This second CD from Daniel Barenboim’s astonishing West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, bringing together young Arab and Israeli musicians, is in many ways even more remarkable than the first. That disc (9/05) had performances of Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Sibelius that were not just finely polished but were warmly heartfelt. The new disc sets the concert in the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Thanks to the efforts of theSpanish authorities – where the orchestra’s summer camp was based – the members of the orchestra were given diplomatic passports, ensuring that towering logistical problems were overcome.

This was the West Bank venue that Barenboim felt would most tellingly promote the aim of the orchestra: to foster dialogue and reconciliation through music. His persistence has certainly borne fruit. Not only was the hall packed, with hundreds sitting in the aisles, the performances bear powerful witness to the deep emotional qualities inspired by Barenboim and his young players.

One might have expected romantic works such as Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony to draw out powerful emotions, but in Mozart and Beethoven the thrust, energy and drive make the emotion just as intense. So in the thrilling account of the finale of Beethoven’s Fifth few will fail to register the gulp-in-throat quality that plainly came over not just the players but the audience, too, vividly conveyed in a full, warm recording.

The Mozart is unashamedly ‘traditional’ with a relatively large body of strings. The four wind soloists impress in the resilience and fine co-ordination of their interplay, led by the outstanding oboist, Mohamed Saleh. The ebb and flow of the playing in their joint cadenza bears witness not just to intensive rehearsal but to their close mutual understanding. The finale could hardly be wittier in the delicious springing of rhythm in these sparkling variations.

In the Beethoven Barenboim takes an emphatic view of the opening ‘Fate knocking on the door’ motif, but then launches into the first movement at exhilarating speed. The mystery of the Scherzo (in which the strings play with wonderfully clean articulation in the Trio) leads to a bold, thrusting finale.

Barenboim’s moving closing speech is followed by Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’, a joyful rather than valedictory account, emphasising its nobility at a steady speed and wonderfully warm. That such magnetic, finely detailed performances stemmed from a single live event makes them all the more remarkable. Like the orchestra’s first disc, this is inspiring.

The complementary two-disc DVD set offers on Disc 1 a 90-minute film about the orchestra, including interviews with the players as well as with Barenboim and the Palestinian co-founder, the late Edward Said, and film of a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp. The second disc offers the concert, and a 17-minute Prologue which explores the formidable problems of getting the players to Ramallah: the Israelis went by way of Tel Aviv, while the Arabs and others arrived via Amman in Jordan. They hated being separated and were visibly moved at being reunited.

The film shows that the Cultural Palace in Ramallah is a very grand building, and the busy city itself not nearly as ruined as one might expect. The film of the concert is just as moving as on CD, though the visuals, homing in on individual players, may be a slight distraction. The result is just as full-blooded, with the gulp-in-throat element no less evident, especially in ‘Nimrod’. Then come the final scenes with the Israeli players, for security reasons, departing in a convoy to Jerusalem within minutes of the end of the concert. During the farewells one player is heard saying: ‘How hard it is not to cry…’