Rheingau Music Festival gets classical music fans singing
A nearly four-meter-tall double bass in the orchestra, a Lithuanian accordionist who enjoys playing at lofty heights, or a South African cellist who gets the audience singing. The Rheingau Music Festival presents special people in special places. "The spaces are an integral part of our culture," Managing Director Marsilius von Ingelheim told DW. "We bring unique concert experiences to historic and modern venues in the region."
The region is the wine-growing area of the Rheingau region of Hesse. Among the historic sites is the medieval Eberbach Abbey, where the festival opens every summer. The abbey became known worldwide in 1986 through the film adaptation of Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose." The Rheingau Music Festival is one of the largest festivals in Europe, featuring stars and young talents, primarily from classical music, but also from jazz, pop, and world music.
The Eberbach Basilica, with its thick monastery walls, is ideal for large orchestras and powerful voices. The opening performance of the St. Cecilia Mass by the French composer Charles Gounod from 1855 sounded particularly pompous. The audience was impressed by the MDR Radio Choir and the Hessian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which traditionally opens the Rheingau Music Festival. "The church has a long reverberation, which isn't easy for the orchestra, but it's fitting for Gounod's church works," the orchestra's director, Alain Altinoglu, told DW. "The reverberation is difficult for the violinist, who plays fast, virtuoso pieces; the acoustics are a challenge."
Armenian violinist Diana Adamyan opened the concert with Spanish music, including works by Pablo de Sarasate and film composer Franz Waxman. Adamyan quickly adapted to the reverberation. "I felt like the walls were absorbing the music," she told DW. "It was as if the entire basilica was vibrating and dancing with us. A wonderful feeling." Adamyan captivated the audience with her delicate, virtuoso tones in the highest registers. Spain and dance in music are two of the festival's main themes this year.
The special double bassIn Gounod's Mass for St. Cecilia, a huge double bass protruded from the orchestra. The so-called "octobass" was constructed by the French violin maker Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in the mid-19th century for the composer Hector Berlioz.
For his "Te Deum," he was looking for a particularly deep instrument. The octobass has only three strings and, at over three and a half meters, is the largest double bass in the world. The deep sounds can not only be heard, but also felt throughout the body. Only a few replicas exist. The HR Orchestra borrowed one especially for the evening.
This year, there will be musical evenings among the vineyards, in the surrounding castles, or in an old barn – and for the first time, in the new Reinhard Ernst Museum. Lithuanian musician Martynas Levickis will play his accordion among abstract paintings. He, too, loves unusual places and sounds. "I've wanted to do something with electronic music producers for a long time," he told DW. "It will be a night of music with a clubbing atmosphere and lots of improvisation."
For program director Timo Buckow, Levickis is an artist with vision. "For the concert at the museum, he came to Wiesbaden four times to take in the space. Afterward, he looked at the exhibits for inspiration and came up with the musical concept."
Levickis is known not only in his native Lithuania for his unusual performances. For example, at one concert, he floated into the skies with his instrument in a hot-air balloon, connected to the audience via Wi-Fi. "At some point, the connection was lost, and that was the happening: music disappearing into the sky," Levickis recalls. As one of the festival's featured artists, he has performed several times in the Rheingau region. In his program "Da Vinci's Dream," he plays music from 400 years of accordion history. He specially procured an instrument from the Netherlands to commemorate the beginnings of accordion music: the so-called organetto, with bellows and small organ pipes, was built based on sketches by the painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci.
Another artist with vision is Abel Selaocoe from South Africa . In his program "African Roots" with the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra, he not only plays classical and modern music on his cello, but also sings along. "You can't escape his natural, archaic approach," says Timo Buckow. "He doesn't think in genres; he is the music himself." Selaocoe sometimes stomps on the floor, as is common in the traditional dances of his homeland, and at other times he encourages the audience to sing along. "That's something new; it's completely unheard of in our industry," says Buckow.
At first, this might seem disconcerting and strange to some, but Selaocoe manages to "captivate the audience so that people sing along and get involved. It's very fascinating." For the program director, such performances are an experiment at the Rheingau Music Festival. "But we have to showcase these artists and this range; that's our responsibility and ultimately what makes the festival."
dw
