Elgar: Cello Concerto In E Minor / Serenade For Strings DVD

Advantages: Shows joyful side of tragic Du Pré; invaluable performances; entertaining spots.
Disadvantages: Too short, unfocused, worshipful; expensive for 1 hour film.

...studying them for barely two days. This anecdote quickly brought to mind another favorite virtuoso--pianist Martha Argerich. Geniuses, it seems, live life similarly. Then there's Du Pré's music. How she coaxed such marvelous sounds that range from delightful to deeply moving from that combination of wood, strings and horsehair will remain a mystery. If you haven't heard Du Pré's playing of Sir Edward Elgar's 'cello Concerto in E Minor, I would strongly advise you to get a copy at once. I dare you not to feel something stir deep inside you as you listen to it, as it’s only one of the most passion-filled works ever written. (Interesting that the concerto came from the same fellow better known for the stately and elegant ‘Pomp and Circumstance’. I’m happily learning more about ‘the other side’ of Elgar, albeit slowly.) For that matter, I... Read review

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Advantages: A Ken Russell classic not to be missed
Disadvantages: None, unless you are expecting a Ken Russell "shocker"

...around and then we pan to a desolate figure of Elgar - such contrast to previous scenes of him and his wife running through a sunlit cornfield, swaying in the breeze... or another image of the Malvern Hills to the accompaniment of the Dream of Gerontius - and suddenly one sees a vision of three crucifixes on the top of the hills... My own favourite 2 scenes are one where Elgar and his wife are seated at a table, he is composing his first great work - the Serenade for Strings - while she draws lines for manuscript paper. The Serenade slow movement - one of Elgar's wonderful melodies - plays as they concentrate intensely on their tasks, the intensity of the lighting is vividly reminiscent of a Velasquez still life painting - unbelievably effective. The other scene comes at the end of the film where Elgar is on his deathbed, but one only... Read review

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Advantages: J. S. Bach; all musicians and vocalists; Karajan.
Disadvantages: Karajan's big, ponderous sound and historical inauthenticity, for some.

...choose to take it for what it is - and still enjoy some first-rate performances of two works that again serve to remind us of the towering genius that was Johann Sebastian Bach. Four-and-a-half stars (rounded off to five). = DVD Notes: (This DVD is available for purchase at few places. Here's one, sendit.com, for £10.99/ list is £14.99: http://www.sendit.com/video/item/7000000062208.) This being a musical performance DVD, some criteria rated above do not apply, but Ciao forced me to make a selection, anyway! = NEW YEAR'S EVE CONCERT 1984 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685 - 1750) Concerto for Violin, Strings and Continuo in E Major, BWV 1042 I. Allegro 7.54 II. Adagio 7.02 III. Allegro assai 2.39 Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violin Magnificat, BWV 243 Judith Blegen, Soprano Helga Müller Molinari... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful