The Mariinsky
Theatre in St. Petersburg ranks among those opera houses that may well
deserve to be called legendary. It was here in this very theatre that
many of the Great Russian operas received their premieres and where the
Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester performed exactly 100 years ago for
the first time on the occasion of Tsar Nicholass II. Coronation. The
Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Claudio Abbado celebrated
their anniversary with Russian favourites, which are complemented by
two of Beethovens Violin Romances and his Seventh Symphony. Kolja
Blacher the solo violinist was the first concertmaster of the Berliner
Philharmoniker between 1993 and 1999. Renowned bass baritone Anatoly
Kocherga, whose international career began under Claudio Abbado at the
Wiener Staatsoper in 1989, is the vocal soloist on this recording. |