Product Details

• Actors: Kiri te Kanawa, Liverpool Opera Orchestra
• Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, 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: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: EMI Classics
• DVD Release Date: November 30, 2004
• Run Time: 194 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00068CVFS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,234 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Paul McCartney - Liverpool Oratorio / Kiri Te Kanawa, Jerry Hadley, Sally Burgess, Willard White, Colin Davis, Liverpool Cathedral" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Movements: 1. War, 2. School, 3. Crypt, 4. Father, 5. Wedding, 6. Work, 7. Crises, 8. Peace

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McCartney's beautiful long-form orchestral piece-classical, May 8, 2005

By 

TypoQueen (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Paul McCartney - Liverpool Oratorio / Kiri Te Kanawa, Jerry Hadley, Sally Burgess, Willard White, Colin Davis, Liverpool Cathedral (DVD)

This is very,very beautiful music. It's the gorgeous recording of the world premiere of the work, presented June 28, 1991 in the massive and equally gorgeous red/pink sandstone Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool (the 6th largest cathedral in the world, and as beautiful as it is massive).

If you love classical music(this is a long-form work, with FULL ORCHESTRA, FULL CHORUS, BOY'S CHORUS, AND WORLD-CLASS SOLOISTS.

If you are not sure what an oratorio is, think about Handel's MESSIAH (the thing that has the HALLELUJAH CHORUS in it)...that is an oratorio.
This work is not religious, but has a few moments of life-changing narrative in it. It is a secular (non-religious) work, telling the story of a child growing up in war-torn (WWII) LIverpool, coming of age, learning, growing, marrying, and not adjusting at all well to married life. He drinks, he argues with his wife, it is very much common everyday life-- they have a child, but the wife and new child saved from death by a fervent prayer from the husband, who resolves to realize that he has all he needs within his family. Happiness is found within. It does have a happy ending. It is really sentimental, so those who love that sort of thing(like me) will LOVE IT, and those who hate that sort of thing will HATE it. Just being honest.

Paul McCartney does not PERFORM in this work at all. He is listed prominently in the AMAZON listing because he is the COMPOSER(co-composed with Carl Davis).

If you'd like more info about the music itself, refer to Amazon's entry under LIVERPOOL ORATORIO in the classical CD section.

I rate this DVD 5 stars. The laser disc (put out in 1992) was also to die for!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liverpool Oratorio, March 15, 2010

By 

Eileen Nagle - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Paul McCartney - Liverpool Oratorio / Kiri Te Kanawa, Jerry Hadley, Sally Burgess, Willard White, Colin Davis, Liverpool Cathedral (DVD)

This is a wonderful DVD of the PBS documentary on Paul Mc Cartney's Liverpool Oratorio. Excellent

3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a McCartney composition, June 7, 2005

By 

Greg McGarvey (Bucks County, PA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paul McCartney - Liverpool Oratorio / Kiri Te Kanawa, Jerry Hadley, Sally Burgess, Willard White, Colin Davis, Liverpool Cathedral (DVD)

F. Hayes - what did you expect; Paul standing there playing his Hofner??

Yeah, it does kind of look like a violin, but it's not!