Recorded Music Department

NEW YEAR\'S CONCERT 2014Daniel BarenboimVienna Philharmonic£17Every year hundreds of thousands of people apply to attend the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert – but only a few hundred are successful, spending between €35 and €1,090 per ticket. The live broadcasts attract millions of viewers around the world, who return year after year for the traditional mixture of works by the Strauss dynasty, particularly the two concluding numbers: Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube waltz and Johann Strauss I’s Radetzky March.But the concerts are not the same every year: 2014 was of course the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I and the orchestra specially invited Daniel Barenboim back because of his work towards peace and reconciliation, most prominently with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, which brings together musicians from Israeli, Arab and Iranian territories. The theme of rapprochement permeates the first half of the concert with works such as Josef Strauss’s Palms of Peace waltz and Johann Strauss I’s Caroline Galop, named...