Dvořák Symphony No. 8

2017 Europakonzert. Mariss Jansons conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker this year in its traditional "Europakonzert" on May 1 celebrating the founding of the orchestra on May Day. Normally, this event occurs in a different European city in a beautiful venue of historical significance. Performed 2017 at Paphos, Cyprus. The concert was held outdoors in front of the main Byzantine castle at Paphos, Cyprus. Features clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer. Directed for TV by Henning Kasten. Here's the program:

Weber, Overture to Oberon
Weber, Clarinet Concerto No. 1 (Andreas Ottensamer)
Koncz, Hungarian Fantasy on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
Dvořák, Symphony No. 8
Brahms, Hungarian Dance No. 5

Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound, with "high resolution" audio, i.e. 96kHz/24-bit sound sampling. Grade: NA

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.