Conductor Daniel Barenboim was a founder of this orchestra in 1999, uniting young musicians from Israel, Palestine and various Arab countries. This DVD features a concert of Beethoven's Lenore III Overture, Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra and Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony No.6 filmed in 2007 at the Salzburg Festival. A bonus item is Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante K297b from another Salzburg concert.
The pianist-turned-maestro has an original technique, flamboyant at times, but achieves magical results: coaxing great performances of these diverse works drawn from three centuries of classical music, well recorded by the engineers and cameras. This outstanding "youth orchestra" shows heartening harmony and love of music, rather than any sign of Middle East crisis.
Highlight: the Pathetique in full cry!
The young Chinese soloist plays 18 of her favourite concert encores, miniatures showing off her dazzling virtuosity and sensitivity on the keyboard.
(Wang was once drawn to give four encores in Carnegie Hall and can't remember the number demanded at Salle Pleyel, in Paris.)This album's title recalls the Disney film that enchanted her as a child; the programme's longest item is Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas), which was one of that movie's highlights.
Encores are like a haiku, and with these miniatures the pianist successfully captures "a mood or a scent, a hint of atmosphere - a vignette of a memory, or a hope".
Other composers to provide these delights are Rachmaninov, Gluck, Albeniz, Bizet, Schubert, Strauss, Chopin, Scriabin and Saint-Saens. Wow, bravo! Play again!
Highlight: Trish-Trash Polka to Danse Macabre variety.
