Brahms Violin Concerto and Dvořák Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"

Here are the selections on this title:

1. Beethoven 'Egmont' Overture

2. Brahms Violin Concerto

3. Dvořák Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" 

4. Verdi Overture to Les Vêpres siciliennes

Claudio Abbado conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2002 at the Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Sicily. This was the traditional Europa-Koncert performed on May 1 each year by the Berliner Philharmoniker in a different European city.  Gil Shaham is the violin soloist. TV direction by Bob Coles. Released 2011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grades:  For the Brahms, ___  For the Dvořák, A

When I saw that this title was shot in 2002, I was wary. Not many people were thinking about high-definition back then. But producer Paul Smaczny was. He saw to it that this recording would be good enough for a future HDVD. This also turned out to be quite a happy event. Italy is full of opera buildings. The Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Sicily is an expectionally beautiful and cozy house that seems to be taller than it is long or wide with tier on tier of elegant box seats crowned by a glorious ceiling fresco. They probably don't get the Berliner Philharmoniker in Palermo every day. So there were few empty seats for this, and everybody was dressed as they would for a coronation. The orchestra seemed inspired.  The audience gave rapt attention to the relatively meaty program right up to what they were really looking foward to: the Overture to Les Vêpres siciliennes! This dramatic number is, I take it, the unofficial National Anthem of Sicily. By the time the orchestra finished, folks were on their feet  and flowers were in the air. You just can't get kind of sense of the event from a CD

I marked the Brahms Vioiin Concerto down to a B+ from what maybe should have been an A because I  could not hear the violin well enough. For reference, I went back to my RCA Red Seal LP of Heifetz playing the Brahms. On the LP, I could clearly hear almost all of the solo part over the orchestra. But on the HDVD, the balance was off and I often could not hear Shaham as well as I would like. I would give an A to the other selections on this disc except the Overture to Les Vêpres siciliennes, which bags an A+ because the crowd loved it so much.