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Category | Music | The Hymn Of The Great Jubilee (4:22)
Recording "Sacred Arias" (7:39) Booklet |
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Rating | |||
Year Released | 1999 | ||
Running Time | 77:36 minutes | ||
RSDL/Flipper | RSDL (59:40) |
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Start Up | Menu | ||
Region | 2,3,4,5,6 | Director | William Cosel |
Distributor |
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Starring | Andrea Bocelli |
Case | Super Jewel | ||
RPI | $34.95 | Music | Various |
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Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Auto | English (Dolby Digital 5.0, 448Kb/s)
English (Linear PCM 48/16 2.0, 1536Kb/s) Italian (Dolby Digital 5.0, 448Kb/s) Italian (Linear PCM 48/16 2.0, 1536Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 |
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Macrovision | ? | Smoking | No |
Subtitles | French
German Spanish English |
Annoying Product Placement | No |
Action In or After Credits | Yes |
Forget The Three Tenors. If you want to hear the most astounding tenor voice of our time, listen to Andrea Bocelli. I have previously had the pleasure of reviewing A Night In Tuscany, a DVD which totally stunned and moved me, so when the opportunity arose to preview Sacred Arias, I jumped at the opportunity.
Sacred Arias is a live recording of much of the same material as can be found on Andrea Bocelli's CD of the same name. Where this DVD differs is in the setting. This is not a studio recording, but a magnificent live recording of sacred music in a sacred setting. Words all but fail me when I try to describe this programming. It is profoundly moving, and deeply spiritual. I was enraptured. I was moved to tears more than once. Shivers continually went down my spine from the sheer magnificence of this experience.
There is a variety of material on this DVD in addition to the music, with a number of interspersed travelogue-type segments acting as a bridge between some of the musical works.
There was only one low-light for me. I felt that the closing rendition of Silent Night was very weak and failed to close this otherwise magnificent programme in a suitably magnificent style.
The track listing is as follows:
1. Ave Maria - Caccini
2. Ave Maria - Bach 3. Ombra mai fu - Handel 4. Hallelujah - Handel 5. Ave Maria - Schubert 6. Cujus animam - Rossini 7. Amen - Rossini 8. Ingemisco - Verdi 9. Sanctus - Verdi |
10. Domine Deus - Rossini
11. Va pensiero - Verdi 12. Pieta, Signore - Niedermeyer 13. Panis angelicus - Franck 14. Saneta Maria - Mascagni 15. Adeste fideles (O come, all ye faithful) 16. Mille cherubini in coro - Schubert 17. Astro del ciel (Silent night) - Gruber |
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. It is 16x9 enhanced and has Automatic Pan & Scan information encoded.
The transfer was superbly detailed in every way, with every subtle visual nuance clearly visible and an eye-popping level of subtle detail on offer. The technical aspects of how this transfer was derived are not divulged either on the disc or in the accompanying booklet, but it would not surprise me to know that this has been down-converted from a high definition source, the quality is that good. Shadow detail was superb with many subtleties revealed in the darker areas of the transfer. Only occasionally on long shots of the cathedral audience did this superb level of shadow detail falter slightly, and this can readily be attributed to the audience being unlit rather than to any transfer problem. Low level noise is non-existent.
The colours were strongly rendered. The cathedral has been varyingly lit, mostly with strongly yellow lights, which translates to quite highly saturated colours. Nonetheless, there is absolutely no colour bleeding nor oversaturation of colour. Instead, we are treated to richly warm browns, vibrant flesh tones, and the magnificent blue colouration of the cathedral's ceiling.
There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Once again, Universal have seen fit to allow a relatively short program the luxury of being compressed onto a dual layer DVD, and the results speak for themselves. The only aliasing in this transfer occurred in the long shots of the cathedral, where the candles near the stage shimmered slightly. Otherwise, there was no aliasing to be seen at all.
This transfer is presented on an RSDL DVD, with the layer change occurring between Chapters 13 and 14, at 59:40. As with any live programming, the layer change is noticeable and mildly disruptive, but not excessively so.
The overall levels of both the Dolby Digital and the Linear PCM audio tracks were a tad on the high side, so I listened to them at 6dB less than my usual reference audio level.
The vocals were spot-on at almost all times, with Andrea Bocelli firmly placed in the centre speaker. During some of the softer choral numbers a small amount of hiss intruded into the soundtrack, and the occasional extraneous noise made its way into this soundtrack as well. The last piece of intercut footage, before Silent Night, had a small amount of audio distortion present - not badly, mind you, but it did contrast with the generally excellent audio during the remainder of this soundtrack. There were no audio sync problems.
The surround channels carried the music and the choral singing. The orchestra was predominantly mixed into the left and right front channels, with some ambient spill into the rear channels. The choir was mixed more centrally, with much more of a presence in the surround speakers.
I made a number of comparisons between the sound of the Dolby Digital 5.0 mix and the equivalent Linear PCM mix, both in straight stereo and with Prologic decoding engaged. The Dolby Digital 5.0 mix sounded very good indeed, but just very slightly veiled and "plugged-up" during the more complex sequences. I made a point of comparing the two soundtracks during both orchestral and choral passages, and the Linear PCM soundtrack was marginally the better of the two. It had a more spacious, cleaner feel about it which was easier to listen to. Don't get me wrong - the Dolby Digital mix was very very good, but the Linear PCM mix was just that little bit better.
The .1 channel was not specifically encoded, but full range audio came amply from all active speakers, and so it was not missed.
The video quality is magnificent.
The audio quality is extremely good.
There were limited extras, but what was present was
excellent in quality.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
© Michael Demtschyna
(read my bio)
29th May 2000
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DVD | Loewe Xemix 5006DD, using RGB output |
Display | Loewe Art-95 95cm direct view CRT in 16:9 mode, via the RGB input. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder | Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Amplification | 2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer |
Speakers | Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Hsu Research TN-1220HO subwoofer |