Bach In Notre-Dame De Paris: Mass in B Minor - John Nelson
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DVD details
DVD: Region Code 0Audio: English (Unknown); German (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 153 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Virgin Classics
DVD Reviews of Bach In Notre-Dame De Paris: Mass in B Minor - John Nelson
DVD Review: A Moving Experience!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the one. In describing why, I'll make reference to Herbert Blomstedt's Leipzig DVD, which is the second best, and also well worth having. Will also refer to John Eliot Gardiner's audio CD, which I think is the best of the CDs.
The choral singing in this DVD is spectacular--it is the heart and soul of this DVD. The instrument playing is excellent too, but at this level you expect that. What makes this particular singing get inside me is the same thing that Gardiner and the Monte Verdi choir achieve in his audio CD--the pinpoint attack and total commitment, with nothing held back or tentative. The effect is soaring and ecstatic, for example, in the Gloria in excelsis Deo; Et in terra pax; the Cum sancto spiritu; Et resurrexit; and Et expecto resurrectionem. The women sing like angels; it is incandescent at times. You cannot help but be moved.
The choral singing is woven with the instrument playing to great effect. To take one example....Those who know Gardiner's CD will remember the scintillating Cum Sancto Spiritu--where the chorus and the instruments (especially the trumpets) remain crystal clear, distinct from each other, and balanced, each reinforcing the other to achieve the total effect. John Nelson, and whoever did the audio mic'ing and mixing, get the same effect in this DVD, and the montage of voice and instruments is equally overwhelming. By comparison, in Blomstedt's DVD, all the sounds and parts of Cum Sancto Spiritu are there, but they become blurred with each other and the trumpets are drowned by the singing. Just one example to illustrate, but this Notre Dame DVD excels throughout in balancing the chorus with the instruments, so that the whole effect is greater than the sum of parts.
The reason for watching a DVD is that we want to 'be there'. That is what is lacking in any audio CD--you aren't there. It's a disembodied sound coming out of a speaker. So I judge the DVD first of all, on whether it creates a sense of being there live. This video succeeds better than the others. It puts us at the focus of the playing and singing. It feels like being right there. There is care taken to 'walk us into' the Notre Dame Cathedral, so there is a sense of place. Which I liked, because I've never been there. And there are some interior shots of the Cathedral during the performance, but mostly the camera is constantly immersing us in the playing and singing. It felt natural to me, as though the camera was looking at what my eyes would be seeing if I were in attendance. As I rewatch it now, the players and singers seem so familiar to me, like I know them. It is as though the camera is shooting from inside the playing and singing area, as opposed to shooting from outside on the periphery.
It isn't perfect. Nelson takes the Sanctus too fast, though even there the chorus is wonderful.
This DVD delivers an immediacy you won't get by audio CD, along with a pinpoint attack and incandescence approaching that achieved by Gardiner on his still-the-gold-standard CD. All for [...] plus [...] shipping
I should mention, the Blomstedt DVD has its own very strong points. First, Blomstedt himself is a highly sympathetic person, and gives a very perceptive talk about Bach and the Mass. I also appreciated the subtitling (in English) as the performance proceeded. The singers and players seemed equal to those at Notre Dame, and the soloists are comparable. Indeed, Ruth Ziesak (soprano) and Dietrich Henschel (bass) are common to the two DVDs. As with Gardiner's CD, this Notre Dame DVD uses a male countertenor rather than a female alto in certain passages. Blomstedt uses the female alto. I prefer the female alto, but it is a minor point in the larger picture.
But none of the DVD's match this Notre Dame one for elan; none are as brilliant and moving. This is the one that touches me. Top recommendation of the DVDs.
F. Horne
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