Carlos Kleiber: Traces to Nowhwere

Carlos Kleiber: Traces to Nowhere documentary film by Eric Schulz. This documentary has interviews in high-definition video with colleagues and friends of the conductor Carlos Kleiber, plus archival footage in SD. Features interviews with Placido Domingo, Brigitte Fassbender, Michael Gielen, Manfred Honeck, Anne Kirchbach, Veronika Kleiber, Klaus Konig, Karl Friedrich Mess, Otto Schenk, Martha Scherer, Otto Staindl, and Alexander Werner. Camera operation by Fariba Nilchian; sound by Zora Butzke; edited by Peter Klum; sound mix by Cornelius Rapp;  produced by Thomas Niemann; production assistant  was Katja Werner. Released in 2012, disc has PCM stereo sound. Grade: Help!

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Bruckner Symphony No. 7

Bruckner Symphony No. 7. Franz Welser-Möst conducts the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall in 2008. This title, originating with Clasart Film und Fernsehproduktions GmbH, was produced by Herbert G. Kloiber and directed for TV and video by William Cosel. Released 2011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: F

This item has little going for it. True, it was a decent, even maybe great performance. But the sound was not recorded using 96kHz/24 bit sampling technology, which should be the starting point for fine symphony recordings destined to be published Blu-ray form.  There is only 1 hour and 6 minutes of music on the disc, which is a bad value even if the title otherwise were excellent. But this record is plagued with defects in both picture quality and video content.

 Let's start with PQ. The video is loaded with visual noise resulting in soft resolution. For example, there is not a single shot of the sheet music that shows crisp notes on the page. At long range showing the 100% of the orchestra, the faces of the players look as bad or worse than a DVD. We will never know, of course, whether the resolution problem were there from the beginning or crept in later. But having just consulted with the HQV Image Quality Assessment Tool (HD  HQV Benchmark) I'll make a guess about one thing that happened. Somebody tried hard to use what are called spatial noise filters to reduce the noise, and that's why the players look like they have plastic skin (in various shades of yellow, pink, and gray). In addition, there is something wrong with the way the original interlaced video gets converted into the progressive picture for an LCD display or plasma display, and this produces tons of "jaggies." Finally, the video has motion artifacts, which I don't see much in concert titles. Every time Welser-Möst waves his arm, I see jutter.

Someone on the AVScience bulletin board complained about subject PQ. But another member said the music was so good he didn't care about the picture.  This worried me.  I got with John Fort, my gear guru in Dallas, and we viewed this title on up-to-date equipment at his showroom. All the defects were still there, but the video did look better in John's studio than in my HT. (H'm--John has his sofa about 15 feet from the 59" screen, and I sit a lot closer than that because I want to see everything.) Finally, I checked out all my equipment, which passed PQ tests. Then I viewed the Bruckner 7 yet again, and it looked worse than ever.

Now let's turn to picture content. This title has also been issued as a DVD which the DVD folks seem to love. Is it possible that this is a DVD trying to impersonate a HD recording? Well, I don't think so. I think it was shot in HD with weak equipment. I also think the folks who made this video in 2008 knew a whole lot more about DVDs than HDVDs. So we do have here a case of "DVDitis."

DVDitis is a disease which afficts HDVDs when the show was shot to be published as a DVD as well as in high-definition. The low resolution of DVD requires the TV director to rely primarily on close-up shots where the lack of resolution will not be noticed by the customer. Started differently, if you have to shoot for DVD, you can't use many shots of large sections of the orchestra or the whole orchestra. So the typical DVD consists of a great many shots of the conductor cut quickly to close-up shots of one or two players in a rather frantic effort to keep the show moving.

If the TV director is required to present the show in high-definition video with the same content required for the DVD, the result will be a bad HDVD. That I think is what happen with this Bruckner 7. For more on what makes a good HDVD of a symphony concert, see our special artcle Standards for Grading Symphony Orchestra Concerts of Symphonies, Concertos, and other Large-scale Compositions.

So what do we make of this Blu-ray Bruckner 7? If you want to see a performance of this music, buy the DVD. If you have elite gear in your HT, money to burn, and you sit far from the screen, you might be happy with this HDVD. But there are so many better things to do with your time. Grade: F.

Update on Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 6:50PM by Henry McFadyen Jr.

