Worldwide reviews for a worldwide audience
Our favorite Concert DVDs
Special Report
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This month we review four concert DVDs we think are a notch above your average opera fare, and certainly preferable to some of the older filmed productions available on the market today.
So, whether you're a long-tiome opera enthusiast or are just shopping around for a good DVD to use to introduce a friend to opera, these four selections, we believe, have a magic quality about them that are worth considering.
These aren't staged operas, but rather concert performances that showcase opera superstars in a commercially attractive package geared toward attracting a larger audience. Live concert performances such as these can just that, and most of the newer releases, along with an older one or two, do it quite successfully.
The gold standard for concert opera has to be a concert that was performed seventeen years ago. That would be: “The Three Tenors” concert, featuring Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. How popular a concert was it? Well, that one show attracted 1.5 billion home viewers.” A new DVD was released in 2007 that included backstage scenes. Its sales are still solid.
“The Three Tenors” concert demonstrated that concert DVD performances, packaged smartly, could attract an audience far greater than the percentage of the opera-going public that now attends live, fully staged, performances. This concert proved that the right combination of media and public buzz, strong singer personality and solid vocal talent, along with a careful selection of commercially marketable opera selections, could be both profitable and enjoyable worldwide.
The most recent batch of concert DVD’s we have reviewed here have the same magic that was generated when “The Three Tenors” took center stage so many years ago. So, in the event you missed what we had to say about these performances, we thought this would be a good opportunity to remind everyone just how good concert performances can be when done right. These, in our judgment, are some of the best on the market today.
The Original Three Tenors Concert
Domingo, Pavarotti, Carreras
Zubin Mehta, conducting
DECCA (Special Edition)
2-DVD
Seventeen years ago (July 7, 1990) three of the world’s leading and most renown tenors, along with two full orchestra’s, comprised of two hundred musicians, gathered on the stage of the ancient baths of Rome’s Caracalla and in front a live audience of six thousand and TV cameras that beamed the event into over a one-and-a half billion homes, gave a concert that defined classical music in general and opera in particular to one of the largest audiences in history. Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and the late Luciano Pavarotti were the three tenors, and their concert, “The Three Tenors,” (87 Minutes) has sold more classical albums than any other classical recording to date – and still sells, as this one, no doubt, will, principally because of a new addition included in this 2 DVD package: The show has been transferred to a 5-channel surround format and supplemented (on disc 2) with the 1992 film “The Impossible Dream,” (57 minutes) about the making of “The Three Tenors.” The second disc includes rehearsal and backstage footage (before and during the concert) and interviews with all the performers, including comments by the conductor Zubin Mehta. Since nothing new can be said about this concert that hasn’t already been said, my only new comment is that as far as the DVD is concerned, it is regrettable that the event wasn’t filmed in widescreen to give the viewer a fuller sense of the majesty and exotic setting in Rome. Still, now, especially with Pavarotti’s passing, it was particularly poignant seeing the star not just as a performer on stage, but more informally as a man, offering asides about his role in all this and joking with his colleagues on stage. The concert, itself, is wonderful and loses nothing with the passage of time. It was great then; it's great today.
