Bard Music Festival 2010: Berg and His World

Drool, slobber: once again, Leon Botstein knocks the programming out of the park. I loved last year's SFS Schubert/Berg mini-festival; the Bard Fest programming is unbelievably great. For those unfamiliar with the Bard Music Festival, it's in NYC in August. Dates and schedule below.

Festival home page: Berg and His World

Here's the schedule, which speaks for itself; note, especially, the extremely rare chance to hear a full performance of Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln.

Weekend One, August 13—15: Berg and Vienna

Friday, August 13

PROGRAM ONE

Alban Berg: The Path of Expressive Intensity

Sosnoff Theater

7:30 pm Pre-concert talk: Leon Botstein

8:00 pm Performance: Daedalus Quartet; Jeremy Denk, piano; Danny Driver, piano; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Lisa Saffer, soprano; Pei-Yao Wang, piano; Bard Festival Chamber Players

In memory of George Perle

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Seven Early Songs (1905–08)

Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (1907–08)

Four Pieces, for clarinet and piano (1913)

Lyric Suite (1925–26)

Johann Strauss II (1825–99)

Wein, Weib, und Gesang, Op. 333 (1869, arr. Berg, 1921)

Tickets $20/35/45

Saturday, August 14

Panel

Berg: His Life and Career

Olin Hall

10:00 am—12 noon

Christopher H. Gibbs, moderator; Christopher Hailey; Douglas Jarman; and others

Free and open to the public

PROGRAM TWO

The Vienna of Berg’s Youth

Olin Hall

1:00 pm Pre-concert talk: Mark DeVoto

1:30 pm Performance: Alessio Bax, piano; Daedalus Quartet; Pei-Yao Wang, piano; and others

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Selections from early piano works and songs

Alexander Zemlinsky (1871–1942)

Fantasies on Poems by Richard Dehmel, Op. 9 (1898)

Five Songs (Dehmel) (1907)

Karl Weigl (1881–1949)

String Quartet No. 3 in A major (1909)

Anton Webern (1883–1945)

Piano Quintet (1907)

Joseph Marx (1882–1964)

Valse de Chopin (1909)

Tickets: $35

PROGRAM THREE

Mahler and Beyond

Sosnoff Theater

7:00 pm Pre-concert talk: Christopher H. Gibbs

8:00 pm Performance: Christiane Libor, soprano; Akiko Suwanai, violin; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director; and others

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Fünf Orchesterlieder nach Ansichtskartentexten von Peter Altenberg, Op. 4 (1912)

Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 (1914–15)

Violin Concerto (1935)

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)

Adagio, from Symphony No. 10 (1910)

Hans Pfitzner (1869–1949)

“Abend” and “Nacht,” from Von deutscher Seele, Op. 28 (1921)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957)

Prelude and Carnival Music, from Violanta, Op. 8 (1914)

Tickets: $ 25/40/55

Sunday, August 15

PROGRAM FOUR

Eros and Thanatos

Olin Hall

10:00 am Performance with commentary by Byron Adams

Works by Alban Berg (1885–1935), Johann Strauss II (1825–99), Richard Strauss (1864–1949), Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951), Franz Schreker (1878–1934), Alma Mahler (1879–1964), Friedrich Hollaender (1896–1976), Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957)

Tickets: $30

PROGRAM FIVE

Teachers and Apostles

Olin Hall

1:00 pm Pre-concert talk: Sherry D. Lee

1:30 pm Performance: Alessio Bax, piano; Marnie Breckenridge, soprano; Cygnus Ensemble; Daedalus Quartet; Danny Driver, piano; Soovin Kim, violin

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

String Quartet, Op. 3 (1910)

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)

Six Piano Pieces, Op. 19 (1911)

Anton Webern (1883–1945)

Four Pieces, for violin and piano, Op. 7 (1910)

Egon Wellesz (1885–1974)

Three Piano Pieces, Op. 9 (1911)

Sandór Jemnitz (1890–1963)

Trio, for guitar, violin, and viola, Op. 33 (1932)

Viktor Ullmann (1898–1944)

Variations and Double-Fugue on a Piano Work by A. Schönberg, Op. 3a (1929)

Hans Erich Apostel (1901–72)

Variations from Lulu (1935)

Theodor W. Adorno (1903–69)

Six Bagatelles, Op. 6 (1923–42)

Tickets: $35

PROGRAM SIX

The Orchestra Reimagined

Sosnoff Theater

5:00 pm Pre-concert talk: Antony Beaumont

5:30 pm Performance: Jeremy Denk, piano; Soovin Kim, violin; members of the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Kammerkonzert (1923–25)

Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)

Berceuse élégiaque, Op. 42 (1909; arr. Stein, 1920)

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)

Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 (1905–06)

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)

Kammermusik No. 1, Op. 24/1 (1921)