For another Cleveland Orchestra  "F" rated title from Clasart Film und Fernsehproduktions GmbH (also produced by Herbert G. Kloiber and directed for TV and video by William Cosel), see Des Knaben Wunderhorn recently published by Accentus.

Il trittico

Puccini Il trittico with three one-act operas directed 2007 by Christina Pezzoli at the Teatro Comunale di Modena. They are:

1. Il tabarro to libretto by Giuseppe Adami. Stars Alberto Mastromarino, Amarilli Nizza, Rubens Pelizzari, Alessandro Cosentino, Alessandro Spina, Annamaria Chiuri, Roberto Carli, Chiara Moschini, and Allessandra Cantin.

2. Suor Angelica to libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. Stars Amarilli Nizza, Annamaria Chiuri, Elisa Fortunati, Paola Leveroni, Katarina Nikolič, Paola Santucci, Alice Molinari, Camilla Laschi, Alessandra Caruccio, Alessandra Cantin, Paola Leggeri, Margherita Pistoni, Tiziana Tramonti, Beatrice Sarti, Dan-I Kuo, and Chiara Moschini.

3. Gianni Schicchi to libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. Stars Alberto Mastromarino, Amarilli Nizza, Annamaria Chiuri, Andrea Giovannini, Alessandro Cosentino, Tiziana Tramonti, Grigorij Filippo Calcagno, Maurizio Lo Piccolo, Alessandro Spina, Mirko Quarello, Katarina Nikolič, Gian Luca Ricci, Alessandro Busi, Romano Franci, and Antonio Manosperti.

Julian Reynolds directs the Orchestra della Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, the Coro Lirico Amadeus---Teatro Comunale di Modena (Chorus Master Stefano Colò) and the Coro di Voci Bianche del Teatro Comunale di Modena (Chorus Master Melitta Lintner). Sets by Giacomo Andrico; costumes by Gianluca Falaschi; lighting by Cesare Accetta; directed for TV by Loreena Kaufmann. Released  2012, disc has 7.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. This is the same disc as an earlier Il trittico released by TDK in 2009; it appears to be the same as the earlier release except for the artwork. As such, we have reproduced the mini-review from the  2009 article. Grade: A

Puccini's Il trittico or Triptych has three one-act operas with two obvious things in common. First, each has a corpse; second, each work is completely different from the others. Il tabarro is opera verismo laden with social criticism; Suor Angelica a work of inspiration with a supernatural miracle; Gianni Schicchi is a boisterous comedy with no redeeming feature except that it's a great way to trick children into watching an opera. This was my first experience with Il trittico, and I'm glad I watched it cold. I was expecting to be bored with the two relatively unknown works leading up to the famous Gianni Schicchi. So I was surprised to find both Il tabarro and Suor Angelica to be completely absorbing. Now I understand why Puccini insisted that all three of these operas should be presented only together on the same program.

I'm also ashamed to admit that before I saw this HDVD, I had never heard of Modena, its opera house, of Cristina Pezzoli, or of Amarilli Nizza. Well, now I have learned there are opera houses all over Italy with rich production traditions. Such a house in a town of 200,000 Italian souls can produce, using 100% Italian signers, a show that can compete with the work of the most famous and best-financed opera companies in the world. This is exactly what Pezzoli pulled off. Every aspect of the music, direction, acting, settings, costumes, and lighting is exemplary. And don't think this was a small task because each opera in this work is short. There are 43 credited roles in this disc, and only three singers appear in all three operas. The three sets have nothing in common. Back stage at Il trittico is going to be a busy place!

These operas here have another thing in common that is not so obvious: Amarilla Nizza sings lead soprano in all three. Il tabarro demands plenty of the female lead, especially in the acting department. Suor Angelica is totally draining in all departments. In Gianni Schicchi the lead lady gets a little rest---all she has to do is nail one of the most famous of all arias ("O mio babbino caro"). Most productions of Il trittico are cast with two or three sopranos. But Nizza handles all the different roles, and she does it so well that I didn't realize until I studied the keep case booklet that I had seen the same soprano three times!

The video, sound, and production work on this disc are excellent. The keep case are fine, and TDK elected not to waste our time with inane extras. It appears that most if not all the singers on on this disc are native speakers of Italian. And guess what---TDK gives us Italian subtitles. Now this is a nice bonus--- a chance to learn some more opera Italian. 

