The Summer Night Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic is an annual open-air event that takes place in the magical setting of the Schönbrunn Palace Baroque park in Vienna with the palace as a magnificent backdrop. Entrance to the concert is free, and each year up to 100,000 people take up the invitation. The concert is also broadcast on TV and radio in more than 60 countries, and thus reaches an audience of millions. The eminent Seymon Bychov conducts the 2016 Summer Night Concert, with Katia and Marielle Labèque playing as soloists.

Track listing:
1. Bizet - Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite no.2)
2. Berlioz - Marche hongroise (La Damnation de Faust)
3-5. Poulenc - Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in D Minor, FP61
6. Saint-Saëns - Le Carnaval des animaux: Finale
7-9. Ravel - Daphnis et Chloé: Suite No.2
10. Ravel - Boléro
11. Offenbach - Can-can (Orphée aux enfers)
12. Johann Strauss II - Wiener Blut Walzer, op.354

Sound/Video

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1

Bizet - L'Arlesienne Suite no.2: Farandole
2

Berlioz - La Damnation de Faust: Marche Hongroise
3

Poulenc - Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in D Minor, FP 61 - I. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
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Poulenc - Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in D Minor, FP 61 - II. Larghetto
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Poulenc - Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in D Minor, FP 61 - III. Finale - Allegro Molto
6

Saint-Saens - Carnival of the Animals, R.125: Finale
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Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2, M.57b - I. Lever du Jour
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Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2, M.57b - II. Pantomime
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Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2, M.57b - III. Danse Generale
10

Ravel - Bolero, M. 81
11

Offenbach - Orpheus In The Underworld: Cancan
12

Johnan Strauss II - Wiener Blut, Walzer, Op. 354

Europadisc Review

Mercifully avoiding the downpours that hit central Europe just days later, the twelfth annual Summer Night Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic was held in fine conditions on 26 May 2016. With the outdoor stage set in front of the Neptune Fountain in the Schönbrunn gardens, facing the palace’s rear facade, and the arches of the Gloriette looming high in the background, this is a grand yet welcoming environment for the thousands who make up the audience, both seated and standing, formal and casual. Audio recording in such conditions must be fraught with challenges, yet the Sony team brings off a miracle, turned out with lightning speed to boot.

There’s a distinctly French flavour to the 2016 Concert, ranging from the Romantic to the Neoclassical, and Semyon Bychkov (making his ‘Summer Night’ debut) makes an ideal conductor for this repertoire, forthright and commanding yet at all times sensitive to orchestral colour. Proceedings get under way with a bracing, big-boned account of the Farandole from Bizet’s L’Arlésienne music, horns and strings flexing their muscles with the march theme before the high woodwind come tripping nimbly in with the farandole itself. When the two themes combine for the exultant ending, the concert is well and truly under way. A relaxed and good-humoured account of the ever-popular Rackózy March from Berlioz’s Damnation de Faust likewise builds to a rousing climax.

The centrepiece and highlight of the evening is a dazzlingly vivid performance of Poulenc’s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra by the sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque. This work has been in their repertoire for decades, and it shows as much in their effortlessly graceful account of the Mozartean slow movement as it does in their brilliantly mercurial playing of the outer movements. Incredibly, it is the first time the Vienna Philharmonic have played this music, but you would never know it: the accompaniment fits hand-in-glove with the soloists, with some stunningly snappy brass contributions, and swooning strings. The necessarily close-ish recording arguably suits this work best from all the programme, and the keen-eared will catch some unscripted birdsong in the central Larghetto, which only adds to the sense of delight. Just about as engaging a performance of this sparkling work as you’ll find, with a marvellously perky rendition of the Finale from Saint-Säens’s Carnaval des animaux as an encore.

Bychkov and the orchestra follow this with sumptuous readings of two of Ravel’s best-known orchestral works: the Second Suite from Daphnis et Chloé (some wonderfully idiomatic playing from the flute section, and more gorgeous strings), and the ultimate orchestral exercise in a finely-paced and balanced traversal of Boléro, giving everyone a chance to shine. Both works have been in the Philharmonic’s repertoire since soon after their composition, but one doubts whether they’ve ever sounded so convincingly French as they do here.

The encores set the seal on a memorable evening: the Can-Can from Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers gets the players in party mood, before the obligatory (and lovingly played) Wiener Blut brings them and the audience back home without so much as a bump. Some of the Summer Night Concerts of the past have been rather hit-and-miss affairs: not this one, though. It’s sure to continue to delight listeners for many years to come.