SALZBURG DIARY : Orchestral Politics, Priorities in Festive Austria

The big festival in this little city does strange things to one’s head. Salzburg has its own priorities.

Most of the news on the crowded streets, in the costly cafes, at the popular pizza stands, in the posh foyers and even in the partisan papers seems to buzz around Gerard Mortier and his controversial artistic innovations. A revolution is in progress. Everyone takes sides.

Forget about wars and bombs. Who cares about economies and conventions? Salzburg wants to know about the survival of Mozart, the survival of Mozartean commercialism as we knew it and, most important, perhaps, the survival of Herbert von Karajan’s luxuriously conservative spirit.

The august Vienna Philharmonic, which has long enjoyed squatters’ rights here, caused a stir recently with a public attack on Mortier’s policy regarding visiting orchestras. Some of them--no names were named, of course--did not strike the Austrian elite as worthy competitors.

Hans Landesmann, Mortier’s occasionally antagonistic collaborator in the cumbersome administrative triumvirate that runs the festival, got into the imbalancing act with a few provocative statements to the press. First he confirmed that the Vienna Philharmonic was Salzburg’s only orchestra-in-residence. That instantly offended the easily offended Ernest Fleischmann, who had claimed the resident title for his itinerant Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Landesmann then asked for--and eventually received--additional trouble when he admitted that some of the guest orchestras may be of lesser quality. He justified their importation, however, by saying that they brought conductors and soloists who could be important for Salzburg’s future, not to mention some unusually interesting repertory choices.

So the truth was out. All orchestras may be created equal, but in Salzburg some are more equal than others.

No one disputes the importance of the Berlin Philharmonic, which plays at least two programs here each summer. Most experts agree that the Cleveland Orchestra, which came for three concerts this month, can hold its own with Europe’s best.

But what about the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the City of Birmingham Orchestra? What about the Leningrad Philharmonic? What about the Los Angeles Philharmonic (whose debut program was just described in Profil, Austria’s equivalent of Time magazine, as “mildly disappointing”)?

And what about the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, which played a fancy, ultraconventional program Sunday night under Neville Marriner at the Grosses Festspielhaus? The dressy, capacity audience (just over 2,000), which had paid up to $190 for the privilege, applauded the British conductor and his orchestra heartily. The ultimate tribute--unison stamping of feet--was reserved, however, for the glamorous German soloist, Anne-Sophie Mutter.

The concert was, without question, an evening of pleasant, competent, civilized music-making. Nevertheless, pessimists had a right to wonder if it really met the highest festival standard.

The Academy used to be one of the finest, most elegant chamber ensembles in the world. That, apparently, wasn’t enough. It wanted to grow up and evolve into something more powerful, something like the four symphony orchestras already under-employed in lucky London. Bigger is better.

The enlarged Academy plays brightly and neatly, no doubt about that. The players know Marriner well, and respond to his no-nonsense urgings with alacrity and with seeming affection. Still, a certain degree of individuality seems to have been sacrificed in return for international orchestral grandeur.

The brass on Monday sounded a little tinny, the strings a little dull. Precision was always reasonable, and balances careful. Everything went on in good order and in good taste. Only two crucial elements seemed to be missing in this context: inspiration and virtuosity.

The same program could have been played by any good orchestra in any major city. It began suave and sweet with an understated performance of Ravel’s “Ma mere l’oye.” It ended warm and pretty with an occasionally overstated performance of Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony.

Mutter’s warhorse vehicle was the Sibelius Violin Concerto. She played it with much finesse in moments of introspection, much force in moments of flamboyance, much drip in moments of sentimental indulgence.

At least one member of the audience would have been happy to hear something British.

Sunday’s opulent schedule, incidentally, offered the festival-goer some frustrating options. Georg Solti led the Vienna Philharmonic in Debussy’s “La Mer” and the Schubert Ninth (to decidedly mixed reviews). Sandor Vegh led the Camerata Academica of the Mozarteum in a discerning Mozart-Haydn program. At virtually the same time, Pierre Boulez, returning to Salzburg after a 30-year absence, did some gratifying ear-stretching with his Ensemble Intercontemporain of Paris.

On the festival fringe, an experimental pop opera turned out to be a modest flop. A young street fiddler played a Mozart concerto (very well) with sophisticated orchestral accompaniment provided by a boom box. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Philharmonic rested up for its six-hour bout with Messiaen’s St. Francis, due to begin Monday at 4.

The orchestral situation will be a little different next year. The list of guest ensembles includes the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Austrian Radio Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Sudwest-Funk Orchestra of Baden, and--if Riccardo Muti makes up with Gerard Mortier--the La Scala Orchestra.

Berlin will, of course return, and busy Vienna retains its lofty official status. Significantly, the management has announced a new price scale for 1993, affirming certain qualitative distinctions.

The top ticket for Berlin and Vienna concerts will rise to $210. That is $20 above the top for the remaining, garden-variety institutions.

No American orchestras are on the agenda.