Sommernacht with the Vienna Philharmonic, 2026
This is the traditional VPO concert at Schönbrunn, conducted in 2026 by Lorenzo Viotti and with bass-baritone Bryn Terfel as guest. It took place on June 19, 2026.
As the title of the accompanying booklet essay suggests, the programme is wide-ranging: "Devils, Gods, anti-heroes, and a whole lot of love". This was Viotti's first concert of this ilk; Terfel is something of a regular with the orchresstra.
The first piece is Suppé, what we know as Light Cavalry (Leichte Kavallerie); this is a staggering performance in that it is just so uteterly convincing. Suppé's orchestratoi, which can appear on teh light side, is just so; tempi are perfect:
The spirit of operetta is in full Summer bloom here. The booklet notes are worth reading, too - pointing out that the overtire became the goal anthem of the German football team Eintracht Frankfurt, and even teh basis of a song from Frank Zappa's album Broadway the Hard Way, "Jesus thinks you're a jerk":
An aria from Boito's Mefistofele is the perfect choice for Terfel. High time we had a staging of Mefistofele again in the UK - I seem to remember ENO did it, but decades ago. Terfel is characteristically of huge presence. This is vivid, dramatic music in a vivid, dramatic performance:. This doesn't appear to be on YouTube, so here's an alternative live performance by Terfel to give you an idea. It leads perfectly on to the eht-Romantic Intermezzo from Puccini's Manon Lescaut, beautifully shaped:
Falstaff is one of Terfel's siuignature roles - maybe the signature role. Live he is extraordinary (see here for excerpts in Lerici, Italy, and here for Covent Garden, 2019) - and he lives "Eh1 Paggio! - L'onore! Ladri!". A nice link, of course, is that the librettist of Falstaff is one Boito!:
This is an extraordinary performance, full of energy. Tchaikovsky's "trepak" from Nutcracker fiizzes along, a Russian Suppé here, frothy, glorious, before on eof Florence Price's most famous pieces, Adoration. This has been arranged for a multitude of solo instruments but we hear it here in a string orchestra version by Elaine Fine (it was originally for organ dating from 1951, and was discovered as recently as 2009).
Korngold's 1954 Straussiana takes in Neue Pizzicato-Polka, a "Polka française" Bitte schón! (Cagliostro in Wien), and a waltz from Ritter Pásmán. This is the first time teh VPO has performed this, despite Korngold's links with the orchestra (he conducted them several times in the interwar years). The lusher textures make for a nice contrast to the "pure Vienna" Suppé:
It is quite a way to the end of Wagner's Rheingold, the Vienna horns magnificently creamy in "Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge". Perhaps it is is a touch too luxurious, but the sense of wonder remains, and Terfel's "So grüß ich die Berg" is magisterial. I don't like the cut, though after "whone mit mir":
Massenet's "Méditation" from Thaīs features Albina Danailova as solo violin; Viotti keeps it moving, and so avoids sentimentality. It segues nicely into the second suite from Ravel's Daphnis, which includes a stunning "Daybreak," the "Pantomime" in which Daphnis and Chloé become Pan and Syrinx and the cacophonous final "General Dance" - here heard with a real sense of abandon and yet such detail
Terfel as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof is a joy, with some of the lyrics adapted to be place-specific!:
Abreu's Tico-Tico no fuba is the first encore, as riotous as the VPO ever gets before returning to hime turf with a soufflé-light Wiener-Blut. As one might expect, this could hardly be bettered except by the VPO themselves on one of the many New Year's Day concerts:
This disc is available at Amazon here at a very reasonable £12.58. Streaming below:
