The Berlin Philharmonic threw a Y2K party and invited Mahler, Stravinsky, and a guy who played a Nazi in an Oscar winner.
The annual New Year’s Eve Concert is one of the highlights in the calendar of every classical music fan in Berlin and beyond. On New Year‘s Eve, the Berliner Philharmoniker invite an exceptional soloist for a festive gala. Together, the musicians bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new. The 1999 concert was conducted by Claudio Abbado and featured Klaus Maria Brandauer, Rias Kammerchor, and Rundfunkchor Berlin. On the programme: Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92, Allegro con brio, Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, op. 88, Allegro ma non troppo, Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5, Rondo, Finale, Igor Stravinsky: Firebird (parts), Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Danse générale, Sergei Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, op. 78, Alexander's entry into Pskov, Arnold Schönberg: Gurre-Lieder (Excerpts), Paul Lincke: Folies Bergères, March, Paul Lincke: Brandbrief-Galopp, Otto Nicolai: The Merry Wives Of Windsor Overture, Walter Kollo: Solang noch unter'n Linden.
Direction
Abbado's physical, almost dance-like conducting.
Score
Mahler 5's Adagietto to ring in Y2K—coping mechanism.
Production
The Philharmonic's acoustic cathedral, captured.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Abbado's final New Year's Eve concert as chief conductor; he resigned months later due to health. The unspoken farewell hangs over every bar.
Brandauer had just played Hitler in 'The Music Box' and a Stalinist in 'Mephisto'—casting him to narrate German Romanticism at the millennium was... a choice.
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