Michael Nyman - Make it Louder, Please! concert film. The Michael Nyman Band perfroms live at Studio Halle in Germany. Also features Portrait, a documentary film about Nyman by Silvia Beck. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreMotion Picture
Belkis, Queen of Sheba
Ottorino Respighi Belkis, Queen of Sheba concert film. Directed 2012 by Martin Andersson in Stuttgart. Gabriel Feltz conducts the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and the Czech Philharmonic Choir, Brno (Choir Master Petr Fiala). Features narratress Julia Jentsch, mezzo soprano Stella Doufexis, and tenor Metodi Morartzaliev. Produced by Martin Andersson, eyecatchproductions, and the Stuttgarter Philhamoniker; published by the Breyer Gaido Music Production Company in Germany. This is a German language product with subtitles in English. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 surround sound (no further details on sound available). The picture format is Cinemascope 1:2.35 to be shown in HD TV in letterbox. Grade: NA
Read MoreSteve Reich Electric Counterpoint
Steve Reich Electric Counterpoint. Mats Bergström & Friends perform various pieces from Steve Reich, as well as remixes and tributes to Reich. This is a studio recording, but you don't get to see any video of the process of recording the music. The video was created independently. I've indicated below the general nature of the video themes that accompany each musical work. The videos are mostly in black and white. The package contains two discs: a CD of just music, and a Blu-ray which has the video art. The full program is:
1-3. Steve Reich Electric Counterpoint (video mostly of waves, clouds, and raindrops on water)
4. Reich remixed by Magnus Frykberg & Jay-Jay Johanson Under the Weather MIX (Remix of Electric Counterpoint) (video mostly of eyes, faces, pulsing lights, and subway scenes)
5. Steve Reich Nagoya Guitars (video of forest scenes presented in a way perhaps partly inspired by fractal mathematics)
6. Reich remixed by Cornelia Godspeed Remix (Remix of Nagoya Guitars) (video featuring a mysterious masked figure with a torch)
7-9. Steve Reich 2x5 (night and dawn skyline scenes with extensive views of dense urban built environment)
10. Edda Magnason So Many Layers of Colour Become a Deep Purple Heart (To Steve Reich) (forest scene with brief clip of girl singing)
Features musicians Mats Bergström, Johan Liljedahl, Svante Henryson, Magnus Persson, Jonas Östholm, and Edda Magnason. Video art by Simon Larsson. Sound recorded by Lars Nilsson. I think all the music on the video disc was recorded and processed faithfully using 96 kHz/24 bit technology. Released in 2012, the video disc has stereo LPCM and 5.1 dts-Master Audio sound. In addition, there is also a CD (recorded at 44.1 kHz/16 bit) included for those wanting to listen to the music outside of a home theater setting. Grade: X-B
Read MoreTributes - Pulse
Tributes - Pulse motion picture, a "requiem for the 20th century." Bill Morrison, New York based, made the video. He uses black and white images of decomposing nitrate film which he alters as original art and a sobering segment he photographed himself with crude SD gear (from a helicopter) of a Staten Island salvage yard for decommissioned tugboats and ferries. Simon Christensen wrote the music. It's performed by a group called Kundi Bombo. This band has three members: Christina Åstrand playing violin; Peter Navarro-Alonso playing soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones; and Christensen himself on percussion, zither, and electronics. There is no text for this movie. There is a dense, abstruse keepcase booklet in English only. Released 2011, disc has 7.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B
Read MoreGerhard Richter Painting
Gerhard Richter Painting documentary film. Written and directed by Corinna Belz; edited by Stephan Krumbiegel. The main film lasts 97 minutes. It was shot while Richter was preparing for an exhibition (shown late in 2009 and early 2010) at the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York. Title also includes as extras (1) a 23 minute interview with art historian Benjamin HD Buchloh, (2) 10 minutes of "fragments of a conversation" with Hans-Ulrich Obrist, and (3) a 9 minute clip showing Richter getting ready for an exhibition in Munich. Released 2012, there is a soundtrack presented in 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D+
Read MoreGlenn Gould: Hereafter
Glenn Gould: Hereafter documentary. This is a motion picture film, directed by Bruno Monsaingeon, about the legendary Gould. According to the release announcement, it "synthesizes an incredible wealth of archival material" and is made "as if narrated by Gould himself." Released in 2009, it has 5.0 dts-HD sound. This was the first HDVD documentary about a fine-art subject. Grade: B+
Read MoreLa Bohème (Netrebko)
in Motion Picture, Opera
Giacomo Puccini La Bohème opera to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. This is a motion picture version of the opera directed by Robert Dornhelm. Stars Anna Netrebko (Mimì), Rolando Villazón (Rodolfo), Nicole Cabell (Musetta), George von Bergen [voice by Boaz Daniel] (Marcello), Adrian Eröd [voice by Stéphane Degout] (Schaunard) , and Vitaly Kovalyou (Colline). Bertrand de Billy conducts the Baravian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chorus of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, and the Children's Chorus of the Staatstheatre am Gärtnerplatz, Munich. Released in 2009, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. An HDVD of this movie was released in the U.S. by Kultur, which may be restricted to Region A. It appears this Axiom version is region free. Grade: A-
In this mini-review we discuss the merits of the Dornhelm movie as compared to the Opus Arte HDVD of La Bohème directed by Giancarlo del Monaco at Theatro Real in Madrid. Earlier we praised del Monaco for "movie-slick" directing with "fine acting touches." And now we have a real movie made with the full armada of technology devoted to photographing persons who are acting to match pre-recorded music. (That's right, Netrebko, Villazón, Cabell, and Kovalyov were not recorded at the photographic sessions. Von Bergen and Eröd are not singers at all and were selected for their looks).
Read MoreLa Bohème (Netrebko)
in Motion Picture, Opera
Giacomo Puccini La Bohème opera to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. This is a motion picture version of the opera directed by Robert Dornhelm. Stars Anna Netrebko (Mimì), Rolando Villazón (Rodolfo), Nicole Cabell (Musetta), George von Bergen [voice by Boaz Daniel] (Marcello), Adrian Eröd [voice by Stéphane Degout] (Schaunard) , and Vitaly Kovalyou (Colline). Bertrand de Billy conducts the Baravian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chorus of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, and the Children's Chorus of the Staatstheatre am Gärtnerplatz, Munich. Released in 2009, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Alert: this item may be restricted to Blu-ray Region A. (If Region A is a problem, consider the region-free Axiom version of this title.) Released 2008, disc has Dolby 5.1 sound. Grade: B+
Here we have Kultur's release of Dornhelm's movie. Earlier, Axiom released their own version that is region free.
Read More