Mussorgsky & Borodin – Berlin
Philharmoniker/Rattle (EuroArts
Blu-ray) + Verdi – Simon
Boccanegra/Mariotti (ArtHaus Blu-ray) + Art Of Chopin (Ideale Audience DVD) + Batons, Bows & Bruises (History Of The Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra DVD/CD Set) + Rossi – Cleopatra
(Naxos DVD) + Karita Mattila – Helsinki
Recital (Ondine DVD/CD Set) + King
Roger (C Major/Unitel DVD) + Mozart
– Cosi fan tutte & Don Giovanni
(Unitel DVD Sets) + Schumann – Op. 39
(SWR DVD/CD)
Picture: B/B-
(Blu-rays)/C+ (DVDs, save Schumann,
C) Sound: B (Mattila, Baton CD: B-/Baton
DVD, Schumann: C+) Extras:
C (Chopin, Cleopatra, Mattila, Schumann: C-) Main Programs: B (Batons, Cleopatra, Mattila, Schumann: C-)
With more
DVD product than usual for the month of August 2010, Naxos
has issued some key classic documentary material that should be on the market
and they continue to support all formats as the following will show:
Mussorgsky & Borodin – Berlin
Philharmoniker/Rattle
(EuroArts Blu-ray) is the best-looking of all the releases since the 1080i HD
camera does not have to move much, showing conductor Sir Simon Rattle and his
orchestra doing the entire program on camera with no stage performers to sing
or dance to an opera or ballet. Mussorgsky’s
Pictures At An Exhibition and Borodin’s
Prince Igor and Symphony No. 2 in B minor are featured and this plays well since he
is a superior conductor. The DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix is fine and has an impressive soundfield, plus a
fine booklet on the show is included inside the Blu-ray case. You can read more about the Rattle Blu-ray
where he performs classics by Stravinsky,
Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10035/Anderszewski+%E2%80%93+Voyage
Verdi – Simon Boccanegra/Mariotti (ArtHaus Blu-ray) is the first
time we have covered the lesser-heard/seen opera, but I was pleasantly
surprised at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna performers and locale, a place that
displays the arts well. Though we get
some softness and motion blur in the 1080i HD picture, the DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) lossless 5.1 sound is more impressive and well recorded as conductor
Michele Mariotti and stage director George Gallione back a fine cast including
Roberto Frontali as the title character.
A booklet is also included.
Art Of Chopin (Ideale Audience DVD Set) is an
exceptional documentary about the composer, his life and influence, directed by
Gerald Caillat, showing how distinct his work is among the masters through
interviews, history and examination of the work that runs an hour and could
have been even longer. Still, it is
thorough and comes with a 90 minutes bonus concert from 2009 conducted by
Garrick Ohlsson with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Antoni Wit. Both programs are in anamorphically enhanced
1.78 X 1 video, though the picture on both is a little weak. The documentary is PCM 2.0 Stereo, while the
concert is DTS 5.1 (with slightly lesser Dolby Digital 5.1) and comes with an
informative booklet.
Batons, Bows & Bruises gives us the History Of The Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra in a DVD/CD set designed to be a crash course on one of
the most important orchestras around. We
learn about how Sir Thomas Beecham made it all possible and how it had to
change and adapt when it finally lost its giant of a leader. The 1.33 X 1 picture has aliasing errors and
is soft, but features loads of vintage film and video footage worth seeing. The bonus CD included to hear the orchestra
is going to sound better than the Dolby Digital 2.0 sound on the DVD, but not
as much as expected since the recordings included can show their age and sonic
limits. However, this is a great story,
very historical and the booklet included in the foldout DigiPak case is well
written.
Rossi – Cleopatra (Naxos DVD) has Dimitra
Theodossiou in the title role of the Lauro Rossi opera that is not seen or
heard as much as you would think considering the continued popularity of the
legend that the woman was and the fascination still around about her. David Crescenzi conducts the Orchestra
Filarmonica Mrachigiana in Marcerata,
Italy and we
get a fine performance with a great cast.