Tickets: $20/35/45

Weekend Two, August 20—22: Berg the European

Friday, August 20

SYMPOSIUM

Rethinking the Modern

Multipurpose room, Bertelsmann Campus Center

10:00 am—12 noon

1:30 pm—3:30 pm

Garry Hagberg, moderator

Free and open to the public

PROGRAM SEVEN

“No Critics Allowed”: The Society for Private Performances

Sosnoff Theater

7:30 pm Pre-concert talk: Tamara Levitz

8:00 pm Performance: Frederika Brillembourg, mezzo-soprano; Randolph Bowman, flute; Miranda Cuckson, violin; John Hancock, baritone; Blair McMillen, piano; Daniel Panner, viola; Anna Polonsky, piano; Orion Weiss, piano; Bard Festival Chamber Players

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Four Songs, Op. 2 (1909–10)

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1891–94; arr. Sachs, 1921)

Max Reger (1873–1916)

Serenade, for flute, violin, and viola, in G major, Op. 141a (1915)

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

La valse (1919–20, arr. 2 pianos)

Béla Bartók (1881–1945)

14 Bagatelles, Op. 6 (1908)

Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937)

Romance, for violin and piano, Op. 23 (1910)

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)

Piano-Rag Music (1919)

Berceuses du chat (1915)

Josef Matthias Hauer (1883–1959)

Nomos, Op. 2 (1913)

Tickets: $20/35/45

Saturday, August 21

PROGRAM EIGHT

You Can’t Be Serious! Viennese Operetta and Popular Music

Olin Hall

10:00 am Performance with Commentary by Derek B. Scott

Works by Alban Berg (1885–1935), Johann Strauss II (1825–99); Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900); Franz Lehár (1870–1948), Emmerich Kálmán (1882–1953), and others

Tickets: $30

PROGRAM NINE

Composers Select: New Music in the 1920s

Olin Hall

1:00 pm Pre-concert talk: Marilyn McCoy

1:30 pm Performance: Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord; Miranda Cuckson, violin; Ilana Davidson, soprano; FLUX Quartet; Robert Martin, cello; Blair McMillen, piano; Orion Weiss, piano; Bard Festival Chamber Players; and others

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Adagio, from Kammerkonzert, arr. for piano trio (1923–25; arr. 1935)

Manuel De Falla (1876–1946)

Concerto, for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, and cello (1923–26)

Alfredo Casella (1883–1947)

Sinfonia, for piano, cello, clarinet, and trumpet, Op. 53 (1932)

Ernst Toch (1887–1964)

Quartet for Strings No. 11, Op. 34 (1924)

Alois Hába (1893–1973)

Quartet for Strings No. 2, in the quarter-tone system, Op. 7 (1920)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957)

Four Little Caricatures for Children, Op. 19 (1926)

Hanns Eisler (1898–1962)

Tagebuch des Hanns Eisler, Op. 9 (1926)

George Gershwin (1898–1937)

Three Preludes for Piano (1926–26)

Tickets: $35

PROGRAM TEN

Modernism and Its Discontent

Sosnoff Theater

7:00 pm Pre-concert talk: Christopher Hailey

8:00 pm Performance: Christiane Libor, soprano; Frederika Brillembourg, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Cooley, tenor; James Taylor, tenor; Robert Pomakov, bass-baritone; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Der Wein (1929)

Franz Schmidt (1874–1939)

Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (1935–37)

Tickets: $25/40/55

SUNDAY, AUGUST 22

PANEL TWO

Music and Morality

Olin Hall

10 am – 12 noon

Christopher Hailey, moderator; Leon Botstein; Klara Moricz; and others

Free and open to the public

PROGRAM ELEVEN

Between Accommodation and Inner Emigration: The Composer’s Predicament

Olin Hall

1:00 pm Pre-concert talk: Richard Wilson

1:30 pm Performance: Ilana Davidson, soprano; John Hancock, baritone; Anna Polonsky, piano; Bard Festival Chamber Players

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Schliesse mir die Augen beide (1925)

Othmar Schoeck (1886–1957)

Notturno, Op. 47 (1931–33)

Ernst Krenek (1900–91)

Durch die Nacht, song cycle, Op. 67a (1930–31)

Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905–63)

Quartet for Strings No. 1, “Carillon” (1933)

PROGRAM TWELVE

Crimes and Passions

Sosnoff Theater

4:30 pm Pre-concert talk: Bryan Gilliam

5:30 pm Performance: Christiane Libor, soprano; Lisa Saffer, soprano; Frederika Brillembourg, mezzo-soprano; Brian Stucki, tenor; Philip Horst, bass-baritone; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director; and others

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Three Fragments from Wozzeck (1924)

Lulu Suite (1934)

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)

Sancta Susanna, Op. 21 (1921)

Kurt Weill (1900–50)

Royal Palace, Op. 17 (1925–26)

Tickets: $25/40/55