Beethoven Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 7. Recorded 2010 live at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Vladmir Jurowski conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Program also includes the Coriolan Overture. Directed for TV by Olivier Simonnet. Released 2011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D+
Read MoreHandel Admeto opera to libretto by Nicola Haym or Paolo Antonio Rolli. Directed 2009 by Doris Dörrie as part of the Internationale Handel-Festspiele at the Deutsches Theatre, Göttingen. Singing stars are Tim Mead, Marie Arnet, William Berger, Andrew Radley, David Bates, Kirsten Blaise, and Wolf Matthias Friedrich. Dancing by Tadashi Endo and members of the Mamu Dance Theatre. Nicholas McGegan conducts the Göttingen Festival Orchestra. Set and costume design by Bernd Lepel; lighting by Linus Fellbom; video direction by Agnes Méth; choreography by Tadashi Endo. Released in 2010, this disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio surround sound. Grade: F+
Read More2009 New Year's Concert by the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Recorded January 1, 2009 at the Goldener Saal des Wiener Musikvereins. Here's the program:
1. Johann Strauss II "Ouvertüre" to Eine Nacht in Venedig ("Overture" to A Night in Venice)
2. Johann Strauss II "Märchen aus dem Orient" (Waltz) ("Fairy Tales from the Orient")
3. Johann Strauss II "Annen-Polka" (Anna's Polka)
4. Johann Strauss II "Schnellpost-Polka" ("Express Mail Polka")
5. Johann Strauss II "Rosen aus dem Süden" (Waltz) ("Roses from the South")
6. Johann Strauss II "Freikugeln" (Polka) ("Magic Bullets")
7. Johann Strauss II "Ouvertüre" and "Einzugs-Marsch" from Der Zigeunerbaron ("Overture" and "Entrance March" from The Gypsy Baron)
8. Johann Strauss II "Schatz-Waltzer" ("Treasure Waltz")
9. Joseph Hellmesberger II "Valse espagnole" (Spanish Waltz)
10. Johann Strauss I "Zampa-Galopp"
11. Johann Strauss II "Alexandrinnen-Polka" ("Alexandrine's Polka")
12. Johann Strauss II "Unter Donner und Blitz" (Polka) ("Thunder and Lightening Polka")
13. Josef Strauss "Sphären-Klänge" (Waltz) ("Music of the Spheres")
14. Johann Strauss II "Éljen a Magyár!" (Polka) ("Hurrah for Hungary")
15. Joseph Haydn "Finale" from Abschiedssymphonie ("Finale" from Farewell Symphony)
16. Johann Strauss II "So ängstlich sind wir nicht!" (Polka) ("We're not that worried!")
17. Johann Strauss II "An der schnönen, blauen Donau" (Waltz) ("The Blue Danube Waltz")
18. Johann Strauss I "Radetzky-Marsch" ("Radetzky March")
This disc also has three valuable bonus features, all in great HD TV:
1. Schatz-Waltzer Ballet (Treasure Waltz Ballet)
2. Éljen a Magyár! Ballet (Hurrah for Hungary Ballet)
3. Linz 2009 documentary. The city of Linz and the Weiner Philharmonic create a remarkable video celebrating Linz and the Austrian countryside.
