Arabella
(R. Strauss/Electric Pictures/Unitel Classica)/Pergolesi: Il Prigioner superbo/La serva padrona (ArtHaus)/Dances & Dreams (Berliner
Philharmoniker/Rattle/Kissin/EuroArts)/Itzhak
Perlman/Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/Beethoven (EuroArts Blu-ray + DVD)/Marriage Of Figaro (Opera Australia +
Bel Air/Paris Blu-rays)/Mussorgsky:
Khovanshchina (Nagano/EuroArts/Unitel Classica)/Nabucco (Verdi/Mariotti/Teatro/C Major/Unitel Classica)/Nobuyuki Tsujii: Live At Carnegie Hall
(EuroArts)/Wagner: Die Meistersinger von
Nurnberg (Opus Arte/Naxos Blu-ray)
Picture: B-
(Mussorgsky: C+) Sound: B (Perlman: B-/Nabucco
& Pergolesi: B+) Extras: C+ (Bel Air Figaro & Wagner:
B-/Perlman: C) Main Programs: B (Pergolesi: B+/Mussorgsky:
C+)
Here are
some interesting, quality and recent releases from Naxos
great group of affiliated labels…
Richard
Strauss’ Arabella is the tale of the
title character and her sister Zdenka, both trying to find real live, but their
father is as much of a problem trying to marry them off as just finding a good
man. This libretto was the last written
by Strauss’ co-writer Hugo von Hoffmannsthal who died before this was totally
completed. You would not know that from
the opera performance here taped at the Wiener Staatsoper directed by Sven-Eric
Bechtoff. It is consistently effective
and a nice way to be introduced to this almost-complete work.
Next we
have a rare double feature on one disc. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s
Il Prigioner superbo (aka The Proud
Prisoner in a tale of two men (one a dethroned king) competing for the love
of the same woman) & La serva
padrona (aka The Servant Turned
Mistress) are two recent tapings of these lesser heard and seen operas that
also happen to be one of the best sonic releases on the list. Prigonier
may be slightly better than serva in
this way, but are top rate all around properly paired as semi-comical tales of
romance and the many obstacles in its way and is the best release on this
strong list of releases.
Dances & Dreams from the Berliner Philharmoniker
is the latest release from Simone Rattle and Evgeny Kissin in a classical
program of instrumental music by Dvorak, Grieg, Ravel, R. Strauss, Stravinsky
and Brahms. As I watched, I realized
that we have covered their work before, sometimes together, at these links:
Yefim Bronfman/Simon Rattle:
Tchaikovsky Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10035/Anderszewski+%E2%80%93+Voyage
Mussorgsky & Borodin/Rattle Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10277/Mussorgsky+&+Borodin+%E2%80%9
Warsaw Recital Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10730/Andras+Schiff+Plays+Bach+(EuroArts
Joaquin
Achucarro/Simon Rattle Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11073/Felix+Mendelssohn+Bartholdy+(2011/
This is
as good as any of those predecessors and a solid concert performance all the
way. Especially since it offers more
composers in one show than usual, this is an ideal such release to catch on
Blu-ray more than usual if you are looking for a release with diversity.
The
legendary Itzhak Perlman & The Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra deliver an evening of Beethoven with guests Navah Perlman, Zuill Bailey and Giora Schmidt
playing a Triple Concerto of Symphony No. 6 in F Major and at 90 minutes, is a
real event with talent we do not hear or especially see enough. Also issued on DVD separately from the
Blu-ray, it is one of the best and most memorable Beethoven releases of many we
have covered over the years and is highly recommended.
In an
unexpected turn, we get to cover two versions of Mozart’s all-time classic
comic opera The Marriage Of Figaro in
two different but very effective performances from both Opera Australia at 183 minutes and Paris
via the Bel Air label at 178 minutes. Both
are grand in their own ways, though the Paris version
may be more lush and vintage, yet they are fair representations of the
legendary work. The French version has
the “Le Nozze Di Figaro” title on its cover so you can tell the difference
sooner if you seek both of them out to compare.
