COMPOSERS: Chabrier,Moncayo,Rimsky-Korsakov,Sarasate
LABELS: TDK/EuroArts
WORKS: Works by Chabrier, Rimsky-Korsakov, Sarasate, Moncayo; plus documentary features
PERFORMER: Sarah Chang (violin), Ana Maria Martinez (soprano); Berlin PO/Placido Domingo (Waldbuhne Berlin,2001)
CATALOGUE NO: DV-W6SN
For its annual open-air concert at the Waldbuhne in 2001, the Berlin Philharmonic invited Placido Domingo to conduct a Spanish programme. Familiar items such as Chabrier's EspanamA Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol rub shoulders with zarzuela arias (with the charismatic Puerto Rican soprano Ana Maria Martinez) and Sarasate showstoppers played by Sarah Chang (her Fire and Ice CD with Domingo, reviewed in December, was made at the same time).
Apart from the solo items, the music comes across a little staidly, and in close-up Domingo's conducting manner seems to amount to little more than beating time with his head buried in the score, despite the emphasis he makes in an accompanying interview about his early baton training. The other extras are a brief behind-the-scenes film and a documentary about a Berlin flamenco school. Matthew Rye