Documentary

Fuoco Sacro

in

Fuoco Sacro (Sacred Fire) is a “behind-the-scenes” documentary about opera sopranos with many short video segments of Asmik Grigorian, Barbara Hannigan, and Ermonela Jaho. Most segments come from interviews and rehearsals with piano accompaniment. I normally exclude documentaries about the fine arts as they usually are compiled of trash. But I took a chance, paid retail, and watched this thrice. It’s more trash. My revenge is Grade: D-

The skilled soprano with her high-pitched voice can be heard on the opera stage over all the men on the stage, a chorus, and a huge orchestra. This fierce ability is, I think, the essence of the soprano “sacred fire.” On stage the fire is mollified by the acting, set, costumes, and other music surrounding her. But when the fire is heard solo or with a piano accompaniment, it can be overpowering and even harsh. That’s how these ladies sound much of the time on this disc . . .

Read More

Opéra de Paris: A (Very) Special Season

in

Opéra de Paris: A (Very) Special Season documentary film. Directed by Priscilla Pizzato. Cinematography by Yann Staderoli; edited by Khalid Mamoun; sound by Arnaud Calvar; production manager was Stéphane Garnes; produced by Muriel Meynard. Has bonus interview with Aurélie Dupont and rehearsal scenes with Hugo Marchand, Amandine Albisson, and Mathias Heymann. Released 2022, disc has 2.0 stereo sound. Grade: D+

This title gets off to a bad start because the name isn’t even correct. It’s not a documentary about the Paris Opera. It’s about the Paris Opera Ballet. So a correct name might be Le Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris: une saison (très) particulière. Too long! Maybe the name should be in English: Paris Opera Ballet v. Covid.

We already have La Danse, a “direct cinema” documentary about the Paris Opera Ballet shot in 2008 by Frederick Wiseman. Maybe Pizzato planed to update La Danse before the pandemic arrived. For sure the title we now review was an attempt to salvage something from a broken project. In a slightly shorter version it would make a decent forgettable hour on TV. But now we are asked to buy it and keep it on our shelf . . .

Read More

Marc Quinn Art

in ,

Mark Quinn Art. This is a collection of three previously-released documentaries about the protean plastic artist Mark Quinn:

  • New Directors (1997). A short firm made for Italian TV by Franca Cereghini and Gerald Fox.

  • Life Support. (2000). Another film made for Italian TV with a dream-like journey into the mind of Quinn.

  • Making Waves. (2014). A feature-length movie about Quinn’s work and life.

The logo of Monarda Arts appears on the front cover. But this is an Arthaus Musik product published as Catalog Title No. 109403.

To people active in the world of contemporary art, this will likely be all old news. But to innocent souls like me, this is all new as I never heard of Mark Quinn before. Now that I’ve learned something about him, I’m a bit surprised that I didn’t encounter him earlier. But I’ve never been anywhere when he had a popular show going, nor did I ever happen see any of his famous and unforgettable large works of public art. So I’m excited to get this title and get a bit caught up!

Read More

Ives Universe, Incomplete

in , ,

Charles Ives Universe, Incomplete symphony and performance art piece. Directed 2018 (as a world premiere) by Christoph Marthaler at the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum, Germany as part of the 2018 Ruhrtriennale Festival. Titus Engel is music director for the Bochumer Symphoniker, the Rhetoric Project, and the Schlagquartett Köln with the assistance of multiple student percussion groups. Dancers are Joaquin Abella, Tora Augestad, Liliana Benini, Bérengère Bodin, Marc Bodnar, Magne-Håvard Brekke, Bendix Dethlieffsen, Haizam Fathy, Altea Garrido, Ueli Jäggi, Jürg Kienberger, Antonio J. Navarro, Michael Wilhelmi, Thomas Wodianka, Clements August Becker, and Helmut Schmitt.

