SALZBURG, Austria — In Salzburg, the bells still toll for Mozart, but the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plays Beethoven.
Just a few cobblestone streets from the house where classical music’s impish patron saint was born sits the imposing Grosses Festspielhaus. It’s one of the concert venues of the Salzburg Festival, perhaps the world’s most prestigious orchestral and operatic festival. Listeners from all over Europe and the world attend to take in performances from the likes of the Vienna and Berlin philharmonic orchestras as well as the beauty and history of the city.
On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra delivered the festival’s grand finale after a banner summer that saw listeners return in pre-pandemic numbers. This was the orchestra’s crowning stop on its ongoing $2.5 million, nine-city European tour, a pilgrimage intended to bolster the orchestra and city’s international reputation.
The orchestra spent less than 24 hours in Salzburg before jetting off to its next stop. Alas, many of the street food vendors in the nearby plaza had already left as the festival wrapped up — a culinary travesty for our musicians (and critic).
Nevertheless the meat of the program, Mahler’s first symphony, delighted with its vigor. The orchestra has played this music many times this tour, and each concert is slightly different. At the Grosses Festspielhaus — a resonant hall that envelopes listeners with a plush “cushion” of sound — the third movement proved particularly enchanting. A jovial klezmer tune interrupts a sonorous, funereal version of the children’s tune “Frere Jacques,” a bit like one’s tipsy, jolly aunt accidentally wandering into a wake in the next room. More than once.
“It’s the American orchestra with the most European sound,” said Florian Weigand, the festival’s director of concerts and media, in our pre-concert chat.
Twenty years ago, Weigand earned a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and worked for the Pittsburgh Symphony.
“When Mozart walked here, it looked pretty much like it does today,” he said. “The city was already ancient then.”
That history is palpable as you wander among Salzburg’s churches, alleys and castles with the Alps visible in the distance.
The festival itself, which operates with a nearly 70 million euro budget, feels appropriately grand as well. The 2,000-seat hall was completely sold out Wednesday and even Pittsburgh’s musicians struggled to find additional tickets for international friends or former students. Security was tight; a ticket required an ID check. Tickets were pricey, up to 230 euros (nearly $229). That’s almost three times the price of a typical Berlin Philharmonic ticket.
The concert began with a transparent opener, Ligeti’s “Lontano,” a melody-less meditation on different instrumental combinations. Then, star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter took to the stage for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. The Pittsburgh orchestra distinguished itself with its grace and delicacy, brilliantly matching Mutter’s style throughout.
Personally, I found Mutter’s interpretation of the concerto overly lyrical, even indulgent. Her playing was so relaxed at times as to come off emotionally flat — beautiful, but without drive. This is purely a matter of taste, as I prefer more spunk and determination in the concerto’s opening movement. The same was true Tuesday in the concert hall in Essen, Germany, where the orchestra delivered an identical program.
The PSO is the only American orchestra to perform in Salzburg this year. That and its position on the schedule as festival closer are significant honors, as both the orchestra and festival administration pointed out.
Weigand said that while he appreciated U.S. orchestras bringing music by American composers to Europe, music director Manfred Honeck’s particular skill and reputation with Beethoven and Mahler led to a consensus regarding the concert program. This is the music Pittsburgh’s symphony is internationally renowned for.
Wednesday’s performance received an unusually explosive and sustained ovation. High praise indeed from one of music’s most holy cities.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra next performs Thursday in Dresden, Germany.
Jeremy Reynolds: jreynolds@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1634; twitter: @Reynolds_PG. His work at the Post-Gazette is supported in part by a grant from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Getty Foundation and Rubin Institute.
First Published: September 1, 2022, 3:43 p.m.
Updated: September 1, 2022, 3:50 p.m.
