Claudio Abbado conducts Mozart at the 1991 Europakonzert from Prague
This was the concert with which the Berliner Philharmoniker founded the tradition of the Europakonzert. The first of these performances took the orchestra and its chief conductor to Prague in 1991, where an all-Mozart programme marked the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. In addition to Symphonies Nos. 29 and 35, the concert included virtuoso arias with the soprano Cheryl Studer who at that time was at the peak of her career.
Mozart himself would probably have been very satisfied with this choice, as it was here he finally gained the recognition which he was so cruelly denied by his superiors in Salzburg and Vienna. On his first visit to Prague in 1787, he happily noted that in the city’s streets, “the only thing being played, sung or whistled is – Figaro”. So it is no surprise that his next opera Don Giovanni was premiered in Prague, where, according to Mozart, it was received with “the loudest applause”. Of course, the opera could not be left out of this European Concert. Cheryl Studer sings Donna Anna, the role which played no small part just a few years before in laying the foundation of her global career.
What in particular is shown in the two Mozart Symphonies of this concert is the exciting artistic phase the Berliner Philharmoniker found themselves in at that time. The full, elegantly flowing sound which Herbert von Karajan had cultivated over the decades is unmistakeable. But as Karajan’s successor for a year and a half, we can already hear Abbado making his mark on the orchestra, giving this particular performance a buoyant Italianate expression.
Berliner Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado
Cheryl Studer
Bruno Canino
© 1991 EuroArts Music International
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