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