European Concert, Vol. 2: 1996-1999 [4 Discs]

"This collection presents four classical concerts by the Berliner Philharmoniker originally mounted and performed between 1996 and 1999 at venues across Europe. It begins with a 1996 event at St. Petersburg, Russia's Mariinsky Theatre, that finds the Berliner interpreting highlights from Prokofiev's +Romeo and Juliet and the Cavatina from Rachmaninov's opera +Aleko, as well as Beethoven's Violin Romances (led by Kolja Blacher) and Seventh Symphony (led by Claudio Abbado). A 1997 concert at the Opera Royal du Chateau de Versailles finds the eminent Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berliner in interpretations of Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E Flat Major and Mozart's Concerto for Piano in C Major K 415. The third concert included here, which took place on May 1, 1998 at Stockholm, Sweden's Vasa Museum, finds Claudio Abbado conducting the Berliner plus two vocal ensembles - the Swedish Radio Choir and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir - in performances of Wagner's Overture from Der Fliegede Hollander, Tchaikovsky's Symphonic Fantasia, Op. 18 from +The Tempest, Verdi's Quattro Pezzi Sacri and Debussy's Trois Nocturnes. Finally, a 1999 Berliner concert at The Church of Our Lady in Krakow, Poland finds Bernard Haitink conducting the symphony in interpretations of Schumann's Symphony No. 1 and Chopin's Concerto For Piano No. 2, with support by solo vocalists Emanuel Ax and Christine Schafer."