Customer Reviews

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Resurrection [HD DVD]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After watching this HD-DVD of Boulez's M2 I can honestly say that it is as close to an actual concert that I will ever get. Probably better. The sonics are as splendid as I have ever heard. The 5.1 Dolby True HD soundtrack is fantastic. No gimmickry here, just a spacious, accurate rendering of the hall acoustics putting the listener just behind and above the conductor. The bass is rock solid and extraordinarily powerful. Mahler would approve I'm sure. Oh, and I found Boulez and the Staatskapelle Berlin, soloist and just about everyone associated with this production to be top drawer. This is just in a league by itself. PQ is as good as the sound with great contrasts, great color and no grain. You are just THERE in the best seat in the house. Bravo...Highly recommended.

I agree with the rave reviews this DVD has been getting with regard to this Pierre Boulez rendition of Mahler 2. I own a lot of Mahler 2s and this performance is right close to the top.

The video is clean, clear, and excellent for seeing both detail and nuance in instruments, conductor, and orchestra performers.

What makes this HD-DVD performance stand out a head above all other Classical Music DVDs is its Audio. This is the first music DVD I've ever heard where the multi-channel audio (Dolby True HD) sounded truly clean, full, and concert like.

So far I'm one of those few who can currently enjoy the full audio capability this recording has to offer. I own one of those HD-DVD players that has analog audio outputs. That means the Dolby True HD is converted to analog in the player allowing me to connect directly to my receiver equivalent pre-amp. The result is near SACD quality. But - caution - if you want to take the signal from the player 'digitally' (optical or coax), virtually none of the current receivers on the market are capable of completing the digital conversion that allows for Dolby True HD or the DTS equivalent to be heard to full capability. In other words, the best you'll get is the kind of multi-channel audio we've had to live with all these many years (good for movie surround sound effects but not so great for music).

So if you want the full lossless multi-channel audio capability from recordings such as this, you will either need to own a high definition player that has analog outputs such as Panasonic's new BD50 Blu-Ray player, or, buy one of the brand new breeds of HDMI v1.3a receivers that can fully complete the advanced digital audio processing (for example the Onkyo TX-SR805).

High quality audio is most important to me. Until now SACD and DVD-A have been the only real choices (no video with these). Now we're finally able to experience the best of both the audio and video worlds in one recording. Bravo!

It's too bad HD-DVD lost the format war. If I had my way ARTE would continue cranking out HD-DVD performances of this quality well into the future. As it stands now I it looks like they will be very soon switching to Blu-Ray (me too). Fortunately, with Blu-Ray we'll still be able to experience those same Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master audios along with some really good high definition video.

Just for the "record" (!), this private reviewer has notched up over 65 years of listening to recorded music, as well as regular attendance at
live musical events. He feels privileged to have lived long enough to see and hear "home entertainment" media achieve a peak of perfection such as this hd-dvd represents. It is simply in a class of its own, in all
respects -- in terms of performance, production, audio and video quality.
The only very strong tinge of sadness and regret concerns the death warrant just signed by the "industry" in respect of this superb audio/video medium. Seems that just as perfection is at last reached,
mere commercial posturing will snatch the prize away, so there are
to be no more products such as this. Can no-one prevent this madness?

Euroarts has released a production that is arguably the best yet of this genre- but I would like to hear better. The soundtrack is delightful. TrueHD has finally been shown off here. You should be playing this performance back on a large surround-sound system at reference volume. The sound is as large as a concert hall, crystal clear without compression noise. It is so obvious how compressed DVD sound is inferior when you hear this.

The video is just as clear, with no grain, and the video production makes interesting use of many camera angles within the orchestra. You almost feel as if you are playing along with the orchestra- but not quite. This is my problem: While the camera work is dynamic, the sound field is static. The front microphones are placed about 50 feet from the orchestra, based on my estimates of the time lag between the players movements and the sound arrival. (BTW, I do not have a lag problem in my system.) Also, the timbre of individual instruments changes with distance, so seeing a harp played from inches away, and hearing a distant harp sound is pretty distracting. Percussion instruments in general do not look right being played, because of the lag. This problem could be solved with a plethora of spot microphones placed in the orchestra, to support the close-in camera shots. The instrument sounds would be faded in and out of the front channels as necessary.

On the other hand, the static sound field is great as a stand-alone. In fact, for much of the production, I listened with my eyes closed, and enjoyed the sound without distraction from the changing video angles.

So, while this is amongst the best music video productions I have heard, there are some serious audio problems to be solved. Perhaps two soundtracks are in order, with one traditional, and the other with a moving soundstage. I hope that Euroarts, and others, will move forward with this type of production, although it will have to be on Blu-Ray Disk.

Makes you wish other classical music dvd's were this good. I recently bought Bach's Brandenburg Concertos on blu-ray and was unimpressed...
It is a pity that HD DVD is now gone. Well, get this one before they run out of copies!

Mahler took the symphonic form and the orchestra as far as it could be taken... to extravagent lengths and abundant proportions of size and texture. This piece epitomizes that mentality and is wonderfully recorded and performed to boot!