Borodin Symphony No. 2 and Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

Borodin Symphony No. 2 and Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition are the main pieces at the 2007 New Year's Eve gala concert by the Berliner Philharmoniker directed by Simon Rattle. Concert also has:

1. Borodin Prince Igor:  Polovtsian Dances

2. Mussorgsky Introduction to  Khovanshchina.

3. Shostakovich Dance from The Golden Age

Lighting by Björn Breitsprecher; TV director was Elisabeth Malzer. Released  2010, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio surround sound. Grade:

No heavy stuff for this New Year's Eve gala. It's a sure-to-please collection of Russian musical Farbegé eggs. You can show this with confidence to your friends, neighbors, and family members who hate Mahler, Wagner, and Handel. Music is fine artistically and technically. But garrish and artifact-plagued video drags what could have been an "A"  to "B+." In 2007, producers were still learning how to use the new high-definition gear. Odd-colored lighting was used to perk up the gala atmosphere, and bright spotlights were used on performers. This is the only fine-arts HDVD I've seen where the viewer gets "blinded" in many shots by reflections off instruments. Other shots have performers in shadows with marked grain and loss of resolution. One good thing about the video is that you do get a number of interesting wide-angle shots of the hyper-active modern concert hall that is the home of the Berliner Philharmoniker.