Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. Michael Tilson Thomas directs the San Francisco Symphony in a performance of Symphonie Fantastique as part of the "Keeping Score" outreach program of the San Francisco Symphony. In addition, Thomas narrates a 55-minute Public Television educational program about Berlioz and the Symphonie fantastique. Released 2009, this disc is 99.5% in high-definition video and has Dolby TrueHD 7.1 sound. Grade: A+
Although I always loved Harold in Italy, I hated most other music by Berlioz, including Symphonie fantastique. Would watching the Keeping Score documentary about Symphonie fantastique make a difference? Thomas is almost as good a speaker and teacher as he is a conductor. The documentary has all the production values you could hope for like gorgeous shots of Paris and other locations in France and Italy, excellent writing based on careful research, and expert movie making. Thomas tells about the life of Berlioz, and he makes the Symphonie fantastique come alive as he explains the themes and aspects of the music in relation to the dramatic loves of young Hector. I then listened 3 times to the live performance of Symphonie fantastique by the San Francisco Symphony. On first listening I was surprised to discover that I didn't hate the symphony any more---so the documentary was working. On second listening I began to wonder, "Is this better than the recording of Symphonie fantastique in HDVD by Ozawa and the Saito Kinen Orchestra?
So for my third listening I did many movement-by-movement comparisons of the Thomas and Ozawa versions. According to Gramophone magazine, the San Francisco Symphony is the 13th best in the world, and the Saito Kinen ranks 19th. And surely you wouldn't expect any festival orchestra to be competitive with the likes of the San Francisco band when they are recording in their own lair (Davies Hall) with its state-of-the art recording facilities. Well, the Saito Kinen group is competitive, and I now have even more respect than before for their singular accomplishments. But the comparison showed me that the Thomas recording is the better of these two HDVDs.
Seeing the musicians perform in HDVD makes what you hear more impressive than merely listening to the music, say, from a CD. The video record of the San Francisco Symphony performance of Symphonie fantastique is probably as good as could be expected with today's technology. The light was bright enough to allow high resolution camera work, but also warm enough to avoid eye-strain and give everybody and everything a healthy glow. The Davies Hall stage is equipped with the normal long range cameras plus special cameras that move about by remote control within the orchestra. Davies Hall also has a command center for the video work that was invented by Dr. Strangelove. It gives Strangelove (here TV director Gary Halvorson, I think) the ability to plan and make many different short close-ups of the musicians in rapid succession throughout the show.
So while Thomas is frantically conducting the mass of players before him, Strangelove is engaged in equally frantic efforts to follow the score and the music in making his movie. The players know this. At any time, and especially when musical ball is passed to him, anybody can become the star! This must be an exciting and intimidating new aspect of working as as classical musician.
Although the mikes are almost invisible, the quality of this recording proves that Davies Hall is extraordinarily well equipped to record the sounds of the musicians. As is pointed out in one of the extras on this disc, when the video shows, say, the concertmaster, his violin is what the viewer hears. Because the TV director in Davies Hall has such extraordinary control over that you see and hear, the TV director becomes a kind of second conductor! Thomas is the conductor from the perspective of the players and the live audience. But Strangelove determines what we get in our home theater. The difference between a great recording and an reference recording comes from the quality of the gear and the skill of staff placed under the control of Strangelove.
This mini-review is getting too long, so I will end by saying that "Keeping Score" changed me from a hater to lover of Symphonie fantastique. Because of the excellent documentary and the brilliant recording, this HDVD belongs on every shelf. This earns for this HDVD the grade of A+.
Charles Ives Holidays Symphony. Michael Tilson Thomas directs the San Francisco Symphony in a recent performance of the Holidays Symphony as part of the "Keeping Score" outreach program of the San Francisco Symphony. In addition, Thomas narrates an educational program about Ives and the Holidays Symphony. Directed for TV by Gary Halvorson. Released 2009, disc has 7.1 Dolby TrueHD sound. Grade: A
Henry McFadyen Jr.
