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Сomposer: Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Artist: Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim conductor
Title: Bruckner – The Mature Symphonies: Symphonies Nos. 4,5,6,7,8,9
Genre: Classical
Label: © Accentus Music
Release Date: 2013-2015
Recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonie, 20-27 June 2010
Duration: 01:09:37 + 01:16:49 + 00:58:50 + 01:12:21 + 01:24:42 + 01:05:58
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video/Audio codec: AVC/DTS, PCM
Video: MPEG-4 AVC ~25000 kbps / 1920*1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: German DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 48 kHz / ~3900 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: German LPCM 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Size: 116.74 GB

“ Daniel Barenboim is an expert in exploiting the impact of cyclical performances of composers works: This time he focuses his sharp intellect on all six of Anton Bruckners mature symphonies. Der Tagesspiegel described Barenboim’s performance of the works with the Staatskapelle Berlin on six nearly consecutive evenings in June 2010 as a superhuman accomplishment and went on to praise how: His Bruckner is conceived and performed very theatrically, like an opera without words.

Reviews: It could very well be that maestro Daniel Barenboim’s greatest contribution to music has been in filmed performances. Perhaps, none of his Wagner opera recordings, though “generally” excellent, could be considered reference versions. Yet, his filmed Ring and Parsifal (with Harry Kupfer), and three excellent Tristans (Ponnelle, the much missed Muller, and the recently departed enfant terrible Patrice Chereau) have no serious competition in the DVD market (it remains to be seen whether Barenboim’s 2010 Ring with Cassiers, coming to DVD this year, will hold its own). Barenboim’s recordings of the Beethoven piano sonatas, again, while A contender amongst contemporary pianists, will not retire the likes of Schnabel or Serkin. However, his filmed traversal is an epic and indispensable record of sound and vision. Likewise, the recent DVD production of the five Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Staatskapelle Berlin. The 2005 Ramallah Concert with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, despite the naysaying of a few hardened cynics, is one of the most joyously filmed musical celebrations extant. Though not generally known as a top conductor of Verdi, Debussy, Mahler, Schoenberg, or Boulez, Barenboim has collaborated in excellent filmed performances of the Requiem, La Mer, the 9th Symphony, Variations for Orchestra, and Notations. Of course, Barenboim has maintained a lifelong commitment to Bruckner with two complete cycles (the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic). Both have their proponents and critics, possibly because like Barenboim himself, they are an uneven lot (and while all conductors are uneven, Barenboim is almost radically so). Regardless of one’s stance, few would argue that Barenboim’s way with Bruckner can displace acclaimed masters Furtwangler, Karajan, Kna, Jochum, Wand, Klemperer, Cleibidache, or Giulini (although I would subjectively argue a few of these). Accentus with Unitel Classics has produced Barenboim’s performances of the mature symphonies with Staatskapelle Berlin. So far, the 4th and 5th have been released and although Barenboim has considerably more extensive Brucknerian competition in the DVD/Blu-ray medium (Karajan, Wand, Celibidache) his first two entries have already met with critical accolades. Bruckner once said that his music, like his faith, was boundlessly expansive. With that in mind, the inherent spiritual quality and devout Catholicity of Bruckner cannot be blanketed, but there is little worry in this since such is rarely the case (although some have argued that Boulez’s Bruckner does just that). The trend has long and often been the reverse: promoting the transcendental qualities at the expense of the music’s corporal muscularity and direct earthiness (which, just about Catholic would say are far more pronounced tenets, despite the trappings, of that epically complex faith). While Barenboim acknowledges the composition’s religiosity through the music’s hushed qualities, he commendably keeps it latent and opts for a red-blooded, dramatic reading that emphasizes the theatrical German tradition that he belongs to (and that is the key to Barenboim, as opposed to the tiresome, often repeated claims that he is a mere Furtwangler clone. Barenboim has about as much in common with the likes of Klemperer and Walter as he does Furtwangler). The camerawork and sound are lucid and non-intrusive. This a welcome release to the DVD/Blu-ray market and can be acquired without reservations. Hopefully, symphonies 6-9 will be forthcoming in a timely manner.

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Title: Blue Note – A Story of Modern Jazz
Release Date: 1997/2015
Genre: Documentary, Jazz
Director: Julian Benedikt, Andreas Morell
Artist: Bob Belden, Art Blakey, Ron Carter, John Coltrane, Bob Cranshaw, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Taj Mahal, Gil Mell, Thelonious Monk, Francis Paudras, Bud Powell, André Previn, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Carlos Santana, Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, Bertrand Tavernier, Cassandra Wilson…

Production/Label: EuroArts Music International GmbH
Duration: 01:30:47
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: PCM
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 25463 kbps / 1920*1080i (digitally remastered from SD source) / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish
Size: 20.75 GB

The artists list on this Blu-ray reads like a Who’s Who of the best international jazz musicians of all times. It features Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins – musicians whose names have become synonymous with the great Jazz Age in the 1950s and 60s. With Carlos Santana, Cassandra Wilson and André Previn and jazz experts like Joachim Ernst Berendt and Bertrand Tavernier, the list of interviewees and artists on this Blu-ray becomes encyclopaedic. But how many people have heard of Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff, to whom we owe the recorded memory of our Jazz legends? These two Jewish Germans emigrated from Nazi Germany to New York in 1939 and promoted Jazz Music, which at the time had received little serious attention from mainstream America. Without money or connections and speaking little English, the two men began to record practically unknown musicians, following their own taste and judgement, and thus establishing the legendary Blue Note label. “Blue Note – A Story of Modern Jazz” tells the story of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, of a friendship in exile and of uncompromising artistic excellence. Told by the musicians, by friends, associates and fans of the Blue Note recordings from all walks of life, the film recreates an era of American cultural history. Directed by German filmmaker Julian Benedikt (“Play your own thing”, available on EuroArts 2055748), it was the most successful movie about jazz ever to hit the worldwide cinemas. This testimony to the passion and vision of two men, interspersed with concert recordings and rarely seen archival footage, swings like the propulsive sounds that made their label so famous – a great music film! (more…)