The well-known Salzburg Festival made heavy demands on its audience. But the risk largely paid off. The jubilation also drowned out the controversy surrounding the conductor Currentzis.
The Salzburg Festival served up the deepest fear and despair with the prospect of redemption at the beginning of its premiere series. On Tuesday evening, the program included Béla Bartók’s gloomy one-act play “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” and then Carl Orff’s scenic end-time oratorio “De temporum fine comoedia”.