Directed for TV by Brian Large. Released 2009, disc was apparently recording using 48kHz/24 bit sound sampling and has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound output. Grade: A-
Read MoreVolodos in Vienna piano recital. Arcadi Volodos plays the following pieces in 2009 at the Goldener Saal of the Musikverein in Vienna:
Scriabin: "Prélude in B flat minor op. 37/1"
Scriabin: "Prélude in B flat minor op. 11/16"
Scriabin: "Danse languide in B flat minor op. 51/4"
Scriabin: "Guirlandes in B flat minor op. 73/1"
Scriabin: "Feuillet d'album op. 45/1"
Scriabin: "Sonata in B flat minor No. 7 op. 64" ("Messe blanche")
Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales (complete)
Schumann Waldszenen (Complete)
Liszt "Après une Lecture du Dante" from Années de Pèlerinage 2 (Dante Sonata)
J.S. Bach "Sicilienne" from D Minor Concerto
Tchaikovsky "Lullaby in A Storm" from Children's Songs
Gramophone magazine rated this performance in its CD version as the best instrumental recording of 2010. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer; the Recording Producer was Friedemann Engelbrecht (Teldex Studio Berlin); produced by Michael Brüggemann. Released 2010, disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital, a lossy technology rendered obsolete by the lossless sound formats used on most Blu-ray recordings. Grade: A-
Read MoreLang Lang Live in Vienna, a piano recital by Lang Lang with the following works:
1. Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 3
2. Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 23 "Appassionata"
3. Albéniz Iberia, Book I "Évocation", "El Puerto", and "Fête-Dieu à Sévile"
4. Prokofiev Piano Sonata No. 7
5. Chopin Étude Op. 25 No. 1
6. Chopin Polonaise No. 6 "Heroic"
7. Chopin Grande Valse brillante No. 2
Performed 2010 at the Musikverein, Großer Saal, Wien. 40 minutes of bonus features give us our first taste of 3D in a fine-art HDVD. Main program directed by Christian Kurt Weisz; 3D program directed by Andreas Morell. The main program was recorded with 48kHz sound sampling; there is no information on the disc or the package as to what bit rate or word length was used. Released in 2010, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A
Read MoreThe Nobuyuki Tsujii Live at Carnegie Hall solo piano concert was performed in November, 2011. Soon thereafter, the material on this disc came out in an Avex Classics disc sold in Japan. I bought the Japanese version. I don't know any Japanese, so there were a lot of things about the Avex Classic title that I couldn't read or report on. In the mini-review I wished that this program would be published for the Western markets. In July, 2012, this happened. This EuroArts version has the same has the same music that Avex Classics released. The keepcase booklet is in English, with notes also in German and French. Now I can report that the executive producer is Hiroyuki Nakashima; audio recording is by Leszek Maria Wojcik; cameras and video recording are credited to Manny Gutierrez, David Smith, and Julie Brenckle.
The program is as follows:
1. John Musto Improvisation and Fugue
2. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 ("Tempest")
3. Liszt Étude No. 3, "Un sospiro"
4. Liszt Rigoletto Paraphrase
5. Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
6. Steven Foster "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," arranged by Nobu.
7. Chopin Prélude No. 15 "Raindrop"
8. Nobuyuki Tsujii "Elegy for the Victims of Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011."
This disc is region free. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: A
Read More💓 Mozart Così fan tutte opera to libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Directed 2006 by Nicholas Hytner at Glyndebourne. Stars Miah Persson (Fiordiligi), Anke Vondung (Dorabella), Topi Lehtipuu (Ferrando), Luca Pisaroni (Guglielmo), Nicolas Rivenq (Don Alfonso), and Ainhoa Garmendia (Despina). Iván Fisher conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Leader Margaret Faultless) and the Glyndebourne Chorus (Chorus Master Thomas Blunt). Pianoforte continuo: Jonathan Hinden; cello continuo: Sebastian Comberti. Designs by Vicki Mortimer; lighting by Paule Constable; TV direction by Francesca Kemp; produced by Tricia Petri-Clark and Hans Petri. Released 2009, disc has 5.0 Dolby TrueHD sound. Grade: A+
Read MoreMozart Così fan tutte opera to libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Directed 2009 by Claus Guth at Salzburg Festival (Haus für Mozart). Stars Miah Persson (Fiordiligi), Isabel Leonard (Dorabella), Florian Boesch (Guglielmo), Topi Lehtipuu (Ferrando), Patricia Petibon (Despina), and Bo Skovhus (Don Alfonso). Adam Fischer conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker and Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor (Chorus Master Thomas Lang). Stage design by Christian Schmidt; costumes by Anna Sofie Tuma; lighting by Olaf Winter; dramatic advice by Andri Hardmeier; video by Alexander Buresch and Kai Ehlers; choreography by Ramses Sigl; TV direction by Brian Large. Released 2010, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B