I was not overwhelmed, but it may be the material and/or some of the
presentation, so I hope to revisit the piece in another release. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 video is
weaker than expected with noise, motion blur and detail issues, though a
Blu-ray should play better, while the concert is DTS 5.1 at best and sounds
fine, even over the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes. A booklet is included.
Karita Mattila – Helsinki Recital is from Ondine and we have the
DVD/CD set, though note a Super Audio CD (SA-CD) has also been issued that
likely has the best sound of all. A superior
soprano, Miss Mattila shows her power and command of phrasing and range on
classic works by the likes of Duparc, Saariaho, Rachmaninov, Dvorak, Young and
Finnishtrad in this extensive program that shows what an actual diva is all
about. No posers allowed. Taped at the Finnish National Opera in 2006,
it is a substantial showcase that is much more hit than miss. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 video is
very weak however and is the biggest disappointment of the titles here, with
watered down image, motion blur, aliasing errors and other flaws that should
not be here. The Dolby Digital 5.0 is on
par with the PCM 2.0 Stereo on the DVD, while the PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo CD is
a little better sonically, but audiophiles should go SA-CD if they can or wait
for a Blu-ray.
King Roger is Karol Szymanowski’s 1926 opera
issued in this Felix Breisach-directed production on C Major/Unitel Classica
DVD, though please note a Blu-ray is also available. Sir Mark Elder conducts the Wiener
Symphoniker in this very well produced, energetic, impressive performance that
is one of the best of the titles here.
Scott Hendricks is the lead and I liked the use of lighting and
especially color, while the dancers and singers were great. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 video
from what is likely a 1080i shoot is a little weak with motion blur and
softness, but I bet the Blu-ray would look better. The DTS 5.1 mix is excellent and better than
the decent PCM 2.0 Stereo mix, both form the well-recorded master and an
informative booklet is also included. I
hope to see an alternate performance down the line to compare.
Mozart – Cosi fan tutte & Don Giovanni are here as separate Unitel Classica and EuroArts DVD sets
(with the ORF) from Wiener Philharmoniker performances staged by Claus Guth and
directed for video by Brian Large.
Though we have covered both classics in Blu-ray editions by other
artists, these are just as good as and even better than past productions with
an uncanny sense of effectiveness that both updates the works for modern times,
yet keeps all the classical sense and feel intact, which is not easy to
do. Instead of mere time transplants,
the performances have the flow that brings life to the original work in ways
that make you forget you are watching something created a long time ago. The result is two shows that may be long, but
are constantly involving and ones to recommend as among the best Mozart on
video to date. The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 video may both be a little soft and weak with motion blur,
some noise and some detail issues, but I would love to see Blu-ray editions,
which both deserve. The DTS 5.0 is
strong on both releases and even more so than the Dolby Digital 5.0 and PCM 2.0
Stereo also included. Both have bonus
booklets inside their cases.
Robert Schumann – Op. 39 from SWR and Hanssler Classic is
a DVD/CD set that has baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Hartmut Hool (on Klavier)
in another musician-in-camera show that is very good and the oldest of the
programs here. It is also an all
German-language DVD/VD release that unless you know your classics, you may have
trouble navigating. However, the
performance is solid enough to suffer though, but the 1.33 X 1 video is the
weakest here and of almost all the Naxos material we have seen over the years,
despite the likelihood this is a PAL taping, with aliasing errors, digititis,
staircasing and other issues that can make watching this, very, very
trying. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
also basic, though more in line of what you would expect from that format and
codec with limited separation and its usual compression limits. Fortunately, the CD included has solid PCM 2.0
16/44.1 Stereo and features works by Schumann, Liszt and Ullmann by the same
duo and is impressive for the old format.
An informative booklet is included.
- Nicholas Sheffo
