Customer Reviews

Andre Rieu - The Flying Dutchman

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I originally posted a five star review of this concert, based on the import copy I ordered through the official Andre Rieu website (andrerieu.com). I assumed the American release would be the same. Apparently, I was wrong. I can't imagine why the American release wouldn't have subtitles. The copy I ordered from Andre's website DOES have English subtitles, which work fine. It is also full screen. It has a different cover, too (Andre in an airplane, holding his violin). I would not necessarily recommend this DVD without subtitles, unless you can speak Dutch.

UPDATE: Denon recalled the entire run of this DVD in October 2005, remastered it, and even replaced for free customer's original copies. The picture quality is now gorgeous, subtitles are provided, and the picture aspect in the extras have been corrected. Thanks to Denon for doing this. This program is now, in my opinion, second only to the Tuscany DVD. Five stars. Buy it!

Previous review: This DVD now takes its place as the DVD with the poorest picture quality in my collection. None of the moving shots are smooth; instead they flutter across the screen. When the camera moves too fast, the picture breaks up into pixels. It's almost headache-inducing. The pixels become more and more obvious towards the end of the picture, particularly in the "bonus tracks", which are merely selections removed from the concert and touted as bonuses. The poor image is NOT because of your DVD player: simply pause the scene and count the square pixels. Only "Old MacDonald" and part of one of the bonus tracks have some English captions; the rest do not, despite the false claim on the case. The picture is widescreen but not anamorphic. The "Limbourgeois" TV special is full screen compressed to widescreen, so everything is flattened. There's no way to correct it. Shame on Denon for manufacturing such a shoddy product. Except for the little tyke who plays the violin (too cutesy and out of tune, but remarkable for such a little guy, and his water "trick" gets very old), the music is performed well (the organ pedal part is missing from the Intermezzo, track 3: bummer). "The Last Rose", with the heartbreaking female solo, is truly the finest performance of that song ever. Still, it's hard to recommend such a poorly mastered DVD.

My DVD was a gift from my sister who received it from PBS in early September. It has English sub-titles and has a picture of Andre with the backdrop of the stage in Roga Stadium where the concert was held. You have your choice of English or French sub titles.

I had never heard of Andre Rieu before and as I put the DVD in my wife and I didn't budge till it was finished. The next day I ordered from Amazon, Tuscany, Live in Dublin, and the Concert in Albert Hall. I have viewed them all and it is hard to say which is best but I lean to Tuscany and the Flying Dutchman. My favorite number from the Flying Dutchman was the German comic, Otto, doing Old McDonald. What fun, all of them. Classical music mostly but a lot of popular music too and lavishly produced to create a fun atmosphere. In every one of his concerts the people participate and I am already making plans to get tickets for his 2006 tour in the US.

I can understant being upset with no sub-titles but I would have rated this 5 stars even without them. The sub titles make what is going on more understandable especially that this is a Dutch event and Andre is back home but it is the music and singing that make it such a good time.

Originally, I posted a one-star review for this DVD.
Since that time, I've been in contact with Denon and they recognize there are problems with the disc.

They've apologized for the error and have since shipped a replacement DVD.

I can't change my rating, but I'd give this disc four stars now.

This replacement is MUCH better than the one in my first review. There are English subtitles! (This is great, because I didn't want to have to go study Dutch just to know what they were saying.)

The video quality is much improved, and the picture is anamorphic widescreen. It looks better...much better.

The audio is still the high-quality as in the first disc.

Alas, there's still the scenes with "Otto", but that's why we have fast-forward buttons on the DVD remote.

Once again, if you bought this disc previously, please contact Denon (http://denonclassics.com/sites/denon/) and make arrangements for a replacement. You'll be glad you did.

I loved the program, but was disappointed that to not see subtitles in English. I contacted Denon Classics and they said they'd replace the discs from people who's players can't see them. They were very nice and gave me all the info I needed- and the return instructions would be up on their website. I returned mine today, now I just have to waite for the new disc.

While the DVD I bought, brought good content and sound the picture quality was less than I would excpect from any company.

As stated by previous reviewers the "pixalation" of the video is horrible and is dizzying. Technically I do not know what went wrong with this production but I have never, ever, seen such poor picture quality in any DVD that I have ever purchased. Andre is such a classy guy I can't believe he let this one get by him. I hope he rights this wrong.

I did have English subtitles on my DVD.

It was like waiting for Christmas and getting a lump of coal. I could hardly wait for Andre Rieu's new concert DVD (The Flying Dutchman) to arrive. As usual, his orchestration was wonderful. It has been said many times before, Andre Rieu strives to involve his audience in his concert. Unfortunately the producers of his DVD forgot that the audience is not limited to those in the beautiful soccer stadium in his homeland. I suspect that there are a gerater number of those who enjoy his performances on DVD. Without subtitles I was unable to enjoy his dialog and joking over the antics of the orchestra mambers that have become a byline for his concerts. For the first time I felt that he was playing AT me instead of TO me. I will continue to avail myself to his future offerings, hoping that omision of such a basic neccessity as subtitles was an oversight and will not become the norm. As this DVD has just been released hopefully the producers read the comments of Andre Rieu's fans and stop production long enough to rectify this glaring problem in future copies

The audio in 5.1 surround was fine, the package I bought,. said it was in english. It was not, there were no subtitles. It also said it was in the 16:9 ratio, it was not, it was in 4:3. I was Very disappointed.

I ordered this DVD on the first day of its release. Had it shipped overnight so I could give it to my husband for his birthday on 1 Oct. We went crazy trying to get the subtitles to come up. We thought our new DVD player was broken. Now I know after reading the reviews today, 3 Oct. that it was put out with no subtitles. It was a very big disappointment. I feel you should replace the DVD with one with subtitles. I know it was made with subtitles, as PBS showed the previews of this show and it had subtitles on it.

I had read some of the previous reviews and agreed with the assessment that there were picture quality problems and no subtitles when I first bought this DVD. It was somewhat shocking as Andre's DVDs are usually very crisp and top notch...so like others I was disappointed by the quality.

I went to Denon's website and wrote an email not sure what they would do. I got in the mail this week a very polite letter and a replacement DVD. The picture quality was much improved and this version has subtitles. I was ecstatic and very grateful for Denon's response and class.

I would urge anyone that may have bought this and have a version with poor qualtiy and no subtitles to write Denon Classics (in a pleasant tone of course)and seek their assistance. I am sure they will make things right for you.

This is a great DVD and song list. The extras on the DVD have a great segment from a local television show in Limburg with interviews, etc. The song list is outstanding and there are three additional songs in the extra section.

I would still highly recommend this DVD...hopefully the issues may have been fixed. If not don't hesitate to reach out to Denon Classics.

Hope this helps -