Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-02
LETTER FROM SALZBURG
Mozart Festival Offers
Rore Go|oxy Of Talent
By CONSTANCE MELLEN

SUMMER OdlIDuEB FESTIVAL,
lying at the geographic heart
of the Mozart year, has a
heightened significance; and
the directors, fully aware of
their responsibilities, have
gathered together an impress
sive array Of Europe's best
talent for their big schedule.
The six Mozart operas and the
concerts of the Vienna Phil
harmonic leach conducted by
q different maestro) form
the usual framework on which
are festooned infinite chamber
music concerts, lieder and in
strumental recitals. and sere-
nades.
America is represented by
the City Centre Ballet. The
day the company arrived,
shepherded by Balanchine,
USIS put on a very entertain
ing press reception, a la Salz-
burg, In their honor. Then Of
course there is the everpresent
rEveryman" which some still
consider the real touchstone
of the festival.
Sell Conducts Ably
Casts and conductors for the
operas were firmly set months
ago and the old trouble with
carefree primadonnas who gave
out at the last moment has
been abolished. die Entfue-
hrung aus dem Serail'' was
performed in the suitably small
Landestheater and ably con-
Quoted by George Sell, who is
q wonderful man with Mozart
when he does not detach him
self too much from the singers.
He has a high sense of drama
tic structure and a liking for
lively sustained tempt.
The towering baSso Kurt
Boehme rather dominated the
cast with his representation of
Osmin as a Falstaffian bon
vivant, and his voice was as
opulent as his person.
The German soprano Erika
Koeth sang Konstanze with a
trembling intensity and pro-
duced a quantity of beautiful
sound; her voice showed great
f1exibility in the coloratura
passages.
Lisa Otto (Blonde) has a
voice with a fine sweet, light
quality, and Scotsman Muir
ray Dickie's excellent voice
conveys the same kind of nom
chalance and ease.
The only disappointment
was the German tenor Ru-
dolph Schock, whose voice is
so promising on records. In
this performance it sounded
grey. woolly and choked.
Under Sells baton the
"Entfuehrung" music was so
fresh, its ensembles so GEM
like, that 1t was like newly
discovered Mozart, and the
listener was struck by it's close
kinship with Magic Flute"
"IdOmeneO" Well Done
"Idomeneo" was produced for
the January festival week, and
thus is the latest of the OPP
cratic productions. It was we'll
done, with an excellent cast
including Christ Goltz. Kurt
Boehme and Rudolph Schock
who in the role of Idomeneo
far surpassed his singing Of
Belmonte in "Entfuehrung."
Miss Goltz' feeling for move
ment atoned for the metallic
quality Of her voice.
The static Handelian pat
tern Of the opera is so often
interrupted by limitations of
things to come that It is a con-
slant surprise, and the great
quartet has an emotional in
tensity that suggests Verdi.
The singing Of the choruses
was magnificent and the mo-
ment when Idomeneo drags
himself from the sea over the
edge Of the bare stage Is one
OF the most extraordinary of
an Mozart's creations.
i A Dampened DON
IN reviving the 1854 produce
ton Of Don Giovanni" the
FESTIVAL was following its pol
icy Of making the 1856 Fes-
.tival q resume Of recent years.
Clemens Holzmeister's all-pur-
pose setting and Herbert Crafts
stage direction have been
heavily criticized, according to
rumor. and I think with JUS
tice.
The difficulties Of Settig the
vast arcaded Rocky Riding
School are formidable, but Ko-
koschka's setting for Magic
Flute" was clear. simple and
workable, whereas Holbmeis-
ter's for Giovanni" was as
cluttered as grandmother's
attic: a sad dark brown tumble
Of facades, columns and ter
races. A number Of doors and
at least four staircases made
so many entrance and exit