Brahms Symphonies 1-4

Brahms Symphonies 1-4 box set. Christian Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden. Symphonies 1 and 3 were performed 2013 at NHK Hall in Tokyo and directed for TV by Yoko Ishida. Symphonies 2 and 4 were performed 2013 in Dresden. Symphony 2 was directed for TV by Henning Kasten; Symphony 4 was directed for TV by Andreas Morell. There is a bonus documentary, Discovering Brahms, with Thielemann discussing the symphonies. The documentary was directed for TV by Christoph Engel. Released 2014, there are 2 discs with 5.0. or 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.