They also have some of the bets singing on the list, so you cannot go
wrong with either and big fans will want both.
Conductor
Kent Nagano gives us Mussorgsky:
Khovanshchina in an updated version staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov from the
Bayerische Staatsoper that is not bad, but I had mixed feelings about this
performance. I don’t know if setting it
in a later time and/or with newer items worked, nor did it stay with me, a
result of it playing as uneven when all was said and done. It is still worth a look if you are a fan of
the composer and/or respect him as I do, but I had some misgivings and would
like to see a few more versions to further compare it to.
Giuseppi Verdi’s
Nabucco involves a battle by The
King of Babylon against a group of Jews/Hebrew slaves for control, power and
the future as inter-entanglements prove to add complications for all in a drama
that seems as relevant as ever and has eerie echoes of the situation now going
on in the Middle East insofar as ideas from the Old Testament that this is
based off of seem all too familiar. The
visuals of the slaves purposely reference The Holocaust and that makes this one
of the most challenging releases on this list.
Everyone should see this one at least once.
Next we
have a great concert by a young pianist in Nobuyuki
Tsujii: Live At Carnegie Hall featuring the young, gifted artist from Japan who
happens to be blind and possibly the best pianist of his generation. If not, he is near it delivering great
performances by John Musto, Beethoven, Liszt, Stephen Foster, Chopin, his own
composed tribute “Elegy For The Victims
Of The Earthquake & Tsunami of March 11, 2011” and a version of
Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition so good, even Emerson, Lake &
Palmer would be impressed. At 97
minutes, I had to wonder if a star was b0orn, if I had just seen a legend in
the making at work, a genius now and to be.
We’ll see, but even if he is this good henceforth, I expect Mr. Tsujii
to have a long and enduring career. This
is my personal favorite of all the release son this list.
Finally
we have Richard Wagner: Die
Meistersinger von Nurnberg in a double Blu-ray set (this runs 280 minutes!)
and is not the first time we have covered this epic. You can read more about it at these links:
Lorenz DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8227/The+Essential+Mozart+%E2%80%93
Bayreuth Festival Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10711/Dancing+Across+Borders+(2010/First
This
Glyndebourne production impressed me more than the Bayreuth Festival version ands simply delivered the work in a
fuller way for me, though my fellow writer might have been more impressed with
the Lorenz DVD version just the
same, but this tale of love, wealth and maybe fate with heavy religious
undertones is handled admirably by Conductor Vladimir Jurowski with the London
Philharmonic Orchestra. No, it does not
make me a big fan of it, but at least this time, this one worked for me.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on all the Blu-rays look good
with only limited issues of staircasing, some motion blur or minor detail
issues, but Mussorgsky was just a
bit weaker and more problematic with darkness that could not always resolve
itself and more motion blur than expected to the point that the anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image of Perlman
(which is only slightly less good looking than the Blu-ray version) actually
looks a bit better than this Blu-ray.
All the
Blu-rays have DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes save a DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.0 lossless mix on the Bel
Air Figaro and both Perlman
releases (Blu-ray and DVD) only offer PCM 2.0 Stereo, the alternate track on
the rest of the Blu-rays. The Perlman Blu-ray sounds barely better
and both play additionally well with Pro Logic decoding. The DTS-MA 5.1 on the Nabucco and Pergolesi
Blu-rays are the sonic champs however, with amazing soundfields, exceptional
recordings, solid soundstages and superior dynamic range that will surprise and
impress audiophiles who don’t expect video releases to sound so good.
Extras in
all cases include nicely illustrated, multi-language booklets on their
respective programs and most have trailers for other releases, save the Perlman releases. Arabella,
Wagner and Australia Figaro add Cast Gallery sections, while Wagner adds two featurettes on the
show.
- Nicholas Sheffo