Il barbiere di Siviglia

Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia opera to libretto by Cesare Sterbini. Directed 2011 by Stefano Vizioli at the Teatro Regio di Parmi. Stars Ketevan Kemoklidze, Luca Salsi, Dmitry Korchak, Giovanni Furlanetto, and Bruno Praticò. Andrea Battistoni conducts the Orchestra of the Teatro Regio di Parma. Sets by Francesco Calcagnini. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: Help!

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Le coq d’or

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Le coq d’or opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2002 by Ennosuke Ichikawa at the Théâtre Musical de Paris, Châtelet. Stars Albert Schagidullin, Ilya Levinsky, Andrei Breus, Ilya Bannik, Olga Trifonova, and Yuri Maria Saenz. Kent Nagano conducts the Orchestre de Paris and the Chorus of The Mariinsky Theatre. Stage direction by Isao Takashima; set design by Setsu Asakura. Released in 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: Help!

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Giselle

Giselle ballet.  Music by Adolphe Adam to libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges & Théophile Gautier. Choreographed  by Patrice Bart and Eugène Polyakov based on Petipa tradition and performed 2006 at the Opéra National de Paris,  Palais Garnier. Stars Laëtitia Pujol, Nicolas Le Riche, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Wilfried Romoli, Richard Wilk, Natacha Quernet, Danielle Doussard, Stéphane Elizabé, Myriam Ould-Braham, Emmanuel Thibault, Emilie Cozette, and Laura Hecquet. Paul Connelly directs the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris. Sets by Alexandre Benois realized by Silvano Mattei; costumes by Benois realized by Claudie Gastine; lighting realized by Marc Anrochte; directed for TV by François Roussillon. Released  2012, disc has 7.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

This is the exact same title that was released in 2009 by TDK.  It appears TDK is phasing out of HDVD and the rights to their titles are being taken up by others. The rest of this mini-review is based on the review we gave the TDK version earlier.

With this Arthaus version, we have 3 Giselle HDVDs. From Opus Arte we have the  Cojocaru/Kobborg/Nuñez version by the Royal Opera House ("ROH"). We have the Pujol/Le Riche/Gillot version from the Paris Opera Ballet ("POB") which beginning 2012 is being sold by Arthaus.  Finally we have  a Kultur 2010 Tsygankova/Varga/de Jongh take with the Dutch National Ballet ("DNB"). This review will present a brief shootout of the three titles.

In Act 1, we meet the tender, innocent peasant girl Giselle who is in love with the handsome Albrecht. Albrecht pretends to be a peasant youth, but he's really a nobleman who is engaged to a girl of his own class. Giselle's mother Berthe warns Giselle of the dangers of romance and tells Giselle about the Wilis, the ghosts of jilted girls who died before their weddings and who haunt the nearby forest. Hilarion, a peasant hunter who loves Giselle, is suspicious of Albrecht. When Hilarion reveals Albrecht's identity and his duplicity, Giselle goes mad and dies. Everyone is distraught, including Albrecht, who, we begin to understand, truly preferred Giselle to the noble lady with whom he has been matched.

In Act 2, Giselle has been buried in the forest. 26 Wilis and their Queen, Myrtha, prepare to receive Giselle as their latest initiate. Giselle will then help them accomplish their mission: to trap young men (whether guilty or innocent) and force them to dance until they die from exhaustion. Hilarion visits Giselle's grave and meets his doom. Albrecht also visits Giselle's grave and is captured by the Willis. But Giselle rebels and protects her sweetheart just long enough for the dawn to arrive and disburse the Willis. Albrecht escapes, but he must live out his life knowing that he will never see his true love again.

