The 1995 Europakonzert from Florence with Zubin Mehta and Sarah Chang

Ludwig van Beethoven’s majestic Fidelio overture opened the programme in the magnificent setting of the Sala dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, before the orchestral variations by Boris Blacher on Paganini’s solo Caprice No. 24 took the audience on a musical journey south. According to the composer himself, the work does not constitute “a set of variations in the classical sense but sixteen ways of reflecting on the theme”. The American violinist Sarah Chang then showed how the original Paganini can sound in the first movement from his Violin Concerto No. 1 – the then 14-year-old mastered the technical challenges of the work with apparent ease. She had made her Berliner Philharmoniker debut with this piece in January 1994, also under Mehta’s direction, instantly captivating the press: “Here was no concertare, no competition or clash between rival contestants,” wrote the critic of Die Zeit. “Instead, an individual presented listeners with all that needed to be communicated, helped by an ensemble that supported and underpinned the soloist, adding accents, preparing the emotions, reinforcing feelings and confirming the occasion’s success.”

The concert ended with the razor-sharp rhythms of Petrushka, the ballet that Stravinsky wrote in 1911 for Sergei Diaghilev’s famous Ballets Russes. As Stravinsky later explained, Petrushka is “the immortal and unhappy hero of every fair in all countries”. Here, too, he strives in vain to win the favours of the beautiful ballerina. “In composing the music,” the composer explained, “I had in my mind a distinct picture of a puppet, suddenly endowed with life, exasperating the patience of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggios. The orchestra in turn retaliates with menacing trumpet blasts.” In Florence it all ended well, and Mehta and the orchestra thanked the audience for their warm applause by performing Dvořák’s Eighth Slavonic Dance by way of an encore.

Berliner Philharmoniker

Zubin Mehta