Product Details

• Actors: Boris Belkin
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Kultur Video
• DVD Release Date: January 31, 2006
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000CQQITY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,808 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The National Orchestra of France performs in the sumptuous Théatre des Champs Elysées before a Parisian audience. Leonard Bernstein conducts Ravel’s virtuoso piano concerto from the keyboard. Alborada del gracioso, Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Major: Leonard Bernstein, Soloist. Shéhérazade: Marilyn Horne, Mezzo-Soprano. La Valse Tzigane: Boris Belkin, Violin. Bolero.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Marvellous Ravel programme, January 8, 2007

By 

Ian C. Punter (Thailand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bernstein in Paris: The Ravel Concerts (DVD)

This DVD runs for roughly 90mins. which might be less than other 'concert' DVDs you possess, in terms of length, but what a programme! None of the works here, except, arguably, the Tzigane, could be classed as a 'filler', and even the Tzigane is performed by the youthful and dynamic Boris Belkin, a name that appeared regularly in record reviews not so long ago, (mainly for Decca, if memory serves). Marilyn Horne is exquisite in the yearning song-cycle, (though not erasing memories of the Crespin performance on Decca), and Bernstein sails through the (two-hand) concerto triumphantly.

What the prospective buyer should beware of though, ultimately, is that these are pretty much what a French television viewer in the mid-70s might have seen and heard. The transfer to DVD is in no way comparable to Bernstein's Mahler and Shostakovich with the VPO on DG. The pictures, (colour and focus), are fairly fuzzy, (it was relatively early days for colour television broadcasts), and the sound is very much the 'broadcast' sound of the time. The direction though, is unobtrusive and straightforward.

So I would rate this DVD as a marvellous record of a greying but still youthful Bernstein, conducting and playing music in which he excelled, with top-notch soloists, - but I would add that it comes almost into the 'historical document' category, - a term I use merely to suggest that some 'allowances have to be made'.

And anyway, let's all pray for as much as possible to be retrieved from the archives and put onto DVD. How about the spiky, irascible rehearsal, (and subsequent public performance), of Elgar's Enigma Variations set down by Bernstein with the BBCSO and recorded by the BBC??

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bernstein makes one want to get up and dance, August 1, 2008

By 

Jeffrey M. Shabman "opera connisieur" (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bernstein in Paris: The Ravel Concerts (DVD)

Such a performance like this gives a clear example to the watcher and listener why Leonard Bernstein became a legend in his own time.