Hank
Williams: I Saw The Light - The Unreleased Recordings
(1951, 2009/Time Life DVD/3-CD Set)/Britten's
Gloriana (1984)/Boito's
Mefistofele
(1989)/Dvorak's Rusalka
(1986/all ArtHaus)/Proms
At The Royal Albert Hall/Fischer/Zinman
(2014/C Major/Unitel Classica)/William
Walton: London Concert
(1982/ArtHaus/all Naxos Blu-rays)
Picture:
C+/C/C/C/B/C Sound: B-/C+/C+/C+/B/C+ Extras: C-/C-/C-/C-/C/C-
Main Programs: B-/B-/C+/C+/B/B-
Here
are the classic recordings of a country legend unearthed, followed by
more Classical Music...
Hank
Williams: I Saw The Light - The Unreleased Recordings
(1951, 2009) is being issued as a new theatrical motion picture
biopic on the music legend starts turning up across the country for
awards consideration. A few years ago, a pile of original magnetic
recordings of Williams' had been thrown out by a major record label,
but recovered by a fan before they were lost forever. The label's
rep (ignorantly) said they were junk and worthless, but the man saved
them and only needed permission of the estate to get them issued. I
though some of that material might be here, but instead, the songs
from all 3 CDs here from a series of radio music programs the
Mother's Best food and feed company sponsored in the glorious days of
network radio entertainment prior to TV.
After
an interesting story in which these recordings survived on 18-inch
acetate electronic transcription discs (essentially giant plastic
records made for professional use for radio stations nationwide
before magnetic tape became standard in the analog era) and they were
saved to magnetic tape as backup in 1981! Bravo!!!
We
get 56 songs including more spirituals than expected and these
priceless performances have been nicely remastered and finally saved
against for all of us to enjoy. Though he is a country legend and
icon, it is easy to underrate what a fine musician and vocalist he
was. Still influential to this day, it is sad to hear him as it is
whenever I hear Patsy Cline or Buddy Holly, knowing how much amazing
work was lost and by such amazing people. A true American original,
the timing of this set could not be better and the DVD has a program
hosted by his daughter (born after his too-young death) Jett Williams
how these recordings were found (et al) and even interviews he dad's
musician friends. That makes this a real complete package and one of
the best music releases of the year. Definitely worth your time!
NOTE:
Since this release, a very expanded version has been issued, which
you can read more about here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14332/The+Damned:+Don't+You+Wish+We+Were+Dead
And
the I Saw The Light feature film was released, which you can
read more about here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14297/I+Saw+The+Light+(2015/Sony+Blu-ray
Britten's
Gloriana
(1984) was staged by The English National Opera at the great London
Coliseum bringing back to life a work meant to celebrate Queen
Elizabeth II's 1955 Coronation and expounds on the Elizabeth &
Essex tale. It is an often intense English-language Opera that is
not the most interesting thing Britten ever made (it was commissioned
after all), but it is not bad at 147 minutes unless you don't like
the singing or subject matter. Mark Elder conducts and I think it is
good, if not great, yet just about definitive.
Boito's
Mefistofele
(1989) runs a longer 160 minutes, has a narrative that is too obvious
and basic, but that does not stop the singers and Director Robert
Carsen from leaving no stone unturned. Conductor Maurizio Arena is
very consistent in delivering the music, but this is just too long
and I was a bit disappointed. Only the very curious (and awake)
should look into it.
Dvorak's
Rusalka
(1986) has slight horror elements, but the well-designed stage looks
more like a melodrama with grown woman swinging from swings out of
the very high ceiling as a trio of younger gals sing to her, then
they are visited by an old man in a wheelchair and a somewhat angry
woman who turns out to practice witchcraft. What is going on here?
Not as much as there could be as this gets predictable and is also a
good bit long, but the singing and designs help, yet it never totally
adds up or offers up anything new. Mark Elder once again conducts
the English National Opera, but David Pountnoy is the stage director.
This is marginally the best of the three in the 'Legendary
Performances' series by ArtHaus we are covering this time out.
Proms
At The Royal Albert Hall
(2014) is a BBC production with conductor David Zinman
and the equally amazing guest violinist Julia Fischer playing a great
set that includes Richard Strauss, Dvorak, Beethoven and more. They
are amazing, the orchestra is amazing, thy audience is even solid and
this is my favorite release on the list; a Classical Blu-ray done
very well. Running 102 minutes, it is never dull and there's a real
joy to the performances throughout.
Finally,
we have a tribute concert in William
Walton: London Concert
(1982) with the then 80-year-old master composer presiding over a
show featuring legendary conductor (and music legend) Andre Previn
Live from the Royal Festival Hall. Eventually joined by top soloists
like Kyung-Wha Chung, Thomas Allen and Andrew Greenwood, Previn and
company deliver a top rate show that sadly only lasts 86 minutes and
one I wish had been filmed and not taped at the time. Previn's
presence will alone spark curiosity, but it is one of the better
upscale Blu-ray releases we have seen (I wish the performance of the
recording was better, but what can you do) and it definitely worth a
good look.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the Williams
DVD may show its age a bit, but it still looks better than the 1080i
upscaling of the old analog 1.33 X 1 video in 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 framing
on the rest of the Blu-rays, save Proms.
Whatever the reason, conversion of the PAL (or NTSC or SECAM video,
if actually applicable) in all cases is just weak, soft, can be rough
and have haloing throughout. We've seen better examples from both
Naxos and Eagle. Thus, the 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition
image on Proms, it's
native HD shoot format, looks the best on this list easily despite
minor detail flaws and is one of the best 1080i we have seen from
Naxos to date.
As
for sound, Proms
easily wins again with a very well recorded DTS-HD MA (Master Audio)
5.1 lossless mix that is well recorded, mixed and presented with some
fine sonic moments. It may not be a big demo disc, but it is very
consistent in soundfield and better than the PCM 2.0 Stereo versions
included for older playback. The rest of the Blu-rays also offer PCM
2.0 Stereo mixes, but they tend to be rougher than expected, so the
PCM 2.0 Stereo sound on the Williams
DVD actually manages to sound better by default.
Usually,
we'd expect illustrated booklets of some kind on all of these
releases, but Gloriana,
Mefistofele
and Rusalka
simply have essays built into their paperboard foldouts in English
only. Save trailers on all five Classical titles, there are no other
extras anywhere on these releases.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
