When Gerard Mortier took over in Salzburg in 1992 he resolved to
inseminate the Festival with modern music.  As a part of this effort he
subsidized a sort of moden annex to the staid old Salzburg repertoire in
something calling itself Zeitfluss, Timeflow.  Within this new construct,
but relatively safely removed from the Spirit of Salzburg proper, modern
music would henceforth be metered out to attenders.  It was thus that,
for a total of $340 spread over two years, I was able to experience
performances of Nono's *Prometeo* and Ligeti's *Danse macabre*.  I did not
regret these experiences, partly because it obviated any future need either
to avoid or seek out repetitions.  Both performances involved top musical
forces, conductors and directors.The prooductions were opulent.

Bbut things have been changing over the past couple of years.  For one
thing, Mortier has subsumed quite a bit of modern stuff into the the
regular Salzburg repertoire; for another, and that being so, Zeitfluss has
had to become much more drastically modern to retain a raison d'etre, while
also having to make do with much less money that Mortier earmarks for
modern music.

What has that meant in practice? As an example, Zeitfluss this season
is presenting as one of its offerings an "Aktion" by George Lopez called
"Traumzeit--Traumdeutung" (Dreamtime--Dreamanalysis).  To experience it,
the attender,apart from having to shell out the usual hefty ticket price,
must gird himself for an alpine outing.  A two-hour bus ride from Salzburg
takes him up 2,200 meters to a meadow harboring a large alpine shelter.
>From there he may atttend the music-making of a full orchestra perched at
various eyries up in the rocks, with the one the instrument pocket working
about 400 meters from the farthest pocket from it.  A conductor, centrally
located, then sees to it that the echoing sounds mesh in the sense of
composer Lopez.  And that sense? Well, I wouldn't know, but Clemens Prokop,
reviewing a performance for the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, speculates that it
intends to inspire meditation in the attender, though any structure aiming
at this, he adds, is not to be perceived.

Other offerings of Zeietfluss:

* US composer Uri Caine combines boprrowings from Mahler's
Kindertotenlieder with his own symphonic material to yield something
called "Urlicht" (Primordial Light)

*A loud Finnish group calling itself,interestingly, *Mieskuoro Huutajat*
shout out *An der schoenen blauen Donau* and *Freude schoener
Goetterfunken*, among other evergruens

* Etcetera

Meanwhilke, over in the Grosse Festsspielhaus, Kent Nagao/VPO present in
forenoon concerts Mahler's "Lied von der Erde," plus a couple of Debussy
nocturnes--this in substitution of Boulez whop was going to play Berg,
not Debussy.  And there was also Roger Norrington doing, among other
things,Richard Strauss's rarely performed "Serenade fuer 13 Blaeser"....

Denis Fodor                     Internet:[log in to unmask]