Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

Shostakovich Symphony No. 5. Michael Tilson Thomas directs the San Francisco Symphony in a performance of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 as part of it's "Keeping Score" outreach program. Thomas also narrates a substantial documentary about Shostakovich. Finally, there are other bonus features about the San Francisco Symphony and its recording facilities. Directed for TV by Gary Halvorson. Released 2009, disc has 5.1 Dolby TrueHD sound. Grade: NA

The recording of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 was made at a Proms event. This was no doubt a fine performance. But recording live at the Proms is always a technical challenge, and there is a problem also with DVDitis. The documentary on Shostakovich is better than the music making; but, overall, the over-emphasis on Michael Tilson Thomas himself undermines this whole project.

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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.