Chabrier-Espana/Ravel-Bolero (Yutaka Sado) (DVD-Audio) (2001) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Booklet Interviews-Cast-(3:39) (DVD-A) Discography-(DVD-A)
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	53:18
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Yutaka Sado Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux
Case	DVD-Audio Jewel
RPI	$32.95	Music	Emmanuel Chabrier Maurice Ravel

    When you look at the offerings so far from Warner Vision Australia of classical music on DVD-Audio, you can to a large extent understand the reason for each release. The symphonies of Ludwig von Beethoven are the staple of any classical music collection, Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No.9 is a well beloved work and everybody loves the Viennese light music of the Strauss Family. The music of Emmanuel Chabrier and Maurice Ravel falls into a similar category. The Spanish-influenced music of Chabrier is well known for its cheery and bright nature and is the sort of music that one can listen again and again to, and always enjoy. Couple that with two of the finest pieces that Ravel gave the world, including the piece named as perhaps the most sensual piece of music ever, and this is a programme that should be eagerly be snapped up by the classical enthusiasts.

    I shall emphasise should as you need to take into account the performers. The Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux was established in 1881 by Charles Lamoureux, but longevity does not necessarily accord greatness. When considering the great orchestras of the world, the name Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux would hardly rank anywhere near the top of the list - and listening to this gives every indication as to why. Competent, and not much more, would be how I would categorise this orchestra. Then you add into the equation the conductor Yutaka Sado, a name with which I am completely unfamiliar. No doubt the product of the Japanese infatuation with classical music, the evidence suggests that like many Japanese conductors, he is again competent, but not much more. In the overall scheme of things, it nonetheless seems somewhat incongruous to listen to a half-baked Japanese conductor leading a half-baked French orchestra in superb music written by French composers but inspired by Spain.

    When listening to the music of Chabrier, I look forward to the beautiful joie de vivre of the music. I treasure such recordings as Sir Thomas Beecham's 1939 recording of Espana or Paul Paray's (I think) 1960 recordings of Bourrée fantasque or Joyeuse marche, which capture the vivacity of Spain so well. Unfortunately, Yutaka Sado seems to be unfamiliar with that aspect of the music and it is not to be found here. Indeed, the performances of the music of Chabrier are almost pedestrian in style. After that disappointment, it was to be hoped that the music of Maurice Ravel would be treated somewhat better. After all, there is arguably no more sensual piece of music than Bolero and it has a wonderfully impulsive, orgasmic, feel to it that is very hard to resist. Except when played by the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux whilst being conducted by Yutaka Sado. Rather than a magnificent impulsive, orgasmic, feel, this effort has all the sexual tension of two limp lettuce leaves stuck in the back of the fridge. If you need definitive Ravel then you would need to turn to the likes of Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, not the likes of Yutaka Sado.

    I have long loved the music of Emmanuel Chabrier and Maurice Ravel and have many wonderful performances of their music in my CD collection. All demonstrate the wonderful nature of the music and the joy that it exudes. None of that feeling is present here, and that is the worst aspect of this DVD-Audio disc: there is simply no joy here at all. Pedestrian performances of superb music is the kindest description that I can give this disc. I am sure that the powers-that-be could have found something better than this in the catalogue for release on DVD-Audio.

Video

    The only video on the disc is the short interview in the extras, otherwise everything comprises NTSC menus and stills. These are quite clear and sharp, with the text being easy to read.

Audio

    According to the cover slick the disc can be played three ways: Advanced Resolution Surround, DVD-Video Compatible Dolby Digital and Advanced Resolution Stereo. That gives the impression that there are three soundtracks on the disc. Not so. There are in fact only two soundtracks on the disc, a DVD-Audio MLP 96 kHz/24 bit 5.1 soundtrack and a DVD-Video compatible Dolby Digital 5.1 448 kb/s soundtrack. As usual, I listened to the 5.1 soundtracks in their entirety.

    Well, actually, more like tried to listen to the two 5.1 soundtracks. A brief rundown of events: toss the disc into the player, wait for the usual start up stuff to finish, make sure I have the DVD-Audio format selected and push play for that MLP 5.1 sound. Normally I would expect to be hearing a nice surround sound, with action coming from behind me. Oh, no, no, no, not on this soundtrack. I spent the first ten minutes swearing at the player as all I seemed to be getting was stereo. After twenty minutes of swearing, throwing the remote control at the player and generally doing my nut, finally some feeble surround encoding emanates from the rear channels. The penny drops - I was listening to the MLP 5.1 surround soundtrack. The problem is that it is a lousy one. So lousy in fact that it really sounds little more than stereo. Naturally enough this is tremendously disappointing, especially for the vivacious music that we should be hearing. In the end, the only words that really do the MLP 5.1 soundtrack any justice at all are "severely underwhelming". It is just like listening to a stereo soundtrack - there is very little in the way of noteworthy rear surround action. The result is a frontal sounding effort that is not bad just not what would be expected. Even when there is rear surround activity, it is so minor as to barely register and does nothing at all to dispel the frontal soundscape. Come to think of it, another word springs to mind: bland.

    The DVD-Video compatible Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is actually better-sounding, albeit not by that much. It certainly has more body to the sound, with a bit more bass activity. While the bass might get a little too much on odd occasions, it means the soundtrack is anything but bland. The sound is still lacking really effervescent rear surround support. The issue again is that the soundscape is quite frontal, with no feeling of directionality to the music. I really missed not having the instruments coming from specific channels, and in the end I think that works against the recordings. The music lacks distinctiveness and sort of collapses into a stereo sound that would be reminiscent of sitting way in the back row of a long, narrow hall. Truly nothing here that would in any way be confused with demonstration quality engineering.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Booklet

    An okay 12-page booklet that does little to expand knowledge of the orchestra or the music. The English essay component stretches to four pages in total...

Interviews - Cast (3:39) (DVD-Audio only)

    Yutaka Sado is something of a protégé of Leonard Bernstein it would seem, since the entire subject of this shortish interview is of his first meeting with Leonard Bernstein. Not exactly interesting, not exactly enthralling, and in the overall scheme of things, not really worthwhile. At least it sort of explains why I am not enamoured with Yutaka Sado's interpretations - I am no great fan of Leonard Bernstein either. The presentation is of video window-boxed at a ratio of about 2.00:1 in a full screen frame; the sound is Linear PCM 48/16 2.0. The quality of the video is acceptable enough but nothing to rave about. The mastering is somewhat flawed, as when the interview finishes you are taken straight back to the language selection menu.

Discography (DVD-Audio only)

    Which stretches to all of three CDs, represented here by the covers and catalogue numbers only.

    This DVD-Audio is identical in content and format around the world.

    Just to make sure it was not just me having a bad day, I actually dug out my CD copy of Sir Thomas Beecham's 1939 recording of Espana, superbly remastered I might add by the genius Michael Dutton, and gave it a whiz through the DVD player. Let me just say that the comparison was not very favourable to Yutaka Sado in any way. I also dug out my very early CD copy of Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra playing Ravel's Bolero. Fifteen minutes of seductive, sensual music that obviously leaves Yutaka Sado's interpretation grovelling in the gutter. Unfortunately this DVD-Audio disc features wonderful music played by an orchestra that ought to know better and conducted by a conductor who has little idea. Add to that a distinctly un-surround-sounding surround sound soundtrack, and you basically have the quintessential pedestrian, run-of-the-mill classical recording that will only sell because there is nothing better available at the moment. Frankly, I would prefer to wait for something a lot better and enjoy my older CD recordings for a while yet.

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