Susanna Mälkki makes Vienna Opera debut

Susanna Mälkki makes Vienna Opera debut

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norman lebrecht

March 05, 2018

Given her predilection for cutting-edge contemporary, her Vienna debut opera is rather retro.

Gottfried von Einem’s Dantons Tod will celebrate its première in a new production by Josef Ernst Köpplinger at the Wiener Staatsoper on Saturday, 24th March 2018. To celebrate the 100th birthday of the composer, the work with which he achieved his international breakthrough at the Salzburg Festival in 1947 will return to the Wiener Staatsoper….

In an interview for the State Opera magazine “Prolog” Mälkki describes von Einem’s style: “He was very assured of what we would call “style” and saw it as a crucial element of composition […] In this opera, he introduces a French sound, followed by dramatic and abstract ideas. He doesn’t simply combine these however, in order to create variety, rather it is important for the development of the drama. […] Danton is a piece of theatre in the best possible sense. He simply has a feeling for cause and effect, for theatre itself.”

 

Comments

  • Rich C. says:

    Though there is a sixteen year age difference, who is the hotter looking conductor, Susanna or Mirga? (Typical male question, centering on looks)

    • BG says:

      It’s dickheads like you who give the rest of us a bad name. Quit thinking with your genitals and ask the question who does better Beethoven/Mahler/Mozart/Brahms.. Moron.

      • Rich C. says:

        Mahler, he had the hotter wife. Is that enough of a moronic answer for you PC sensibilities?

      • Peter says:

        Yawn. Rich’s post is trolling in the traditional sense: posting deliberately ridiculous comments, then triumphantly claiming to be persecuted when the ridiculousness is pointed out.

        Nothing useful comes from engaging with such people.

  • Siegfried Bassoon says:

    There’s no competition.

  • anon says:

    Does Malkki really like this retro/nostalgic crap (it was retro and nostalgic even in the 1940s) or is she being pigeonholed by management into conducting stuff no one wants to touch?

    Reminds me of the Life cereal commercial, in which the brothers push a bowl of cereal they don’t want to eat to their little brother:

    “Let’s get Malkki. She likes it! Hey, Malkki!”

    • Max Grimm says:

      I know she’s conducted works by von Einem in the past and is set to do so again (outside of Vienna).
      As for why she’s making her debut with ‘Dantons Tod’, I guess it’s a combination of her having conducted his music in the past and some Vienna institutions having scheduled performances and exhibits for Gottfried von Einem’s centennial this year.

  • Isabel Trautwein says:

    Mälkki is a fabulous conductor, quickly gaining the respect of audiences and the musicians of major orchestras world-wide. What is the point of focusing on her gender?

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