I made it to the St Petersburg Philharmonic's concert with Ashkenazy this evening. And there was a phenomenal young violiinist on parade, Sergei Dogadin - only 21. He is already no doubt well known in the violin world although I was unable to find him in the usual places in Google land. I must try harder. I can't believe this guy is not going to be a major star. Maybe he is already for all I know! But it was a new name for me.
So it was a nice program, the Beethoven concerto and Heldenleben which Ashkenazy let rip in this beautiful small concert hall - (quick snap with an ancient pocket camera before the show this evening!)
I grew up with a bunch of recordings by this orchestra conducted by the legendary Evgeny Mravinsky so to hear them in the flesh in their own hall was a real treat. Its a really small concert hall for such a noisy band, Just around 1,300 seat maximum I would have thought. Those Shostakovitch symphonies must have sounded really scary in there!
I then walked back to the hotel, around 9.30 it was by the time we got out. And it was bright daylight of course. Here is the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood as it looked at 9.30 this evening. I then proceeded down the splendid Nevsky Prospect and wound my way back to Arkadia! (that's the name of my hotel for new readers)
My auditions tomorrow are afternoon and evening so I will have another morning free to see more of the riches of this magnificent city.
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