St.Petersburg Philharmonic

[jsswadley]

I heard this orchestra several times in the 80's. The size of the sound was especially impressive. The first trumpet and bass trombone got huge amounts of air through their horns and they were matched by their sections. The strings used almost a full bow on every bow change with a lot of vibrato and they had no problem playing up to the magnificent volume of the brass section. I remember in particular that some of the older people in the gallery of the Musikverein in Vienna actually covered their ears when the unison theme of the Bruckner 8th Symphony was being played. To judge from Jonathan's posting, the St. Petersburg orchestra is very much the Leningrad Philharmonic of the old days. A legend that was circulating around Vienna in the 80's said that Bernstein had told a Vienna player that he would trade the entire brass section of New York if could have the first trumpet and bass trombone of the Leningrad orchestra. Truth or fiction? Who knows, but definitely a fine orchestra. John