Sommernachtskonzert 2023 / Summer Night Concert 2023 (Live)

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Elīna Garanča, newcomers to the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual Summer Night Concert, ignite the evening’s combustible mix of French music with their wholehearted immersion in the programme’s chameleon-like shifts of colour and mood. Recorded live in the gardens of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace, the party leaps to life with the First Suite from Bizet’s Carmen and Garanča’s seductive take on its “Habanera.” Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps shimmers like burnished gold, setting the scene for a pulse-quickening celebration of the Overture Le Corsaire, propelled by the Vienna players’ unchecked delight in Berlioz’s music. Garanča caresses the sinuous lines of “Ô ma lyre immortelle” from Gounod’s Sapho, and prefaces a thrilling reading of Ravel’s Boléro with a sultry reading of “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” from Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila.