Claudio Abbado conducts music from “Carmen” at the 1997 New Year’s Eve Concert

The concert opened of course with excerpts from Bizet’s opera. The Swedish singer Anne Sofie von Otter in the title role never came across as a cool Scandinavian, but enchanted the whole hall with her sometimes alluring, sometimes scornful mezzo-soprano. Bryn Terfel, the vigorous Welsh baritone was a self-confident Escamillo, while the tenor Roberto Alagna embodied the hopelessly in love Don José with gently melodiousness.

Rachmaninov’s Paganini Variations – played with fullness of tone by Mikhail Pletnev – convey a very similar tonal and expressive world to Bizet’s opera. This musical world was then seen again from a violinist’s perspective with Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy. The soloist was Gil Shaham, mastering the breath-taking technical difficulties as a matter of course. Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole showed that the Spanish spirit is not only bathed in sunlight, but also has its dark side, before the Berliner Philharmoniker once again demonstrated their brilliance in two short final pieces.

Berliner Philharmoniker

Claudio Abbado

Anne Sofie von Otter

Roberto Alagna

Bryn Terfel

Mikhail Pletnev

Gil Shaham