Christmastime In Vienna

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Notes - Programme Notes - Promotional
Rating
Year Released	1998
Running Time	72:55 minutes
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	1,2,3,4,5,6	Director	Bob Coles
Studio Distributor	Sony Classical  Sony Music	Starring	Plácido Domingo Patricia Kaas Alejandro Fernández Vienna Symphony Orchestra Steven Mercurio
Case	Black Amaray
RPI	$34.95	Music	Christian Kolonovits (Arranger)

    The actual collection of music of offer here is:
 

    If you have any rudimentary language skills, you might well recognize that some of these are transcriptions of well-known songs into other languages, notably Spanish. As I said, a fairly eclectic collection and one that perhaps does not do justice to the singers. Whilst there are no real complaints about Plácido Domingo, the programming is less kind to the other two. Aside from looking decidedly ill-at-ease, Patricia Kaas does not handle the English songs assigned her too well at all, and they lack a bit of weight accordingly. Mind you she is far from alone as Alejandro Fernández makes a fair old meal of his attempts at the English songs too, including barely carrying a couple of lines. They are both far more at ease in the Spanish and French songs. The setting is quite magnificent and even the external shots inserted into some of the pieces, whilst being of a decidedly Christmassy feeling obviously, are quite well handled. Whilst I have to say the actual programme content did not exactly enthral me, others might well find it more welcome. There is certainly little wrong with the presentation.

    A slightly disappointing collection of songs, but the presentation is excellent and overall there is more here to enjoy than not.

Video

    Since this is one of the relatively older Sony NTSC DVDs, there was a degree of reticence going into the review session, worrying about what sort of transfer we would get. Generally speaking, a very good transfer is the answer. Bearing in mind a couple of minor lapses that would barely get noticed, this is quite a sharp looking transfer. The overall detail is, however, not quite so good, as this was filmed with a rather restricted depth of field at times to highlight the main performers. This becomes just a little noticeable on occasions. Shadow detail was good and this is generally a very clear transfer, with little or no evidence of any grain. There was not much of an issue with low level noise in the transfer, with just the odd background looking like it might just be showing signs of the problem.

    The big standout here, though, are the colours: these are beautifully deep toned images with lots of brightness and vibrancy which really make this a pleasure to watch. The standout for me was the depth of the blacks and you should especially check out Alejandro Fernández's hair and suit. Really solid blacks with plenty of fine detail in them. Well saturated, without tending towards oversaturation, these are really gorgeous looking colours that are quite natural, especially in the skin tones. The only let down is in a couple of shots that are a little overbright and a bit of colour definition is lost accordingly. Colour bleed is not an issue here.

    There did not appear to be any MPEG artefacts in the transfer. Aside from some relatively, albeit consistent, minor shimmer during a few sequences, there is not much of an issue with film-to-video artefacts. The usual culprits for aliasing like strings and brass instruments were noticeably free of the problem and this does contain some of the most detailed imagery of harp strings that I have ever seen. The opening credits sequence is a little shimmery and jerky, but nothing too distracting at all. A bit of wobble is noticed here and there but I am suspecting that this is camera movement and not the result of the telecine process. There are no problems with film artefacts in the transfer.
 
 

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-to-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The vocals come up very well in the transfer and there are no problems understanding them. There did not appear to be any audio sync problems with the transfer.

    Whilst the music is from a diverse selection of sources, the binding consistency in the programming is that it has nearly all been arranged and adapted by Christian Kolonovits. It depends on your own reactions to the music as to whether you consider this a good or a bad thing.

    The Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 soundtrack is a nice, bright open effort that actually suits the style of music very well indeed. Overall I would consider this the better of the two soundtracks, as there is slightly less muddiness to the sound and the higher notes seem to be clearer. That is not to say that the 5.1 soundtrack is not good too, but rather that it does not quite lift the music as perhaps it should do. The rear surround channels barely get a work-out here at all, and the bass channel is similarly restrained. The result is something that is not really a great example of surround sound and certainly comes over as a slightly muddier, slightly more congested sound. However, there is no great evidence of any serious inherent problems in either soundtrack, so your opinion here may well be different to mine.
 
 

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Note - Production

Notes - Promotional

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris (have a laugh, check out the bio)
13th February 2001