Read More

John Cage - Journeys in Sound

in

John Cage - Journeys in Sound documentary film. Directed by Allan Miller and Paul Smaczny to mark the composer's centenary. The film has interviews with Wiliam Anastasi, Irvine Arditti, Dove Bradshaw, Brian Brandt, Merce Cunningham, Julia Henning, Toshio Hosokawa, John Lennon, Mayumi Miyata, Yoko Ono, Wolfgang Rihm, Steffen Schleiermacher, Calvin Tomkins, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, the Ensemble Modern, Schlagquartett Köln, and others. Written by Anne-Kathrin Peitz; edited by Steffen Hermann; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B

Read More

Karajan, Maestro for the Screen

in

Karajan, Maestro for the Screen documentary by Georg Wübbolt. This 52-minute film, produced by Bernhard Fleischer, explores Herbert von Karajan's long interest in making motion picture films of classical music performances to be shown in movie theaters and over TV. There is also a 32-minute bonus performance (directed by François Reichenbach and never released before) of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and Suite (Overture) No. 2 in B minor (BWV 1067) by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Karajan. Original language German; subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese. Released 2015, disc has stereo sound (much of which started as mono). Grade: NA

Read More

Mahler: Origins and Legacy

in ,

Mahler: Origins and Legacy documentary and concert package, part of the "Keeping Score" series. Michael Tilson Thomas directs the San Francisco Symphony. Produced by Michael Bronson; directed for TV by Gary Halvorson. This is a two-disc set. Released in 2011, music was recorded at 48 kHz/24-bit, and discs have 5.1 surround or 7.1 Dolby TrueHD surround sound. Grade: A for the documentary Origins and Legacy and D for Symphony No. 1

Read More

Herbert von Karajan 1965-1966 Movie Documentary

in

Herbert von Karajan 1965-1966 Movie Documentary. This title begins with a 1965 motion picture of Karajan conducting the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 with the Wiener Symphoniker and Yehudi Menuhin. Then comes the 1966 motion picture of Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmoniker in the Dvořák Symphony No. 9 ("New World"). Finally, there are two bonus items in which Karajan discusses the art of conducting with Menuhin and Prof. Joachim Kaiser as well as a few minutes of Karajan in rehearsal. The filming was the work of motion-picture director Henri-Georges Clouzot. Released 2010, the entire title is in 4:3 black and white. It has PCM stereo sound for the music and mono sound for the extras. Grade: X-B-

Read More

The Pyongyang Concert

in ,

In memoriam: Lorin Maazel recently died (July 13, 2014) at age 84. He conducted and led many of the world's most famous symphony orchestras, published more than 300 classical recordings, and earned 10 Grand Prix du Disque awards.

Perhaps Maazel's most singular and unusual achievement was his appearance in 2008 conducting the  New York Philharmonic at a concert in North Korea at the request of the Communist Government of that country. We happen to have an interesting HDVD title about that appearance called The Pyongyang Concert. This title has been, I fear, neglected in recent years. So in honor of Maazel, I thought I should re-review The Pyongyang Concert and provide some screenshots.

The concert in Pyongyang was played and recorded on February 26, 2008. The program was:

1. National Anthem of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or Wongyun's Aegukka
2. The Star-Spangled Banner
3. Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III
4. Dvořák Symphony No. 9 (From the New World)
5. Gershwin An American in Paris
6. Bizet Farandole from L'Arlésienne Suite No. 2
7. Bernstein Candide: Overture (encore)
8. Arirang, a Korean folksong popular in both North and South Korea (encore)

The concert video was directed for TV by Michael Beyer. The music was recorded with 48kHz/24-bit sampling (probably state-of-the-art considering the traveling required) and provided in PCM 5.1 sound.  Still, I doubt the concert would have been released as a recording based on the musical performance alone. The program is rather odd, is afflicted with a brutal case of DVDitis, and is of greater historical than musical interest.

The heart of this title is a unique and impressive documentary called Americans in Pyongyang, directed Ayelet Heller. The documentary was filmed in HDTV and has Dolby Digital stereo sound.  It shows the work done by Maazel, Zarin Mehta (President of the New York Philharmonic), the musicians, and back-stage staff of the orchestra to make this outreach to the people of North Korea. It also covers all the activities of the musicians while in Korea, the concert itself, and further gives us rare glimpes of life in hermit North Korea. To me the documentary is the real story here and the concert is a bonus extra.