Kiri, A Celebration
50th Birthday Celebration
Kiri Te Kanawa
Live at the Royal Albert Hall
DECCA
DVD
This 2007 DVD release of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s 1994 50th Birthday Celebration, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall in London, is an elegant and thoroughly enjoyable two-hour visual and musical tour-de-force, featuring a wonderful selection of music, ranging from classical, to opera, to contemporary, to Jazz, and including an intriguing and hypnotic fifteen minute interlude of native Maori dance and music from the Waihirere Maori Group, Ms. Kanawa’s New Zealand ancestry. This DVD is meant to be enjoyed, and enjoy it I did. A couple months ago we reviewed “The Berlin Concert” and recommended it for its magic and music. This, too, is one of those DVDs you own to enjoy over and again whether sitting alone or sipping a glass of wine with friends. The entertainment value here is stratospheric. Too bad it wasn’t filmed in widescreen. But even with the “full screen” format, this is a concert to treasure for its sheer beauty and elegance. From the opening orchestral of Korngold’s “Seahawk”, to the blending of orchestra and chorus performing Richard Rogers’ “Climb Every Mountain,” to Ms. Kanawa's mild jazz rendition of “Why don’t you do right”? with Andre Previn, to the Puccini duets with tenor Dennis O’Neill singing three selections form “La Bohème,” it is just one treat after another, one captivating musical moment after another, steeped in rich set lighting and smart use of color. This is what musical DVD is all about, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The Berlin Concert
Domingo, Netrebko, Villazón
Orchester Der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Marco Armiliato, conducting
DECCA
DVD
Filmed outside in widescreen before 20,000 fans who gathered along the steep hollow of western Berlin’s famous Waldbühne amphitheatre on July 7, 2006, this live concert, featuring Plácido Domingo, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón is a photogenic spectacle to behold and a musically thrilling experience for those who not only enjoy opera, but enjoy the best of opera rolled into nearly two hours of familiar melodies, one after the other. As a technical achievement, this DVD is a high quality offering for those who like the “you are there” feel of a live performance – large crowds, a colorful stage, beautiful scenic vistas and panoramic sweeps of an appreciative audience gathered to witness a true operatic event. This DVD has it all: clear and resonant digital sound, crisp, colorful video, and smart cinematography. The sun sets and the mood changes at just about mid-point, when the orchestra under the direction of Marco Armiliato begins the Intermezzo of Mascagni’s “Cavalleria rusticana” The intimacy of this show that existed from the opening overture of Verdi’s “Nabucco” got even more intimate when the stage lights came on and the richness and color of the stage grew even more pronounced when lit against a stygian sky. As for the performances, a gray bearded, mature 65-year old Domingo still has the voice and the star appeal, such that even when the younger Netrebko and Villazon shared the stage, it was Domingo who was the center of attention, and who was most attuned to the tempo of the orchestra and the lead given by Armiliato. Both Villazon and Netrebko were each on at least one occasion following their own lead out in front of the orchestra and its conductor. I’ve heard that Ms. Netrebko has done this in the past. Well, she did it here, too; bad form, really bad form for a DIVA. Still, this is a spectacular DVD and a good one to show friends who wonder what the lure is all about.
The Opera Gala
Live from Baden-Baden
Netrebko, Garnaca, Vargas, Tezier
March Atmilianto, conducting
Deutsche Grammophon
DVD
This 2007 opera gala filmed and recorded live at the Baden-Baden Festival Theatre (opened in 1998), featuring four outstanding operatic talents is a feast not only for the ears but for the eyes as well. Filmed in widescreen with 5.1 digital sound, this new offering from Deutsche Grammophon adds to the list of truly entertaining and impressive concert galas that we’ve the opportunity to review over the past several months: “The Berlin Concert,” “Kiri: a celebration of Love,” and a new release of “The Three Tenors.” Here, soprano Anna Netrebko, mezzo Elina Garanca, tenor Ramon Vargas and baritone Ludovic Tezier, join in a concert set against a black backdrop and modern geometric powder-blue lit stage, and deliver to the audiences delight a treasure chest of operatic melodies that will easily satisfy the DVD viewership of this current DVD. Mt favorite, Ms Garanca’s “Mon corur s’ouvre a ta voix,” from Saint-Saens “Samson et Dalila” was hypnotic and that’s to take nothing away from the mixtures of solos, duets and quartets that make up the 21 featured offerings. These new concert offerings not only feature a younger, fitter generation of singers, but also package the shows with an eye toward a larger opera audience by bundling the music with a visually appealing presentation. Anyone interested in good music, magnificent voices, and the warmth of an evening out at a special concert will enjoy an evening in with this truly seductive DVD and the singers who give it their all in a sold out show, in a spectacular new concert hall, accompanied by a full orchestra. I thoroughly enjoyed this SVS and suspect you will too.
