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Category:    Home > Reviews > Documentary > Classical Music > Musical > Fantasy > Exotic > Concert > Opera > Literature > Mythology > Don Juan/Richard Strauss/Karl Bohm (1970 Documentary/EuroArts/Unitel Classica Blu-ray)/Kismet (1955/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/The Seasons/Die Jahreszeiten/Haydn (Harnoncourt/EuroArts/Unitel Classica

Don Juan/Richard Strauss/Karl Bohm (1970 Documentary/EuroArts/Unitel Classica Blu-ray)/Kismet (1955/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/The Seasons/Die Jahreszeiten/Haydn (Harnoncourt/EuroArts/Unitel Classica)/Strauss' Elektra/Gatti (ArtHaus/Unitel Classica)/Verdi's Otello/Chung (C Major/Unitel Classica/Naxos Blu-rays)


Picture: B- Sound: B-/B-/B/B/B Extras: C+/B/B-/C+/C+ Main Programs: C+/B-/B/B-/B-



PLEASE NOTE: The Kismet Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.



Here are the latest Classical, Opera and Musical releases on Blu-ray, a few of which have us revisiting familiar territory.



We start with a 1970 documentary of the great conductor Karl Bohm In Rehearsal & Performance as he plans an all-out performance of Richard Strauss' Don Juan in this short but always interesting 48 minutes behind the scenes look at putting together his orchestra. Bohm (the father of the great actor Karlheinz Bohm, who starred in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960)) was a pro and genius, here in great latter-years form. Joined by the Weiner Philharmoniker, it really is one of those Genius At Work situations that cannot go on long enough, but Director Arne Arnborn captures things as well as you would expect, especially in an era that took journalistic integrity more seriously. It is worth seeing.


An illustrated booklet inside the Blu-ray case and Introduction by Marcel Prary are the only extras.



Vincente Minnelli's Kismet (1955) is an major MGM musical we previously covered on DVD in a larger box set on the genre from Warner. Now, Warner Archive has decided to issue it as one of their Blu-ray exclusives and adds new extras. To quote my coverage then...


Stay In Baghdad, Stay In Baghdad goes one of the many amusing numbers in the musical remake of the 1944 hit drama that treats the now-war torn country like an exotic otherworld. Directed by the great Vincente Minnelli, it is obviously an unintentional howler of a film, but outside of its ironic context to what is going on now, it is an ambitious big money production from MGM and without Minnelli at the helm, might have been a disaster. Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray, Vic Damone, Charles Lederer and Sebastian Cabot lead the big cast. Audio-only outtake song, a filmed outtake, two samples from the MGM Parade TV series and the trailer for the 1944 original film are among the extras that were transferred to this new Blu-ray, but this one also adds a letterboxed trailer to this remake and the Academy Award-Nominated short The Battle Of Gettysburg.


I found the film more amusing this time around despite how it drags along and think it has appreciated a bit in value more than I expected.



Hard to believe this is the first time we covered Haydn's The Seasons (aka Die Jahreszeiten) but here it is, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and lasting 140 minutes (!!!), but that is the work at full length and it is expertly, consistently performed throughout with a pace and energy that never wears thin. I have heard the work in parts, but this is actually the first time I got to experience the whole thing. Guess the somewhat similar (and similarly titled) Vivaldi work overshadows this one somehow, but this should be played, performed and heard more often. I doubt we'll encounter a better version of this classic as we do here and it is highly recommended, especially if you have never experienced it before. Once again, we have the Weiner Philharmoniker, but 44 years later and at the Salzberg Festival. Looks like the standards of excellent live well there.



On the other end of the spectrum, we have a reissue of Richard Strauss' Elektra conducted by Daniele Gatti which we reviewed at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10861/Brahms+Violin+Concerto/Dvorak+Sy


This one has a few more extras, but it is the same show, so there is not much of a difference and now you can decide if you want to see it. It fares well against the following versions we previously covered:


Munich Philharmoniker version (which I liked a bit better)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10711/Dancing+Across+Borders+(2010/First+Run+Featur


Von Dohnanyi version

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9314/Wagner


Zurich Opera House version (which I also liked a bit better)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11576/W.+A+Mozart+&+Leopold+Mozart+(Intermusic+SA



Finally we have Giuseppe Verdi's Otello, unlike the outright Shakespeare versions, this is only the second time we have encountered a performance of this one. You can see our previous coverage with Conductor Jose Cura at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9307/Humperdinck


In this case, it is a draw between the two with this new one from The Palazzo Ducale De Venezia is solid at 149 minutes, though much longer and I would have started to feel it was wearing out itself a bit. There is probably a better way to pull this work off, but these are the best so far, yet we look forward to see what the next version might offer. Until then, definitely recommended.



Extras included with the remaining 3 Blu-rays include a illustrated booklets on each respective show in multiple languages, while the Blu-rays add Trailers for other Classical Blu-ray releases (Elektra adds 50 of them (!) and includes a print catalog for good measure) and Seasons adds a 25-minutes documentary featurette entitled Nikolaus Harnoncourt rehearsing Joseph Haydn's The Seasons worth seeing after watching the actual program.



The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Kismet can show the age of the materials used a bit and the EastmanColor is not as good as if it were a dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor film, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film including the softer DVD from years ago. It also has the most stable image and color range is still superior to what you might expect, especially as compared to the 1080i 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Juan, shot on color 16mm film and the HD-shot 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers of the concert programs which have some motion blur.


As for sound, PCM 2.0 sound on Juan is barely stereo of that and sounds as good as it is going to get, while the remaining Blu-rays offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes and the new shows tie for the best sonics on the list, also adding PCM 2.0 Stereo for backwards comparability with older and simple systems. Soundfields are nice, warm, rich, consistent and deliver. However, the DTS-MA 5.1 lossless mix on Kismet shows its age in the dialogue recording. When the music is on, it is at its best as the music was recorded with higher fidelity in a studio, though why the vocals are in the center channel when these are stereo recordings is odd. Originally designed for 4-track magnetic sound with traveling dialogue and sound effects, you get some of that here and this is better than the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the old DVD, but maybe this could sound a bit better.



To order the Kismet Blu-ray and any other Warner Archive release, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:


http://www.warnerarchive.com/



- Nicholas Sheffo


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