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Category:    Home > Reviews > Concert > Jazz > Compilation > The 2007 Newport Music Festival – Connoisseur’s Collection (Acorn Media DVD Box Set)

The 2007 Newport Music Festival – Connoisseur’s Collection (Acorn Media DVD Box Set)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Concerts: B+

 

 

Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places in the U.S. is Newport, Rhode Island, a place with so much wealth, architecture and history that it has to be seen to be believed.  It is also one of the primary places where the arts thrive, with its name associated with the good life in ways that has become synonymous with exclusivity.  If it were not so cold in the winter months, you would hear more about it.  We have had many Classical titles in many formats, but none have been as massive as The 2007 Newport Music Festival – Connoisseur’s Collection from Acorn Media.

 

This 10-DVD set comes in a book-like slipcase with DigiPak pages that make this look like an upscale piece of literature.  The main concerts run 15 hours and there are 6 bonus hours, adding up to 21 hours of Classical Chamber Music you would usually expect from the likes of a CD box set or the old extended vinyl record boxes that were a staple of Classical Music on phonograph records.  It is amazing it took this long for such a release on DVD at 10+ years and going, but leave it to a class act like Acorn to pull it off.

 

The artists and legendary composers covered include:

 

1)     Adam Golka (Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Medtner, Kapustin, Schumann, Rachmaninoff)

2)     Chopiniana (Chopin, Schubert)

3)     Lisztening Post (Liszt, Korngold)

4)     Colorado Quartet (Haydn, Beethoven, Dvorak,)

5)     Newport Music Festival POPS! (Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff)

6)     All In The Family (Mozart, Grieg, Hubay, Sarasate, Staub, Dubois, Holbrooke, Granados)

7)     Pieces Of Eight (Hérold, Moscheles, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Villa-Lobos)

8)     Festival Gala (Schumann, Liszt)

9)     Connoisseur Concert (Hummel, Elgar, Wieniawski, The Dopplers, Litolff)

10)  Best Of The Fest (Mozart, Chopin, Gottschalk, Bach, Schubert)

 

 

I am only sorry we could not name every single musician individually, but they are very talented and each takes their lifetime to sometimes learn only one instrument.  Some can cover others, but the result is a certain kind of energy only an event like this can generate and that more than justifies a major set like this.  If you are a big fan, it is worth every penny.

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image throughout looks good, but is slightly soft too, suggesting limits from the downtrade to DVD and maybe the use of 1080i (versus 1080p) HD cameras, but the result are still colorful, clean and clear enough to enjoy very much.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 is usually a nice on each main program, but I wish was in richer DTS, with soundstage in Dolby varying more than I would have liked.  Extras include bonus performances on each disc, color booklet loaded with information and on-camera comments by Festival founder Dr. Mark P. Malkovich, III.  All told, that makes it one of the riches DVD box sets we’ll see all year.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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