In Act 1, the ROH has the best mise-en-scène with updated sets, warm lighting, beautiful costumes, great acting, and coherent direction. Everybody in the cast, selected for acting ability or sex appeal as well as dancing prowess, seems 2 to 10 years younger than their French counterparts in the POB. Picture quality is excellent with vivid and skillfully editing. The sound is adequate. Cojocaru is cute and charming. Her mad scene is deeply pathetic. She stabs herself and then dies hard, which means that she will be buried in the forest, and not in the churchyard, where those who commit suicide are not allowed. Sandra Conley is touching as Giselle's mother, Martin Harvey as Hilarion is appealing, and Johan Kobborg as Albrecht seems worthy of sympathy, especially after we meet his fianceé played haughtily by Genesia Rosato, who appears to be 5 to 10 years older than he. In contrast, the approach of the POB to Act 1 is cooler and more formal. It features larger dancing formations---executed with impressive skill--- that need full-stage photography. I get the impression that the sets and costumes have been packed and unpacked a great many times. Pujol is maybe a bit too old and mature to be the Giselle the girl, but she makes up for this with her assured dancing skills. For example, there is a scene where Giselle hops repeatedly on pointe on her left foot. Cojocaru does 24 small hops which are hardly noticable among all that is going on. But Pujol makes an almost unbelievable display of this with 34 big, bold hops that take her half across the stage while she laughs and flirts with all the spectators standing around gawking. The other stars are only OK. Picture quality is a bit disappointing, but the POB has the better sound with 7.1 dts-HD Master Audio. The Kultur video was made from the first ever production of Giselle by the DNB. For the Dutch folks to compete with the ROH and the POB in this might be a bit like Lichtenstein getting into a soccer tournament with England and Brazil. The DNB forces obviously had a lesser budget than the others and their small forces looked rather thin on the big stage. On the other hand, Varga seemed to me to be the best Albrecht in this group. Kultur is entering the market at a lower price point than Opus Arte or TDK. This means Kultur has to cut corners---picture quality is only adequate and the "5.1 Dolby" sound is feeble when compared to the TDK disc.

Act 2 is a ghost story in ballet blanc. Now the tables are turned in favor of the formal approach of the POB. Marie-Agnès Gillot is commanding as Queen of the Wilis, a task that is too much to ask of the younger and shorter Nuñez. Pujol is prettier as as ghost than she was as a girl. The cool lighting of the POB is perfect now, with a mottled blue-white pattern that allows you to see well enough while preserving a sense of mystery. The blue light washes out the pink skin hues to the point that the dancers look as well as dance like spirits. At Myrta's command, the veils of all the jilted girls instantaneously fly offstage as if by magic. The cameras in Paris are positioned in the balconies where they look down on the stage and reveal the exact location, rank and file, of each dancer at every moment throughout all their formations. This gives us rolling proof of the discipline, control, and perfection for which the Paris female corps is famous. (If their formations were any more orderly, it would start to look like a computer simulation.) In contrast, the cameramen in London shoot Act 2 from positions level with the stage. This they do, I think, in an (only partly successful) attempt to obscure irregularities and raggedness in the ROB ballet-blanc formations. This leaves the female corp of the POB in charge. But let's don't forget about the Dutch! Igone de Jongh is gorgeous and terrifying as Myrtha. Varga bests his competition in portraying Albert's grief. And the Dutch corps worked hard on their white formations, which are better than those of the ROH and almost as impressive as the work of the POB.

So here's how I sum up the 3 Giselles. Act 1 is a the story of a girl who died. Act 2 is a ghost story. The ROH focuses on the girl and has the best Act 1. The POB focuses on the ghosts and has the best Act 2. The DNB has only a fair Act 1, but they surpass the ROH and are competitive with the POB in Act 2. The prettiest scene in all three versions belong to the DNB when the corps circles Myrtha in the smoke at the beginning of Act 2. For young children and ballet newbies, the ROH disc will probably be more fun. For all others, the POB disc must be preferred because of it's admirable white scenes and superior sound. The DNB disc would be an option if you are in Region A, have an entry-level home theater, and you are on a tight budget.

Tosca

Puccini Tosca opera to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Directed 2010 by Renzo Giacchieri at the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genoa in Italy. Stars Daniela Dessì, Fabio Armiliato, Claudio Sgura, Nikolay Bikov, Paolo Maria Orecchia, Max De Angelis, Angelo Nardinocchi, Roberto Conti, and Luca Arrigo. Marco Boemi conducts the Orchestra, Chorus (Chorus Master Franco Sebastiani) and Boys' Chorus (Chorus Master Gino Tanasini) of the Teatro Carlos Felice. Set design by Adolf Hohenstein as recreated by Ettore Rondelli; also sets by the Fondazione Teatro dell'Opera di Roma; lighting design by Renzo Giacchieri; directed for TV by Andrea Dorigo. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: Help!

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