Concert

Bruckner Symphony No. 5

in

Bruckner Symphony No. 5. Claudio Abbado conducts the Lucerne Festival Orchestra at the 2011 Lucerne Festival. Unusual contemporary artwork on the package by Michael Triegel. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer; Andrej Nicolay was Director of Photography; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C+

In its 2012 Awards Special Issue, Gramophone called this the year's best DVD (page 55). The awards article doesn't even mention that a Blu-ray was available, so we surmise that the Gramophone critic watched the DVD. We bought the Blu-ray to review long ago, but it never got to the top of our “to do” list. We always agreed that the musical performance and sound recording are excellent. But we had reservations about video content. Some time has passed since we last talked about DVDitis in symphony recordings, so we think it’s timely to bring this up again for our new readers.

Read More

Dolce Vita

in

Dolce Vita concert. Jonas Kaufmann performs songs in Italian. Jochen Rieder conducts the RAI National Symphony Orchestra Torino at Teatro Carignano. Released 2016, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Video is directed by Andy Sommer.  Grade: NA

The setlist is:

  1. Mattinata (Ruggero Leoncavallo)
  2. Parla più piano (Nino Rota, Gianni Boncompagni)
  3. Torna a Surriento (Ernesto de Curtis, Giambattista de Curtis)
  4. Musica proibita (Stanislao Gastaldon)
  5. Ti voglio tanto bene (Ernesto de Curtis, Domenico Furnò)
  6. Fenesta ca lucive (Guillaume Louis Cottrau)
  7. Rondine al nido (Vincenzo de Crescenzo, Luigi Sica)
  8. Il canto (Romano Musumarra, Luca Barbarossa)
  9. Catari', Catari' (Core 'ngrato) (Salvatore Cardillo, Riccardo Cordiferro)
  10. Caruso (Lucio Dalla)
  11. Passione (Ernesto Tagliaferri, Nicola Valente, Libero Bovio)
  12. Voglio vivere così (Giovanni d'Anzi, Tito Manlio)
Read More

Opera Gala 2016

in

The 2016 Opera Gala recital concert from Baden-Baden. Anja Harteros (soprano), Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo-soprano), Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), and Bryn Terfel (base-baritone) sing opera favorites. Marco Armiliato conducts the Badisische Staatskapelle.  Released 2016, disc has 5.1 PCM and 5.1 dts-HD sound. Grade: NA

The program includes:

  1. Wagner Tannhäuser: "Dich, teure Halle, grüß’ ich wieder" Anja Harteros
  2. Gounod Faust: "Le veau d’or est toujours debout" Bryn Terfel
  3. Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana: "Voi lo sapete, o mamma" Ekaterina Gubanova
  4. Puccini Tosca: "E lucevan la stelle" Jonas Kaufmann
  5. BoitoMefistofele: "Son lo spirito che nega" Bryn Terfel
  6. Verdi Un ballo in maschera: "Morrò, ma prima in grazia" Anja Harteros
  7. Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana: "Tu qui, Santuzza?" Ekaterina Gubanova and Jonas Kaufmann
  8. Cilea Adriana Lecouvreur: "Acerba voluttà … L’anima ho stanca" Ekaterina Gubanova and Jonas Kaufmann
  9. Puccini Tosca: "Vissi d’arte" Anja Harteros and Bryn Terfel
  10. Verdi Don Carlo: "Ella giammai m’amò" Bryn Terfel
  11. Verdi Don Carlo: "Ah! Più mai non vedrò la regina ... O don fatale" Ekaterina Gubanova
  12. Verdi Don Carlo: "Tu che le vanità conoscesti del mondo" Anja Harteros
  13. Verdi Otello: "Già nella notte densa"   Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros
  14. Bizet Carmen: "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Habanera) Ekaterina Gubanova
  15. Mascagni L'amico Fritz: "Son pochi fiori" Anja Harteros
  16. Bock Fiddler on the Roof: "If I were a rich man" Bryn Terfel
  17. Rota: "Parla più piano" Jonas Kaufmann
  18. Lehár Das Land des Lächelns: "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" Quartet
Read More

Elgar Cello Concerto

in

Elgar Cello Concerto concert recital in 2014 at the Festpielhaus Baden-Baden with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker.  Features celloist Sol Gabetta. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker. The concert also includes the following pieces:

  1. Ligeti Atmosphères
  2. Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
  3. Wagner Lohengrin: Prelude to Act 1.

Directed for TV by Torben Schmidt Jacobsen. Released 2016, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Read More

Vespro della beata vergine

in

Monteverdi 💓 Vespro della beata vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin). Recorded 2014 at the Versailles Chapelle Royale. Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists. Olivier Schneebeli conducts the Juvenal Choir of the Versailles Center for Baroque Music. Directed for TV by Stéphan Aubé; produced by Frédérick Allain. Sung in Latin. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound output. Grade: A

Read More

Tango!