Read MoreMozart Così fan tutte opera to libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Directed 2009 by Sven-Eric Bechtolf at the Zurich Opera House. Stars Malin Hartelius (Fiordiligi), Anna Bonitatibus (Dorabella), Martina Janková (Despina), Javier Camarena (Ferrando), Ruben Drole (Guglielmo), and Oliver Widmer (Don Alfonso). Franz Welser-Möst conducts the Zurich Opera House Orchestra and Chorus (Chorus Master: Ernst Raffelsberger). Set designs by Rolf Glittenberg; costume designs by Marianne Glittenberg; lighting by Jürgen Hoffman; TV direction by Felix Breisach. Released 2010, disc has dts-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound. Grade: B
Read MoreFlamenco Flamenco dance film by Carlos Saura. This is a full-length motion picture showing 21 performances of flamenco today. This title has been released in Europe under two different labels: Cameo Media (Spain) and Bodega (France). Both versions of this title are Region B only and have 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+
Read MoreMozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail opera to libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie (from Christoph Friedrich Bretzner). Directed 2010 by Christof Loy at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Stars Diana Damrau, Olga Peretyatko, Christoph Strehl, Norbert Ernst, Franz-Josef Selig, and Christoph Quest (spoken role). Ivor Bolton conducts the Symphony Orchestra (Concert Master Kai Gleusteen) and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Chorus Master José Luis Basso). Set and costume design by Herbert Murauer; lighting design by Olaf Winter; video direction by Pietro d'Agostino. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+
Read MoreSteve Reich Electric Counterpoint. Mats Bergström & Friends perform various pieces from Steve Reich, as well as remixes and tributes to Reich. This is a studio recording, but you don't get to see any video of the process of recording the music. The video was created independently. I've indicated below the general nature of the video themes that accompany each musical work. The videos are mostly in black and white. The package contains two discs: a CD of just music, and a Blu-ray which has the video art. The full program is:
1-3. Steve Reich Electric Counterpoint (video mostly of waves, clouds, and raindrops on water)
4. Reich remixed by Magnus Frykberg & Jay-Jay Johanson Under the Weather MIX (Remix of Electric Counterpoint) (video mostly of eyes, faces, pulsing lights, and subway scenes)
5. Steve Reich Nagoya Guitars (video of forest scenes presented in a way perhaps partly inspired by fractal mathematics)
6. Reich remixed by Cornelia Godspeed Remix (Remix of Nagoya Guitars) (video featuring a mysterious masked figure with a torch)
7-9. Steve Reich 2x5 (night and dawn skyline scenes with extensive views of dense urban built environment)
10. Edda Magnason So Many Layers of Colour Become a Deep Purple Heart (To Steve Reich) (forest scene with brief clip of girl singing)
Features musicians Mats Bergström, Johan Liljedahl, Svante Henryson, Magnus Persson, Jonas Östholm, and Edda Magnason. Video art by Simon Larsson. Sound recorded by Lars Nilsson. I think all the music on the video disc was recorded and processed faithfully using 96 kHz/24 bit technology. Released in 2012, the video disc has stereo LPCM and 5.1 dts-Master Audio sound. In addition, there is also a CD (recorded at 44.1 kHz/16 bit) included for those wanting to listen to the music outside of a home theater setting. Grade: X-B
Read MoreTributes - Pulse motion picture, a "requiem for the 20th century." Bill Morrison, New York based, made the video. He uses black and white images of decomposing nitrate film which he alters as original art and a sobering segment he photographed himself with crude SD gear (from a helicopter) of a Staten Island salvage yard for decommissioned tugboats and ferries. Simon Christensen wrote the music. It's performed by a group called Kundi Bombo. This band has three members: Christina Åstrand playing violin; Peter Navarro-Alonso playing soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones; and Christensen himself on percussion, zither, and electronics. There is no text for this movie. There is a dense, abstruse keepcase booklet in English only. Released 2011, disc has 7.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B
Read MoreThe Verdi Opera Selection box set. This box set contains three titles released individually by Arthaus Musik: La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra, and Aida. We have previously put up basic information for all these titles and have graded one, La Traviata, which we gave a B+. All indications are that the other two titles are perfectly decent. We can think of no reasons for Arthaus Musik to package these three titles together other than to offer a discounted price. For example: the box set is available for €43.00. To purchase all three titles indivdually would total €127.00)
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