Rattle, Kissin, the Berlin Phil, New Year’s Eve: a delightful prospect – and viewable, by means of this DVD or Blu-ray, for a fraction of the ticket price to the Philharmonie. It’s party time. Everyone, not least the radiantly smiling conductor, is bent on enjoying themselves. The film is crisply lit with a conventional array of shots and camera angles that flow unfussily from one section to another, director Henning Kasten conveying the atmosphere of the occasion and retaining all the generous applause of the packed audience – all the men, I note, in jackets and ties.

Does it merit its preservation on DVD and you shelling out your shekels? The answer is yes – just about. Two of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, which bookend the gala, the Brahms Hungarian Dance and Stravinsky’s ‘Infernal Dance’ are played with irresistible panache. Alborado del gracioso, that showcase of orchestral colour and virtuosity, is lovingly detailed, perhaps a shade too laid-back (certainly compared with Reiner’s thrilling but hard-driven 1957 account).

Then there’s Grieg. The playing of the Berliner’s first oboe in the Symphonic Dance is a thing of delicious beauty. He distinguishes himself again in the Concerto, as does the star soloist, the great Evgeny Kissin, now looking less robotic than of yore but still with that awkward platform manner and other-worldly demeanour. This is among the most thoughtful and poetic accounts of the Concerto that I’ve heard. There’s nothing superficial or preconceived, so that what can often emerge as glib and routine is given, especially in the first subject of the finale, an almost Brahmsian weight and intensity. The first-movement cadenza is particularly impressive, with Kissin beginning niente and working himself up into a fine passion. It is this performance which gives the DVD its raison d’être, one which in half a century will be viewed with the same kind of interest as film of Moiseiwitsch, Cortot et al is viewed today.