scraped and rattled percussion that give the ear a vivid feeling of place without his having to resort to picture-postcard quotation. I love the kaleidoscopic subtleties of this music, the sure sense of craft with which its colors and textures cohere, the insistent energy with which it carries one to its riotous close. Muti and the orchestra sounded fully invested in it, and Rands was present to share in the warm reception given it by audience and CSO members alike.

This year’s Salzburg Festival also features Leoš Janáček’s three-act opera The Makropulos Case in a new production on August 10, 13, 18, 25, and 30 directed by Christoph Marthaler and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

An evening of Weill songs entitled “Kurt Weill – Two Lives to Live,” will be performed by soprano Angela Denoke at the Salzburg Festival on August 17, with Tal Balshai on piano and Norbert Nagel on winds.

Finally, Friedrich Cerha’s eruptive Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra receives a performance at the hands of the magnificent young percussionist Martin Grubinger. John Axelrod leads the performance in the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg on August 23.

More on Bernard Rands can be found at www.schott-music.com.

Details on the music of Leoš Janáček and Friedrich Cerha can be found at www.universaledition.com.

Bernard Rands
Danza Petrificada (2010)
for orchestra
pic.3(3.afl).2.ca.Ebcl.3(3.bcl).2-4.3.2.btbn.1-timp.4perc-2hp.cel-str
9’

Friedrich Cerha
Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra (2007/2008)
pic.2(2.pic).2.2.bcl.ssax.2.cbsn-4.4.4.btba-2timp.4perc-hp.cel-str
35’

Leoš Janáček
The Makropulos Case
opera in three acts
libretto by the composer based on Karel Capek’s  Vec Makropulos
forsoprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, 4 tenors, baritone, bass-baritone, bass, operetta tenor, actor and TTBB chorus
4.3.ca.3.bcl.2.cbsn-4.3.3.1-timp.3perc-hp.cel-str
stage music: 2hn, 2tpt, timp
120’

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