This title was produced by Paul Smaczny. He combines the vision of an artist, the wisdom of a philosopher, and the killer instincts of a reporter to help give us what still may have the potential to be the most significant entertainment video ever made. We don't know exactly why the North Koreans asked for this concert. But the reason the New Yorkers went is clearly explained: It might do some good!

The disc was released in 2008. Grade: A for the documentary. I decided not to review or grade the the concert recording itself. It does no harm. You might want to buy the disc for it's Dvořák Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) or some of the shorter numbers. 

Read More

McGregor Going Somewhere

in ,

This title includes two films relating to Wayne McGregor:

  • Going Somewhere is an 80-minute documentary about McGregor as choreographer and is reviewed here.

  • A Moment in Time is a 30-minute performance film, offered as a bonus extra, with three short pieces by McGregor. It has nice music from folks like Joby Talbot, Olafur Arnalds, and Kaija Saariaho recorded at 48kHz/24 bit specs. But it will not be reviewed because it only has stereo sound (and the video also suffers from VHS or DVD-level quality).

Going Somewhere considers the choreographic techniques of Wayne McGregor illustrated by recordings of his work with his own dance group, Random Dance. There are also recordings of his work with stars of the Royal Ballet, experimental work with high school students, and several "science" segments. Directed by Catherine Maximoff; photography by Samuel Dravet; sound by François Waledisch and Henri Maïkoff; editing by Emmanuelle Baude. Released 2014, disc has PCM stereo sound. Grade: D+

Read More

Lang Lang Dragon Songs

in ,

Lang Lang Dragon Songs piano concert and documentary. This title has 3 segments:

1. A documentary and compilation of interviews made in 2005 and 2006 when Lang Lang (then age 23) returned, after making his way for years in the West as a child and young adult, to visit old haunts in China.
2. The "Dragon Songs." This is a recital of about 40 minutes with 6 solo pieces by Lang Lang and 3 pieces in which Lang Lang serves as accompanist backing musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments.
3. A performance by Lang Lang of the Yellow River Piano Concerto made in 2005 at a special patriotic performance.

The documentary and song recital were recorded in HDCAM 1080i and 5.1 digital sound. The Yellow River Piano Concerto was probably recorded for distribution on VHS tape. Released in 2013, the disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C-

Read More

Universe of Sound

in ,

Universe of Sound documentary about a special performance of the Holst The Planets and Joby Talbot's Worlds, Stars, Systems, Infinity. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra. This is the first HDVD from the Signum label (or is it Signum Vision). Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B as a documentary only. (As a concert disc, the grade would be "F".)

Read More

Rite of Spring

in ,

Stravinsky Rite of Spring and music from The Firebird by Stravinsky. Michael Tilson Thomas directs the San Francisco Symphony in a recent performance of  Stravinsky classics as part of the "Keeping Score" outreach program of the San Francisco Symphony. In addition, Thomas narrates an educational program about Stravinsky and Rite of Spring. The concert is in HD; the documentary is in SD. The concert was directed by Gary Halvorson. Otherwise, title was directed and produced by David Kennard, Joan Saffa, and Michael Bronson. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 Dolby TrueHD sound. You should not be especially impressed with the claim that has "up-sampled 96kHz24 bit sound." See our discussion of this gimmick at our review of San Francisco Symphony at 100. Grade: NA

Read More

Pina

in ,

Pina dance film by Wim Wenders. (We know, the title of this is "pina," but we will still use the capital letter "P.") This is a heavy-weight documentary about the choreography of Pina Bausch. The film includes recently commissioned segments of stage performances, original shooting of dancing on locations around Wuppertal, interviews with dancers who knew and worked with Bausch, and archival footage. The package has a 2D movie, a 3D movie + a "making of" extra. There has been massive confusion over the marketing of this title. (It is being sold like a movie; not like a ballet title.) It is available in German, French, Spanish, and Italian releases, all limited to Region B. There is also a Canadian version, a 3-disc box set (2D, 3D, and DVD),  limited to Region A. This may be the best option for those living in the United States with Region A players. We have also learned that the Criterion Collection is planning to release this in the American market in early 2013. By the time you read this, things may have changed further, so beware.  Released 2012, discs have 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

Read More