The 3 Tenors

In Concert 1994

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Music	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1994	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	111:25 minutes	Other Extras	Concert Notes
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie	Cast & Crew
Region	2,3,4,5,6	Director	William Cosel
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision Australia	Starring	The Most Boring Conductor on Earth a.k.a. Zubin Mehta Three Overrated Tenors a.k.a. Placido Domingo Jose Carreras Luciano Pavarotti
Case	Super Jewel Case	Starring
RRP	$39.95	Music	Various

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	No	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448 Kb/s) English (Linear PCM 48/16, 1536 Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	No
Subtitles	English	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles	English	Action In or After Credits	Yes, in credits

Plot Synopsis

And the stars came out in Los Angeles one night in 1994 (a staggering achievement in that smog shrouded city) and congregated at Dodgers Stadium, and it was not to watch a baseball game either. Mind you, in my view they would have been better served watching a baseball game, rather than the appearance of three very overrated tenors, mauling some quite decent music. The original concert in 1990 was something a little special, but why it has been felt necessary to do the whole thing again not once but twice since defies logic. And the worst thing is that, given the Japanese enthusiasm for classical music and big names, the whole thing will probably be rolled out again for the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. You might gather that this sort of stuff is definitely not up my alley at all. This is crass commercialization of fine music by three tenors who are not even amongst the best around today, let alone being amongst the best ever. Still, at least it gave such luminaries as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Paul Newman and George Bush a chance to prove that they have cloth ears.

And to top it all off, we have to suffer Luciano Pavarotti doing his increasingly insufferable version of Nessun Dorma. Still, it has to be said that it is not the worst performance of the show, as the three tenors provide operatically styled bastardized versions of such great songs as My Way (old blue eyes was in the crowd too), Moon River, Singin' In The Rain (old twinkle toes was in the crowd as well) and Those Were The Days. Still, my views are obviously contradictory to the bulk of the population as these concerts seem to sell well on CD.

Transfer Quality

Video

Well the content may not be to my liking but the transfer sure as heck is.

This dual sided DVD provides transfers presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

This is actually a quite stunning transfer, beautifully sharp with some gorgeous definition as well. There is no problem with the focus throughout (unusual for a concert performance), and in general shadow detail is very good. This is a beautifully clear transfer and there is no hint of low level noise in the transfer at all. There really is nothing at all wrong with the transfer. Sorry.

The colours come up gorgeously vibrant, being very nicely saturated throughout. There is not a hint of oversaturation at all in the transfer.

This is a staggeringly clean transfer and there is no evidence whatsoever of any MPEG artefacts, film-to-video artefacts or film artefacts.

Overall, the video transfer simply does not have anything of any significance wrong with it, and represents the best pure video transfer I have yet seen on a music DVD - and it is not threatened by any comparison with pure films either.

Audio

And matching the exceptionally fine video transfer is an equally fine soundtrack.

There are two audio tracks on the DVD: on the one side is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and on the other an English Linear PCM 48/16 soundtrack. Although they are nominally English, all the performances are in their original language. I listened to both soundtracks.

The music and vocals are clear and understandable in both soundtracks.

Audio sync did not appear to be a problem with the soundtracks.

The Dolby Digital soundtrack is quite superb, being very well mixed with some fine use of the surround channels, especially with ambient audience noise out of the rear channels. This is probably better than the concert actually sounded live! The bass channel gets some nice work from the bass line of the music, never overpowering the overall soundscape. This is quite wonderful stuff and music soundtracks do not come much better than this. Especially notable is the capturing of the choir at the rear of the stage, which has been very well presented in the mix.

The Linear PCM soundtrack is also quite superb, but obviously lacks the sort of surround presence of the Dolby Digital soundtrack. This is very much like a straight CD recording and that is no bad thing at all.

Extras

Nothing on offer in this regard really.

Concert Notes

Provides some basic detail of the whole 3 Tenors thing.

Booklet

Provides some basic detail of the concert and the lyrics to all the vocal works.

R4 vs R1

The Region 1 and Region 4 releases appear to be identical, therefore Region 4 would have to be the marginally better choice, owing to the inherently superior PAL system.

Summary

Well it might not be my cup of tea, but you cannot argue the technical quality of what is on offer here. If this sort of concert is to your taste, you should definitely add this one to your collection.

A very fine video transfer.

A superb audio transfer.

The extras need work.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display	Sony Trinitron Wega 84cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder	Built in
Amplification	Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers	Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL