Here is the gala concert from 16 April 2007 – an 80th birthday tribute to Pope Benedict XVI – when more than 7000 guests filled the vast Paul VI Audience Chamber at the Vatican to greet the Pontiff and to enjoy a concert programme that he himself helped select. The featured performers are two outstanding young classical musicians: the American violinist Hilary Hahn and the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, along with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) from the Pope’s native Germany.
Hilary Hahn and Gustavo Dudamel are seen and heard here performing two beloved masterpieces, Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 3 in G major and Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony. The Stuttgart Radio Brass also provide a splendid framework for the concert with music by the Venetian composer Giovanni Gabrieli, the 12-part canzona “noni toni” from his 1597 Sacrae symphoniae as well as his 8-part Sonata XIII.
1. Opening Credits / Birthday Concert / Dudamel
2. Greetings by Willi Stächele
3. Greetings by Prof. Peter Voss
4. Canzon noni toni a 12, C 183 (rev. by T. Unger)
5. Allegro (Mozart, Violin Concerto No.3 in G, K.216)
6. Adagio (Mozart, Violin Concerto No.3 in G, K.216)
7. Rondo (Allegro) (Mozart, Violin Concerto No.3 in G, K.216)
8. Adagio - Allegro molto (Dvorák, Symphony No.9 in E minor, Op.95 "From the New World")
9. Largo (Dvorák, Symphony No.9 in E minor, Op.95 "From the New World")
10. Scherzo (Molto vivace) (Dvorák, Symphony No.9 in E minor, Op.95 "From the New World")
11. Allegro con fuoc o(Dvorák, Symphony No.9 in E minor, Op.95 "From the New World")
12. Sonata XIII (rev. by T. Unger) (Giovanni Gabrieli)
13. Words of thanks and blessing by Pope Benedict XVI (Giovanni Gabrieli)
