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MUSIC DVDs - great performances by today's great music-makers:
PLACIDO
DOMINGO / ITZHAK PERLMAN |
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| PLACIDO
DOMINGO
GREAT SCENES
This recent release (March
2006) opens with a very brief but hilarious excerpt of Domingo
at the Royal Opera House conducting a miniscule
excerpt of an aria from an opera "Celeste Aida"
(from Verdi's Aida) within an operetta (Die
Fledermaus by J. Strauss) with the character Frosch
(sung by Josef Meinrad) attempting to sing
the aria. This of course is not strictly speaking a "great
scene" but perhaps was included among the selections
to show another facet of Domingo - a conductor with a sense
of humor. The rest of the DVD features two or three extracts
from the great tenor's acclaimed performances in the early
to mid 1980s, to wit: Ernani by Verdi with Domingo
as Ernani, Nicolai Ghiaurov as Don Ruy
Gomez de Silva and Riccardo Muti conducting
(1982); Manon Lescaut by Puccini with Domingo as
Des Grieux and Kiri Te Kanawa as Manon Lescaut, Giuseppe
Sinopoli conducting (1983); Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmannwith
Domingo as Hoffmann, Robert Tear as Spalanzani
and Claire Powell as Nicklaus, Georges
Prêtre conducting (1981); La Fanciulla
del West by Puccini with Domingo as Johnson and Silvano
Carroli as Rance, Nello Santi conducting
(1982); and Giordano's Andrea Chénier with
Domingo as Chénier and Anna Tomowa-Sintow
as Maddalena, Julius Rudel conducting
(1985). Except for Ernani which was performed at
Milans' La Scala, the excerpts were recorded, presumably
live, at the Royal Opera House.
Excerpts of course are no substitute
for complete performances, but if you're an avid Domingo
fan, then this extended "trailer" of performances
by Domingo in his prime is for you.
THE DVD |
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ITZHAK
PERLMAN
PERLMAN: Beethoven/Brahms
Violin Concertos
This
DVD is the next best thing to being at a live performance
of two of the greatest and most beloved violin concertos of
all time played with power, passion and impeccable artistry
by master/virtuoso violinist Itzhak Perlman
under the equally masterful direction of Daniel Barenboim
conducting what is arguably the world's greatest orchestra
- the Berlin Philharmonic. In some ways,
viewing a filmed performance is even better, especially if
the sound is expertly engineered as is the case here, because
not only does one see the conductor from other than his backside,
but more significantly, one can see often interesting and
important details of the performance [e.g., technique, artistic
expression, synergies between conductor and performer(s) and
among the performers themselves] that escape one's notice
while seated in a large concert hall at some distance from
the stage.
Even if your favorite recordings of these masterpieces are
other than by Perlman and Barenboim, this DVD of a live recording
at the Schauspielhaus, Berlin (1992) is certainly worth having
in your collection to enjoy over and over again.. The DVD
includes a multi-language electronic booklet in pdf format
accessible from a computer with a DVD-ROM drive.
THE DVD
PERLMAN IN RUSSIA
In 1990 Itzhak Perlman,
the most celebrated violinist of his generation, visited Russia
for the first time - on a concert tour with the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta conducting.
As he himself pointed out in the film, this was a truly momentous
occasion for him, the realization of a planned tour that had
been cancelled a decade earlier. His performances were recorded
live and issued on CD in 1991 by EMI.
This DVD album, released by EMI in June 2005, actually consists
of two discs. One is an approximately hour-long documentary
of the tour showing Perlman both as virtuoso musician and
as human being - compassionate, funny, deeply interested in
the world around him. Interspersed with concert hall
scenes are film clips of him playing tourist in Moscow with
his wife - boarding trains, walking the streets, interacting
with ordinary people, visiting a clinic for the disabled.
On the music side, extended footage is given to a masterclass
which he clearly enjoyed as did the students and the audience.
The second disc is devoted entirely to his 40-minute recital
in Moscow (with Janet Goodman Guggenheim at the piano) in
which the longest among mostly standard show pieces (by Kreisler,
Prokokiev, Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, Bazzini)
was Tartini's familiar "Sonata
for Violin and Piano" and the least familiar
was the "Nigun" from Ernest Bloch's
"Baal Shem: Three pictures of Hassidic Life."
Those who are looking to see the complete performance of Tchaikovsky's
Violin Concerto with Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic are
bound to be disappointed as only excerpts are included in
the "tour" disc. Otherwise, this is a nice way for
the novice to be introduced to one of the world's greatest
violinists. Perlman fans will definitely want to add this
set to their collection. The complete performances can be
heard on the CD version of the tour: "PERLMAN:
LIVE IN RUSSIA"
THE DVD AND/OR
THE CD
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