W. A. Mozart, Requiem - Kollegienkirche Salzburg, Kulturvereinigung Salzburg

Performance 31st Ocotber

For Halloween evening I decided to visit a concert of Mozart's Requiem organised by the Kulturvereinigung Salzburg. The orchestra and the choir were the amateur version of the Kulturvereinigung itself (Orchester der Salzburger Kulturvereinigung and the Mozartchor Salzburg) so my expectations were not as high as they would be normally. After two contemporary works with lyrics of Georg Trakl they finally started the Requiem. Due to the fact that they played in a church the sound was unclear many times but that's the place it was written for. Both, orchestra and choir were totally obviously amateurs. Little mistakes from time to time, unevenness and metric problems happened constantly. Actually it would have been even more important to play totally correctly and exactly because of the acustic setting in the church, but I guess the effect for an "amateur audience" would be same. Conductor Helmut Zeilner tried his best to keep everyone together and if you think of the fact that it is an amateur performance it worked out ok.
The solo soprano was sung by Gerhild Zeilner who obviously is teached by legend Gundula Janowitz. You yould clearly tell the influence after hearing her clean angel-like tone with a vibratoless timbre. Unfortunately her agility suffered from her focus on the beauty of the tone. Sometimes she seemed a bit stressed to keep up with the orchestra and the other singers with her lines.
The alto part was performed by Magdalena Ruecker who, as far as I heard it, had a very beautiful strong voice. I was always able to hear her, even in the ensemble scenes . The only thing that she could work on is a stronger focus on phrasing and quality of tone.
Virgil Hartinger sang the tenor part and was quite a disappointment. I have never been a fan of tenors but this was just too much. His voice sounded weak, uneven and uncontrolled. The beautiful tenor part of the requiem seemed to be a big issue for him and I was not able to enjoy those parts.
Rafael Fingerlos' bass (I guess he's more a baritone) did his job fine even though it was not something really impressive. He did not have big issues with the part but also did not surprise with excellency. Nevertheless I can imagine that he could get quite good if he's working on his performing style.
The whole performance gets 5 stars although I have to say that it was ok for an amateur performance. Of course it can not be compared with a performance of professionals, so I guess 5 stars is quite ok.
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