Summer Night Concert, Schonbrunn 2010

ウィーン国立歌劇場のシェフとなるウェルザー＝メスト
ひと足早いお披露目コンサートは麗しきシェーンブルン宮殿から！
2010年秋のシーズンから小澤征爾の後任としてウィーン国立歌劇場の音楽監督に就任するウェルザー＝メスト。2011年のニューイヤー・コンサートの指揮台に立つ事も決定し、今後の活躍に期待が高まるウェルザー＝メストのウィーン・フィルとの演奏を世界にアピールする第1弾が、6月8日にシェーンブルン宮庭園で行われる当コンサートとなります。コンサートのテーマは『宇宙』ということで、月―星―地球にまつわる選曲がされました。世界遺産に登録される美しきシェーンブルンのバロック庭園に15000人の聴衆が集まる壮麗なコンサートの模様は、世界60カ国でTV放映が予定されており、ニューイヤーコンサートさながらのラッシュリリースでドイツ・グラモフォンよりCD＆DVDの2種でリリースいたします。
ユニバーサル ミュージック/IMS

Perhaps in search of a second revenue stream to complement its hugely popular New Year's Eve extravaganzas, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra here offers an outdoors "Summer Night Concert" performed in the gardens of Vienna's stolid Schonbrunn castle, with a Moon, Planets, Stars theme. Deutsche Grammophon's designers get points for the nice line drawing of the castle, placed in front of van Gogh's Starry Night. The idea of the concert, according to the booklet notes, came from none other than Seiji Ozawa, but after his health problems worsened the podium was filled by Franz Welser-Most. The program contains just about the music you would expect, but there are a couple of noteworthy historical points. Performances of John Williams' Star Wars music are certainly not restricted to North America, but this recording marks the first time the score, or any music by Williams for that matter, has been performed by the august Vienna Philharmonic. Williams' monumental, rather impersonal style plays to Welser-Most's strengths, and the audience, whose applause is included, seems to warm to Williams in its reserved Viennese way. The other VPO premiere, oddly enough, is Joseph Lanner's waltz Abendsterne, Op. 180 (Evening Stars), and this decidedly is not an ideal Welser-Most vehicle; it lacks any spark of swing or fun. In general the recording offers a pleasant hour in the warm Viennese summer night, with a terrestrial interlude in the form of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Paganini Etude No. 2, performed with appropriate brilliance by Yefim Bronfman. Welser-Most the technician shines in Holst's "Mars," the Bringer of War, from The Planets, less so in the smaller orchestral pieces on hand. The sound is decent but clipped in its higher ranges, presumably to dampen the ambient noise. Nothing really stands out here, but the many buyers who enjoy this kind of recording won't be disappointed. The booklet notes are in English, German, and French, and it's always interesting to take note of rogue translators: VPO chair Clemens Hellsberg's original German introduction and the English translation by Stewart Spencer both characterize Williams as "the most successful film composer of the present day," but in the French of Daniel Fesquet he earns notice merely as "celebre compositeur de musique de films" (celebrated composer of film music).

6月8日にシェーンブルン宮殿庭園で公演されたばかりの、メスト＆ウィーン・フィルによるライヴ録音。メストは、小澤征爾の後任として秋からウィーン国立歌劇場の音楽監督に就任。早々と第一弾がリリースされた事に驚きを隠せないが、その壮大な演目に注目してもらいたい。今回の演奏会のテーマは、〈宇宙〉。まさか第1曲に、スター・ウォーズを演奏するとは、その洒落た演出に、今後の演奏に期待を持つのは私だけでないはず。ＤＶＤもリリースされているので、映像でも楽しんでいただきたい。
intoxicate (C)飛田陽海