Barber: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14/Korngold: Much Ado about Nothing Suite Op. 11
There have been so many great recordings of all of the  important masterpieces that critics and listeners are often justified in  thinking that there's no point in recording them yet again. Then along comes a  recording like this one, which revives one's faith in the future of classical  music. Gil Shaham is competing with classic performances by Isaac Stern in the  Barber, and Jascha Heifetz in the Korngold. And he's as good as either of them,  not to mention far more impressively recorded. In particular, the Korngold  Concerto--a masterpiece just now coming into its own--has never sounded so  resplendent. What a great disc!--David Hurwitz