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Category:    Home > Reviews > Classical Music > Opera > Ballet > Concert > Martha Argerich & Mischa Maisky (Accentus) + Hector Berloiz: Les Troyens/Gergiev (Unitel Classica) + Pierre Boulez/The Cleveland Orchestra – Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn/Adagio from Symp. No. 10 (Acc

Martha Argerich & Mischa Maisky (Accentus) + Hector Berloiz: Les Troyens/Gergiev (Unitel Classica) + Pierre Boulez/The Cleveland Orchestra – Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn/Adagio from Symp. No. 10 (Accentus) + The Great Mass: Mozart/Scholz (EuroArts) + Puccini: Madama Butterfly/Callegari (Unitel Classica) + Francis Poulenc: Dialogues Des Carmelites (BelAir/Naxos Blu-rays)

 

Picture: B- (Argerich & Mass: C+)     Sound: B (Mass: B+)     Extras: B-/B-/C+/C+/C/C     Concerts: B

 

 

And now for some of the latest classical Blu-ray releases distributed by Naxos

 

 

Martha Argerich & Mischa Maisky (Accentus) has the great pianist and cellist making a rare appearance in concert.  Joining the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, they world premiere a new work by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin and we also get classics from César Franck, Antonin Dvorak and Dmitri Shostakovich.  Extras include a making of featurette and trailers, plus the usually informative booklet inside the Blu-ray case.

 

Conductor Valery Gergiev’s version of Hector Berloiz: Les Troyens (Unitel Classica) is the second time we have seen the work on Blu-ray.  You can read about the first at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9870/Naxos/ArtHaus/2L/Opus+Arte+Blu-ray/

 

 

This version is as ambitious as the last version, but tries to place the tale in a post-modern future mixing “future” technology with similar costumes, and set pieces that retain the original’s intents while stretching the ideas to today and beyond.  It succeeds more than you might think and the singing is top rate.  Staged by La Fura dels Bous, it is a collaboration between St. Petersburg’s Mariinski Theater and Warsaw’s Wielki Theater.  Extras here also include a making of featurette and trailers, plus the usually informative booklet inside the Blu-ray case.

 

 

Pierre Boulez/The Cleveland Orchestra – Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn/Adagio from Symp. No. 10 (Accentus) is oddly the first time we have covered the work of Pierre Boulez on Blu-ray, but we have covered him before on other formats, as these links will show:

 

Mahler Symphony No. 2 HD-DVD

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6717/Gustav+Mahler%E2%80%99s+Sympho

 

5 Great Films On 20th Century Composers

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7950/%C2%ADBoulez,+Carter,+Glass,+Mess

 

 

So it has been a long time since we have seen and heard the maestro in action, but here he is and the concert is every bit as good as the still not on Blu-ray HD-DVD which is now going for more money than most releases in that format.  I have been raving about the Abbado Mahler Blu-ray series, but this disc is so good, it belongs on the shelf next to that series and hopefully will not be the last Boulez Blu-ray.  This program was taped February 2010.  Extras include a Boulez interview and informative booklet inside the Blu-ray case.

 

 

This is also the first time we have covered Mozart’s The Great Mass (EuroArts), which combines ballet by Uwe Scholz (added much later) and choir music.  Performed by the Leipzig Ballet, it runs 130 minutes and despite being somewhat minimalist as compared to the other releases here, it is very well done and compelling throughout.  A pleasant surprise.  Extras include trailers, plus the usually informative booklet inside the Blu-ray case.

 

Also amazingly, this is the first time we have covered and version of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (Unitel Classica), the all-time classic about the title character and her (aka Cio-Cio-San) struggle to find happiness in ugliness.  Raffaella Angeletti is amazing as the title character and has rightly received great praise for performing the role worldwide.  Pier Luigi Pizzi staged the show with the Fondazione Orchestra Regionale Delle Marche with conductor Daniele Callegari.  The result is a great show and great introduction to the real thing for those who have always wanted to see what the live classic can deliver.  Extras include the usually informative booklet inside the Blu-ray case.

 

Finally we have Francis Poulenc: Dialogues Des Carmelites (BelAir), a second version of the opera we covered in a different version at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9981/Handel/Admeto+(Unitel+Classica/C+Ma

 

 

I liked some of the ideas of the first version (stage directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff, conducted by Simone Young and featuring the Philharmoniker Hamburg) but was surprised how effective and interesting this one was.  Surreal and fascinating, the singing often happens behind screen doors and panels, a nice twist, but Conductor Kent Nagano and stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov (who designed the sets) simply manage to make this subtly fascinating in ways I did not expect and I recommend it highly.  Shot at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2010, the singing is once again solid.  Extras include the usually informative booklet inside the Blu-ray case.

 

 

The 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on all six have good color, but not great as there are more than a few cases of motion blur and other image anomalies that hold back the overall performance.  For some strange reason, Argerich & Mass unfortunately have additional shimmer troubles they should not have, which is a disappointment.  All also have DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mixes and PCM 2.0 Stereo mixes that are not bad and the Boulez Blu-ray may not have an exceptional mix, but it is still a rich, consistent and well-recorded one that is smooth and clean.  That could be said about the others, though Dialogues is the second best sonic presentation here.  The best is Mass, with an exceptional soundfield that really delivers enveloping music, so that makes its image troubles all the more unfortunate.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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