Der Zwerg/Der zerbrochene Krug/LA Opera (Art Haus Blu-ray) + Wagner’s Ring Cycle Highlights/Mehta (Unitel Classica Blu-ray) + Cello/Master Class/Maria Klieger (Naxos
DVD w/book) + Honegger Comp. Violin
Sonatas/Kayaleh & Stewart + Idil
Biret Archive Ed 1/Liszt + Biret
Archive Ed 8/Beethoven + David L.
Post: String Quartets Nos.. 1 – 4 + Lyapunov
Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2/Yablkonsky + Saint-Saens: Music For Wind Instr./Lemelin + Strauss V.17/Zilina & Pollack/Marco Polo+ Ultimate Opera Series CD Sets: Mozart/Puccini/Verdi/Wagner (Naxos CDs)
Picture:
B-/B-/C+ Sound: B/B/C+/B (B-) Extras: C+/C+/B (CDs: C-) Concerts: B-/Cello: B/Music: B (Post
and Liszt: B-)
Wrapping
up the Naxos-distributed releases for 2010, we look at a few more Blu-rays, a
very impressive DVD and their underrated line of CDs. I give the company credit here because they
were pushing the genre in the format when the major record labels were starting
to give up on Classical Music, but Naxos believed in the genre, produced the
most affordable line of CDs in it so everyone could afford them and now they
are the #1 Classical Music Genre label in the world.
First
comes a rare double feature Classical Blu-ray of Alexander Zemlinsky’s The Dwarf (Der Zwerg) and Viktor Ullmann’s The Broken Jug (Der
Zerbrochene Krug), which are good and makes an interesting pair, both
conducted by James Conlon. However, the
results are mixed and I can see why they are on one Blu-ray. They are worth seeing, but I would like to
see other performances to compare to, though these are rarely performed and the
first time we have seen either. The LA Opera does a good job, but both
seemed a little out of the element.
We
reviewed the Rheingold section of
the Zubin Mehta version of Wagner’s Ring Cycle before and this new
sampler Blu-ray is more of the same. You
can read about our coverage here and we are always covering versions of the
work in general:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9503/Robert+Schumann+%E2%80%93+Gen
The
pleasant surprise this month is an extensive look at how to play the great
instrument the Cello, made easy and
explained in the most thorough, professional way possible by Maria Kliegel in the Master Class DVD series from Naxos that
includes a DVD set with a booklet inside its case and a larger 198 page
softcover book (all inside a slide case) that is remarkable and a gift-level
quality release. Miss Kliegel is someone
who is smart, articulate and has priceless advice on how to handle this
instrument (and more for that matter) that makes this set worth every
penny. I hope this is the beginning of
an extensive series everyone can enjoy and learn from, because I was very
impressed.
That
leaves the CDs, which includes four double-CD volumes of music by for key
composers: Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and
Wagner, which are solid offerings for fans and those trying to experience a
given legend’s key output. The Ultimate Opera Albums series is
decent and better than expected, not being as generic as it could have been and
are quality compilations featuring various artists throughout. Two CDs from Idil Biret are from another series I had not come across before,
including one on Beethoven (Archive Edition 8 with Sonatas No. 8
& 29) from 1986 and a new one on Liszt
from (Solo Edition 1 with Sonata in
B Minor and Paganini) this year that sounds a little harsher than the older
recording. Marco Polo has Johann Strauss
I, Edition V. 17 as they issued their latest in a long running series with the
Slovak Sinfonietta Zilina and Christian Pollack. With no new widely established audio format,
you can see music artists issuing their works on CD is more than alive and
well, even when the major labels dropped the ball.
Finally,
we have five general Naxos CDs by the Rutgers
Wind Ensemble (Strange Humors
with compositions by Mackey (the title music), Daugherty and Syler) from three
20th Century composers, the Hawthorne
String Quartet playing David L.
Post’s String Quartets Nos. 2 – 4, Saint-Saens
Music For Wind Instruments by Canada’s
National Arts Center Wind Quintet, Sergey
Mikhaylovich Lyapunov’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 from Dmitry Yablonsky and the Russian Philharmonic
Orchestra and Arthur Honegger
Complete Violin Sonatas by Laurence
Kayaleh on violin and Paul Stewart
on Piano.
These are
all competent recordings and well recorded in just about all cases, but I am so
used to the higher quality sound on Naxos Blu-ray and SA-CD releases that this
seemed like a nostalgia trip ion some level, even for the new recordings.
The two
Blu-rays offer 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers that are
a little softer than expected, in each case, though color can be good. The Cello
DVD is at 1.78 X 1 is anamorphically enhanced and is a little softer that
expected and all three have their motion blur issues. However, they are all watchable enough, in
part by simply being so interesting.
All the
Blu-rays have DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless sound mixes that fare better
than their images, which helps, while the Cello
DVD has lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that is just fine for an instructional
project. The CDs have their good old PCM
2.0 16/44.1 Stereo and all sound fine, though the Post and Liszt CDs are a
little digital harsh sounding for the format.
We
already noted the extras on the Cello
set above, while the Blu-rays have trailers and booklets with more information
(in multiple languages, of course) on the performances. The CDs also have their own similar booklets,
but not always as extensive in information.
- Nicholas Sheffo
