EUROPA-KONZERT 2014 - NICOLAI, O. / ELGAR, E. / TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I. (Barenboim)
Orchestra:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor:
Barenboim, Daniel
Composer:
Nicolai, Otto
Composer:
Elgar, Edward
Composer:
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il'yich
Venue: Philharmonie, Berlin
Date of Concert: 2014
Playing Time: 01:40:38
Television Director:
Kasten, Henning
Catalogue Number: EuroArts5985
UPC: 880242598585
The founding of the Berliner Philharmoniker on the first of May, 1882 is celebrated annually with a concert in a European city of cultural significance. In 2014 the Europakonzert took again place in Berlin. The concert was conducted by a man who has been associated with the Berliner Philharmoniker for 50 years: Daniel Barenboim.
Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor is based on William Shakespeare's comedy of the same name, and its lively overture has long since secured a place on the concert stage. Also inspired by a Shakespearean comedy hero is Edward Elgar's symphonic study Falstaff.
We then turn from comedy to the tragic twists of fate: the Fifth Symphony of Piotr Tchaikovsky is characterized by a sombre main theme that for the Russian composer symbolizes "a complete resignation before fate, which is the same as the inscrutable predestination of fate".
