Berliner Philharmoniker Dances & Dreams 2012 New Year's concert (performed December 31, 2011.) Sir Simon Rattle conducts. Here is the program:
Dvořák - Slavonic Dance No. 1
Grieg - Symphonic Dance No. 2
Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor (Evgeny Kissin on piano)
Ravel - Alborada del gacioso
Strauss - "Dance of the Seven Veils" from Salome
Stravinsky - The Firebird (Danse infernale, Berceuse, and Finale)
Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 1
Dvořák - Slavonic Dance No. 7
Directed for TV by Henning Kasten; Executive Producer was Bernd Hellthaler. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C+
We exclude most of the New Year's galas for having trivial (waltzes and polkas) content. But Dances and Dreams is an exception with 7 masterpieces by famous composers, Evgeny Kissin on piano, and our favorite Chancellor, Frau Merkel, in the audience. We start with maybe the prettiest image of the Brandenburger Gate we’ve seen:
Most of this was really hard music, but with the great Berliner Philharmoniker on stage, it just looked like fun. Anyone lucky enough to see this live will likely long remember it. Here’s what we call an “architectural shot” of the interior of the Philharmonie building. The only problem is that Henning Kasten made this shot while the orchestra was playing. This shot should be made before the concert starts:
Next below is a fair attempt at a whole-orchestra shot. Only problem is the resolution at this range and angle isn’t good enough to let you clearly see what instruments are where. 1080 resolution just doesn’t hack it at this distance (this would look like mush in DVD):
This is a pretty good whole-orchestra shot, but all we see are the backs of the violin players:
Here’s a good part-orchestra shot featuring the all the supporting strings (lower than the violins). This was shot in 2011, early in the era of high-definition video. It better than a DVD, but the cameras today (2020) would give a much sharper image than this:
The close-ups in 2011 looked quite good as you can see below in this image of Kissin:
Alas, we have here an overwhelming case of DVDitis with a fast pace, architectural shots during the performance, way too many shots of Rattle (both close up and over-the-backs-of-musicians), and too much jumping around showing views of small groups and instrument-only shots. Missing are good shots of whole string sections and proper whole-orchestra views. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the next 5 shots below, but when there’s too much of this, you lose sight of the fact that this is a big orchestra playing:
Finally, the sound recording is a little anemic with only 48kHz16 capture and spotty miking and mixing.
So far we have been mostly critical of this recording. But now comes the good news. After hours dealing with challenging stuff like Pelléas et Mélisande, The Pierre Boulez Saal Opening Concert, From the House of the Dead, and Le Grand Macabre, one needs a chance to relax. Dances and Dreams is a terrific choice for this as the pieces played are fantastically entertaining. The music is so beautiful and well done by the orchestra and Kissin! Who cares if the the video is a mess. And the pleasure is enhanced if one can grab a beer or make a margarita. It’s almost as much fun as watching another waacking battle on YouTube!
Now for a grade. We knock this title down from A+ to D+ for the miserable DVDitis. But for such enticing music, we relent and boost the grade to C+. Maybe it deserves a B+. Maybe one day the Berliner Phil will to do this program again with 96kHz24 sound, up-to-date PQ, and video content optimized for HD display in the HT! Then you would have an A+ disc for sure.
Here's an official YT clip (looks better on our computer monitor than the disc looks in our HT). Alert! Trailer contains flagrant DVDitis.
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