Alfano: Cyrano de Bergerac/Placido Domingo (Unitel Classica) + Wagner: Der fliegende Hollander (Opus Arte) + La Petite Danseuse de Degas (ArtHaus) + Verdi: La Traviata – Royal Opera House (Opus Arte) + Szymanowski: Symp. 1 & 2 (Audio-Only
Blu-ray) + Puccini: Tosca: Royal
Opera House (ArtHaus/Unitel Classica) + Handel: Theodora (C Major/Unitel Classica) + Vladimir Jurowski: Orchestra In The Age Of Enlightenment (Ideale
Audience/Naxos Blu-rays) + Joshua Bell:
Nobel Prize Concert (Accentus DVD)
Picture: C+/B-/B-/B-/X/C+/B-/C+/C+ Sound: B Extras: C/C+/B-/C+/C/C/C/C+/C+ Concerts: B (Degas: B+/Wagner, Theodora, Tosca, Verdi :B-)
Now for a
look at the new batch of Classical, Ballet and Opera titles from the great
distributor Naxos…
Alfano: Cyrano de Bergerac is a nice change of pace from all
the standard play and drama versions that have sometimes missed the nuances
that makes the original story such a fun classic. This joins Steve Martin’s Roxanne as the kind of alternate
version we should be seeing more often and no less than Placido Domingo has the
title role and Sondra Radvanovsky as Roxanne in this Opera by Henri Cain. I was actually surprised this worked so well
since too many recent versions have been tired and by the numbers, but this one
with Patrick Fourniller conducting and Michal Znaniecki directing on stage is
consistent all the way and fans of the story will be surprised and
pleased. A booklet and trailers for four
other Blu-rays are the only extras.
The
Nederlands Philharmonic Orchestra has taken Wagner: Der fliegende Hollander and turned it into a modern tale of
shipwrecked survivors and though the results can be mixed, they are also
interesting and a nice twist on the classic that retains the composer’s music
in the purest sense (is that opening not from another Wagner work?), but the
use of faux black and white in parts rings phony and this take just misses the
mark overall. Still, it is worth your
time if you are a fan. Extras include
Cast Gallery and Insights & Interviews on the BD, plus the usual thick,
informative booklet.
Easily
the best work here and the biggest surprise, La Petite Danseuse de Degas is an exceptional and exceptionally
powerful ballet that might now be my favorite ballet Blu-ray next to the
Criterion Collection release of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (reviewed elsewhere on
this site) and the best outright concert.
This stunningly powerful tale of the artist Degas (who you might know
from his painting that inspired the Nicole Kidman hit feature film Moulin Rouge, which has nothing on this
concert) conducted by Koen Kesseles with Patrice Bart’s amazing choreography
and Denis Levaillant’s music live from the Opera Garnier with the Corps de
Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris.
It is
smart, powerful, cutting edge, stunning, non-stop and has some of the most
complex ballet dancing we have seen to date.
If I were introducing the art form to someone, I would show them this
disc. Dancer/actors include Clairemarie
Osta, Dorothée Gilbert, Mathieu Ganio, José Martinez, Benjamin Pech, Elizabeth
Maurin, Stephanie Romberg and Emmanuel Thibault.
Extras
include a great booklet in the BD case and interview with Bart, Levaillant and
the originators of the concept of this show: Patrice Bart and Martine Kahane. For more on Degas, you might want to try this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1578/Degas+&+The+Dance+(Art)
The third
Blu-ray of Verdi: La Traviata comes from
The Royal Opera House and Opus Arte label is good, but not as strong as the
following two previous versions we have covered in the past. They include this popular Italian ArtHaus
edition:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7681/Giuseppe+Verdi%E2%80%99s+La+Tra
…and this
great version by Lorin Maazel from Opus Arte and Art Haus:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9772/Joaquin+Achucarro+%E2%80%93+Bra
Though
still nicely done, the previous Blus deliver surprisingly exceptional
interpretations of one of the most well-known Operas of all time. Still, fans will want to see all three and
judge for themselves. This one is by the
Royal Opera House with the great Renée Fleming, Joseph Calleja and Thomas
Hampson, conducted by Antonio Pappano and directed by Richard Eyre. It is still top rate, but doing this well is
a major task and maybe seeing it done so well spoiled this for me a bit, but it
still has some solid moments just the same.
