Chris Botti In Boston (Live with The Boston Pops/Sony Music Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B+ Extras: C+ Concert: B
Chris
Botti is becoming so commercially successful on his own terms, the sales and
critical acclaim of Chris Botti Live
with Orchestra & Special Guests from December 2005 has led to a newer
concert that is even that much better.
For those unfamiliar with the first, here is the link to our coverage of
the Blu-ray edition:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5898/Chris+Botti+Live+with+Orchestra
The new
concert seems to have more energy and is just more consistent throughout. I also liked more of the songs from this
event taped September 18th & 19th, 2008, including:
1)
Ave Maria
2)
When I Fall in Love
3)
Caruso
4)
Seven Days (with Sting and Dominic Miller)
5)
Broken Vow (with Josh Grobin)
6)
Flamenco Sketches
7)
Hallelujah
8)
I’ve Got You Under My Skin (with Katharine McPhee)
9)
Cinema Paradiso (with Yo-Yo Ma)
10) The Look Of Love (with Sy Smith)
11) Emanuel (with Lucia Micarelli)
12) Glad To Be Unhappy (with John Mayer)
13) Cryin’ (with Steven Tyler)
14) Smile (with Steven Tyler)
15) Indian Summer
16) Shape Of My Heart (with Sting, Josh Grobin and
Dominic Miller)
17) If I Ever Loose My Faith In You (with Sting and Dominic Miller)
18) Time To Say Goodbye
I cannot
remember the last time so many stars showed up, including music talents so
grossly underexposed it is not funny and shows how badly the music labels are
handling such things. I hope because of
this show, the unknowns find sudden boosts in their careers and not a moment
too soon. There was more Steven Tyler
and Sting than I would have liked, but Yo-Yo Ma, Katharine McPhee, Sy Smith,
Lucia Micarelli and John Mayer really deliver and the concert is one of the
best on Blu-ray to date.
While I
was not happy with the image quality on the previous Botti Blu-ray, the 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is much improved here, though still with
some reservations. Audience shots look like
The Carol Burnett Show in their
noise, while orchestra shots can look odd in an all-blue color that looks
blobby. But the shots of the performers
on stage work and the editing is good. I
just wished we had a multi-angle feature in the extras because so much good is
going on, you are always missing something.
The sound
is also impressive, inline with the previous Blu-ray. This time, we get a Dolby TrueHD 96/24 7.1
mix that is not bad, but has some limits.
The last release was PCM 96/24 5.1, but the two new tracks are not so
stunning that it makes this a reference audio disc, but it is still solid. The PCM 48/24 2.0 mix is not bad either for
those not into surrounds (for whatever reason) and a much weaker that the other
two Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is also included for grandfathered systems, but is
very weak. Extras include a behind the
scenes featurette, a performance of Fragile
with Sting, Yo-Yo Ma and Dominic Miller and a booklet inside the Blu-ray case.
This is
bound to be a concert demo Blu-ray for years to come, so don’t miss it!
- Nicholas Sheffo