Europakonzert 1996 from St Petersburg – with Claudio Abbado

For the 1996 Europakonzert, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Claudio Abbado travelled east to perform in St Petersburg's famous Mariinsky Theatre, presenting a programme mixing Russian music with works by Beethoven. The concert opens with excerpts of Prokofiev's celebrated ballet Romeo and Juliet, before Ukrainian bass Anatoli Kotcherga sings Aleko's Cavatina from the teenage Rachmaninoff's first opera. The Berliner Philharmoniker's then concertmaster, Kolja Blacher, is soloist in Beethoven's two intimate Romances for violin and orchestra before Abbado brings the concert to a rousing conclusion with Beethoven's Seventh Symphony – and, as an encore, the Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.

Soloists: 

Anatoly Kotcherga (Bass), Kolja Blacher (Violin)

Ensemble: 

Berliner Philharmoniker

Conductor: 

Claudio Abbado