Waldbuhne 2000 - Rhythm & Dance (Gershwin, Ravel, Sousa) / Nagano, Berlin Philharmonic
This outdoor concert at the Waldbuehne Berlin from the summer of 2000 by  the Berlin Philharmonic is a curious melange of classical pieces, show tunes,  pops, and Far Eastern music, all brought together into a tasty musical stew.  Starting things off with Leonard Bernstein's overture fromCandide,  conductor Kent Nagano and the Berliners also show off their versatility with two  Ravel pieces ("La Valse" and the second suite from his balletDaphnis et  Chloe). Sisters Mari and Momo Kodama are the piano soloists in Jean Pascal  Beintus's delightful "He Got Rhythm: Homage to George Gershwin"; in Zhao  Jiping's orchestral suite fromFarewell My Concubine, a myriad of  percussionists straddle the line between Eastern and Western music. After that,  American soprano Susan Graham offers red-hot renditions of various Gershwin  classics like "Summertime," "Someone to Watch over Me," and "The Man I Love"  before Nagano and the Berliners wrap things up neatly with a sizzling suite from  Bernstein'sOn the Town.--Kevin Filipski