The Berliner Philharmoniker's 1997 Europakonzert — Versailles

May 1 is an important date in the classical music calendar! It marks the foundation of one of the world's most prestigious orchestras: the Berliner Philharmoniker. Each year since 1991, the ensemble celebrates this day with a highly anticipated event, held in a different European city each year, the Europakonzert. In 1997, for the orchestra's 115 years, it is led by maestro Daniel Barenboim, who directs both from the podium and the piano in this classic concert set in the gold and velvet setting of France's Château de Versailles!

The program includes some very well-known masterpieces, beginning with Ravel's ethereal Tombeau de Couperin, written in the memory of his friends who died in the trenches during the First World War. The commemorative atmosphere of this work soon makes way for a more martial one, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 13 which, through its rich use of trumpets and timpani, leads the way for Beethoven's monumental Symphony No. 3...