European Concert At Versailles 1997 DVD

Since 1991 the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra has played a European Concert on every May 1 (the date upon which the orchestra was founded) in different places of cultural importance. In 1997 the venue was the Royal Opera House in Versailles, a beautiful small theatre with an intimate acoustic. The dimensions of the stage clearly limit the orchestra to smaller-scale works rather than their usual romantic repertoire, but the sound under Daniel Barenboim is glorious nonetheless. The concert opens with a tribute to Francois Couperin, one of the greatest composers ever to... have been associated with Versailles. Ravel's neo-classical Le Tombeau de Couperin is performed with graceful restraint and refined elegance, and suits the style of the hall perfectly. Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 13 is less successful, simply because the solo instrument is placed facing the orchestra in order to allow Barenboim both to play and conduct. The result is that the piano sound is muffled and the orchestral direction less precise. But things pick up again in the Eroica Symphony, a piece perfectly suited to the conductor's volatile temperament: the louds are very loud, the softs extremely soft and the sudden shifts between them explosively handled. The visual direction by Bob Coles concentrates on individual orchestral performers, with highly watchable results. On the DVD: The European Concert, 1997 also includes a 20-minute documentary in German about the history of music in Paris, the construction of Versailles and an interview with Daniel Barenboim. The documentary is subtitled in English, French, Spanish and Italian. --Warwick Thompson [show more]

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