BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Music	Biography - Cast Programme Notes
Rating
Year Released	1992
Running Time	46:12 minutes
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	1,2,3,4,5,6	Director	Herbert Von Karajan
Studio Distributor	Sony Classical  Sony Music	Starring	Herbert Von Karajan Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Case	Dual Clip, Amaray style
RPI	$34.95	Music	Antonin Dvorak

    Now when you talk about a Czech composer of the stature of Antonin Dvorak, one thinks of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra who have over the years produced some of the most magnificent recordings of his works. I mention this for the simple fact that the greatest privilege I have ever had in classical music was to attend a concert given by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Jiri Belohlavek, for which the Symphony No. 9 was the closing piece on the programme. The symphony lasts for around 44 minutes, but that night the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra had the audience so entranced by their magnificent performance that it felt like ten minutes and it took forever to come down from the euphoric state they had taken us into. I mention this for the simple reason that it has always been very difficult for me to listen to this symphony since, as no performance is ever likely to match up to that magical night. As good as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra are, they are not the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in this piece, which is something of a pity for outside of the recordings by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the very best recordings of this work is by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Kyrill Kondrashin. This effort does not compare to that performance.

    Despite my misgivings because I have been fortunate to hear the very best of performances of this work, this is probably a good performance and well worth considering.

Video

     The image is quite sharp, and does not suffer as much from the usual problems we would expect from a video transfer of this vintage. The depth of field here is better than expected and so much less of the image is out of focus, compared to the earlier DVD reviewed from this series. We still get to see a lot of nice sharp images of Herbert Von Karajan against a marginally diffuse background and a less marginally diffuse foreground. When the viewing field is opened up a little, the images tend to be a lot better with much better overall focus and detail. Detail however is nothing exceptional irrespective of where the focus lies, whilst shadow detail is at best acceptable. There does not appear to be any problem with grain in the transfer, and this is actually quite a clear transfer. There does not appear to be any significant problems with low level noise in the transfer.

    Whilst there is still not much of a palette of colours on offer here, since everyone wears a black suit with a white shirt and a dark tie, this is actually a quite nice looking transfer. The blacks have a nice depth to them whilst skin tones seem to be nicely handled. The instruments have somewhat of a greater depth of tone to them when compared to the earlier DVD reviewed, although it does have to be said that there is a remarkable consistency in the look of the transfer despite a different recording location and two years in time. There are a few minor problems with flare in the transfer as a result of the lighting reflecting off instruments. There is no hint of oversaturation of colours at all and colour bleed is also not a problem.

    There are no problems with MPEG artefacts in the transfer. Film-to-video artefacts are again confined to some rather minor aliasing problems, mainly on the string instruments. Film artefacts were absent from the transfer.
 

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There did not seem to be any problems with audio sync in the transfer.

    We once again do not have any audio demonstrations here, but rather a nicely presented, if ultimately slightly lacking, soundtrack that captures the music quite well. There is again nothing much wrong with this well-engineered Dolby Digital soundtrack, with the bass channel obviously being non-existent. That is perhaps the biggest disappointment here, as a full 5.1 soundtrack with a bass channel would have really conveyed the feel of the music a lot better. Surround channel use could definitely have been a little better, but the overall sound is mildly immersive, if not quite reminiscent of the live concert experience. This is again a less analytical digital soundtrack than some I have heard, with the result that the various instruments present a nice overall soundscape without any instruments being especially digitally isolated in the mix. The Linear PCM 2.0 soundtrack is not quite in the same league and sounds just like a compact disc recording. Of admirable quality, even though well overshadowed by the Dolby Digital soundtrack.
 

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Biography-Herbert Von Karajan

Programme Notes

    A good video transfer.

    A good audio transfer.

    A somewhat underwhelming extras package.
 

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris (have a laugh, check out the bio)
23rd September 2000