Carnegie Hall: "Vienna: Window to Modernity" with Renée Fleming

This article was originally published on May 5, 2013

Last evening's recital, entitled Vienna: Window to Modernity, was an interesting look back at the work of number of composers based in Vienna in the late nineteenth century.  Aside from Ms. Fleming, the program also featured as accompanists both Jeremy Denk on piano and the Emerson String Quartet.

The program consisted primarily of lieder, of course, but also featured instrumental music: Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht and Brahms' Intermezzos in A and A minor, Op. 118.  The inclusion of Brahms was something of an anachronism.  Although the composer was in fact still alive and working in Vienna in the late 1800's (he died in 1897), his work could hardly be considered fin de siècle by any standard.  The Ophelia-Lieder were actually composed in 1873, though not published until 1935.  The later Intermezzos, though composed in 1892 - 1893, were thoroughly classical compositions and had little to do with the upheavals, both social and musical,  that were occurring throughout Europe at the dawn of the twentieth century.  The appearance of Brahms was made all the more striking by the complete absence of any works by Mahler.  This even though the program itself defined the work of Strauss and Mahler as the  "two aesthetic strains that co-existed in Vienna and together formed a bridge into a troubled 20th century."

Some of the composers whose works were featured were well known to the audience.  These included Strauss, Schoenberg, Webern and Wagner.  But other composers were more obscure.  Karl Weigl, Egon Wellesz and Eric Zeisl all were extremely talented but were destined to relative obscurity by the chaotic historical forces that would culminate in the two World Wars and transform the Vienna of the late 1800's into a milieu that would have been totally unrecognizable to the composers of that period.

The performance by Ms. Fleming was highly enjoyable, and it was fascinating to hear certain lieder accompanied by string quartet rather than piano.  The highlight of the recital came at the beginning of the second half in the performance of two of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Im Treibhaus and Träume, the latter of which would serve as the basis for the revolutionary music Wagner composed for Tristan und Isolde.