Extras include a Cast Gallery and Pappano interviewing Fleming on the BD
and the usual thick, informative booklet.
The
latest of the Audio-Only is if a composer we have actually never really covered
before. Antoni Wit is back with the
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra performing Karol
Szymanowski: Symponies 1 & 2. in an impressive 53+ minutes program of a
work the composer disowned for whatever reasons. It is my opinion all such composers should
have several of their works in print in recoded form all the time, so this is
as welcome a volume of this series as any to date and sounds as good as any of
them, but more on that below. Though
offering small print, a paper booklet with a few pages is the only extra.
Our
second Blu-ray of Puccini: Tosca
comes from ArtHaus/United Classica is simply a reissue of the same title Naxos and TDK issued a few years ago. Here is the review:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8216/Puccini%E2%80%99s+Tosca+(Naxos/T
I think
this is very good, but I was not as big a fan as my fellow writer was of it,
but we both agree it is a solid work, though I still felt it too had some
missteps. Still, the fact that is has
been reissued shows how popular it remains to Blu-ray and Opera fans.
Handel: Theodora (C Major/Unitel Classica) is
another lesser known or exposed work by the composer that deserves more like Orlando
does (you can read about it at the link to the first Verdi Blu-ray review link above) and is staged by Christof Loy form
the 2009 Salzburg Festival. Remarkably,
the case claims this is the first-ever staged version and though I did not
always like the approach, anyone interested should see it just for being such a
special commemorative performance as the title character (Christine Schafer)
would rather die than not live with being able to practice her faith. That is what makes these Blu-ray releases so
special; you never know what ambitious projects will be issued. An informative booklet is included as the
only extra.
Vladimir Jurowski: Orchestra In
The Age Of Enlightenment (Idéale Audience/Naxos) follows a terrific Richard Strauss/Maurice
Ravel Blu-ray that Jurowski and pianist Helene Grimaud did for the same company
recently that I still really enjoyed, as this link will confirm:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10551/Michael+Nyman+Collections+(DVD/C
Now
Conductor Jurowski is back with a terrific performance of three Beethoven
works: Coriolan Overture Op. 62 along with Symponies Nos. 4 & 7 that are
among the best versions I have ever heard.
Note how consistent and smart “II. Allegretto” is from Symp. 7. This only confirms my Jurowski is one of the
best conductors in the business and I will look forward to his next works with
even higher expectations. This is
definitely some of the best Beethoven on the market and that is not easy,
making this my second favorite release on this list. Extras include trailers and a good booklet on
the work.
Finally
we have our sole DVD this time around, Joshua
Bell: Nobel Prize Concert which features Violinist Bell joining The Royal
Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Sakari Oramo performing
Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Jean Sibelius.
It is one of the best concerts here, is well recorded and delivers
nicely.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the seven Blu-rays with
picture to offer have good color, but the definition and motion blur between
them varies. Cyrano and Tosca just
have too much motion blur or detail issues and the result is that they are on
the weak side, but are still pricey-looking productions. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on
Nobel is also soft, but that is to
me more expected from the older format, but we expect a Blu-ray would look
better.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless on all eight Blu-rays is actually great
with fine soundfields in all cases and oddly, the standard DTS on Bell is also
exceptionally rich and nearly the equal of the other Blu-rays. PCM 2.0 Stereo is also included on all
Blu-rays save Theodora, but cannot
compete with the DTS-MA in any case.
Szymanowski is recorded at and presented at 24 bits but the recording is
88.2 kHz while the playback presentation is 96 kHz, but this is one of the few
such discs in this series that sounds this smooth. Bell has a
third soundtrack option in Dolby Digital 5.1 lossy playback, but it is not as
good as the DTS.
- Nicholas Sheffo