in

💓 Tango! concert of Ástor Piazzolla tango nuevo music performed 2013 by the Isabelle van Keulen Ensemble at the MotorMusic Studios in Mechelen, Belgium. The Isabelle van Keulen Ensemble is a chamber music group formed primarily to play Piazzolla compositions; it consists of van Keulen on violin, Christian Gerber on bandoneón, Ulrike Payer on piano, and Rüdiger Ludwig on double bass. Music director was Felicia Van Boxstael and the recording producer was Steven Maes for Serendipitous. The executive producers were Anne de Jong and Marcel van den Broek. Project coordinators were Jolien Plat and Inge De Pauw. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

Read More

Bruckner Symphony No. 9 and Schumann Piano Concerto

in

💓 Bruckner Symphony No. 9 and Schumann Piano Concerto. Bernard Haitink conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2009. Murray Perahia is the piano soloist. The title is the first effort by NHK to produce an HDVD of Western classical music with performers who have no special connection to Japan. The front cover is in English. But the rest of the disc is in Japanese. There are extras with persons speaking in English, but only Japanese subtitles are provided. So this disc is not aimed at the world market, but just for domestic consumption in Japan. Released 2009, the sound on the title was recorded with 96kHz/24-bit sound sampling, and the disc has 5.0 LPCM output. Grade: A+ for both the Schumann Piano Concerto and the Bruckner Symphony No. 9.

Read More

Beethoven Symphonies 1-9

in

Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 box set. Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducts the Danish National Symphony in all nine Beethoven symphonies. As bonus extras you also get:

  1. Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez
  2. Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
  3. Strauss Eine Alpensinfonie

Featured performers are Albina Shagimuratova (soprano), Charlotte Hellekant (mezzo-soprano), Scott MacAllister (tenor), Johan Reuter (bass), Pepe Romero (guitar), and the Danish National Concert Choir.

Wow! This box will keep you busy for the weekend! And the price is right. Grade: NA

Read More

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique and Mahler Symphony No. 1 ("Titan")

in

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique and 💓 Mahler Symphony No. 1 ("Titan"). Seiji Ozawa conducts the Saito Kinen Orchestra (Saito Memorial Festival Orchestra). The Berlioz was recorded at the 2007 Festival; the Mahler was recorded in 2008. Released in 2009, this title has 5.0 PCM 96kHz/24 bit sound. About 99% of the printed material with this disc is in Japanese. If you don't know that language, it's a humbling experience to navigate your way through the titles and extras, but you can do it. Grade: A- for Symphonie fantastique Grade: A+ for Mahler Symphony No. 1

Read More

Brahms Serenade No. 2 and Symphony No. 2

in

All Brahms disc with three major works: Symphony No. 2, Serenade No. 2, and the Alto Rhapsody. Andris Nelsons conducts the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Bavarian Radio Choir in 2014 at the Lucerne Summer Festival (KKL Concert Hall). Soloist is Sara Mingardo (alto). Gerarld Häussler was Chorus Master; video directed by Michael Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D- blended grade for the whole disc

 

Read More

Beethoven Piano Sonatas 1-32

in

Beethoven Piano Sonatas 1-32 (complete) played by Rudolf Buchbinder in the Mozarteum Großer Saal at the 2014 Salzburg Festival. In the Alphalist I gave this box the name "Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol. 1-3 so it would appear in the best place. The correct C Major title is Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas. All 32 sonata recordings have been packaged previous by C Major in three separate releases called Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3. In other words, it appears this complete box just sells you the same three discs that were previous published in in separate packages. Grade: D+

Read More

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

in
 

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique performed 2016 by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Daniele Gatti at the Concertgebouw. Concert also includes Wagner's Tannhäuser Overture (Dresden version) and the Liszt Orpheus (Symphonic Poem No. 4). Music recorded with 96kHz/24-bit sound sampling. Video was recorded at 1080p24, which is unusual as most video these days are recorded at 30 frames per second. (You may need to fiddle with equipment settings to get the 24 fps to play nice.) Released 2016, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

The recording arm of the Royal Concertgebouw operation is called RCO Live. It appears they have been pretty successful with CDs and other audio formats. But their video publication record is poor due to cutting corners and serious problems with DVDitis. Their Mahler Symphonies 1-10 box was a huge failure that got a D grade from us. Somewhat better was their Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 box that is graded B- here.

This new video of Symphony fantastique is not generous. RCO management is still stuck in the LP/CD rut while offering 85 minutes of music on a disc that can play for 4 hours.  Well, if you want to charge $35 for one symphony, the content must be state-of-the-art in every respect. RCO has come through with 96kHz/24-bit sound sampling, which is encouraging.

But I note that this title is also available in DVD, which is discouraging. If the video content on the Blu-ray is the same as that of the DVD, then the Blu-ray version is automatically rendered obsolete as it falls short of today's state-of-the-art in making HD recordings of symphony concerts. (I did see a short video clip from this recording that prepares me to be disappointed.)

If you have this Blu-ray recording, I ask you to consult our Work Worksheet and Wonk Worksheet Instructions. Then I ask you to play this Symphony fantastique while assigning each video clip to the categories on the Wonk Worksheet. This will take some work. But if you do this work and let us publish it, you will instantly become an elite fine-arts critic. That's because the Wonk Worksheet is the only technique ever devised for art criticism that has objective standards that can be peer-reviewed.  Have you got the guts to be a Wonk?

TO