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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great opera, poor quality DVD, October 25, 2001
This review is from: Philip Glass - Satyagraha / Davis, Goeke, Harster, Danninger (DVD)
This DVD has already been released in Europe by Arthaus and it's very disappointing. It appears to be sourced from a video of a 1983 ZDF/C4 television co-production. The picture for the most part is passable, but the image is soft and unfocussed, dark backgrounds are grainy and colours are washed-out. Lights flare and trails of light are visible whenever white objects move around.
This television recording does not capture the event very well and fails to live up to still photographs I have seen of the Stuttgart production. It tries to capture as much of the production as possible by using frequent long shots, but the poor definition of the video means that all we can see under the bright stage lights are a blur where the performers should be. The music is PCM stereo, but this is rendered meaningless because of the poor quality of the source. The performance of the orchestra itself seems fine, although to be honest it is hard to tell because of the poor mix. There appears to be no stereo separation that I could make out and music and instruments dip in and out of the mix. A deep bass organ appears at intervals throughout the performance to fill in parts that the string section could not play, since there are very few breaks for them in the performance. It does not blend very well in this mix. There is also quite a bit of stage noise due to the use of so many props and there being so much activity going on during the performance.
The performance of the singers however is clearly excellent. Considering they have to sing long scenes in Sanskrit and have to perform in difficult circumstances - sometimes suspended from wires, the singing is strong and comes across very well. I couldn't recommend this disk to anyone who is not already familiar with the opera. However since the Stuttgart production itself is so unique and this TV recording is probably the only source available, the DVD has some value as a document of a rare production of the opera.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible quality DVD - better listen only to the CD, March 22, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Philip Glass - Satyagraha / Davis, Goeke, Harster, Danninger (DVD)
I had great expectations for this DVD. I just love the opera, and wanted the visuals to make the experience greater. And what a let-down ! The quality of the video is horrible (it skips from time to time, and it is not the DVD skipping), the image is sometimes blurry and sloppy, the camera takes are rather bad, never really showing the whole action on stage or specific important details.
The image is also too dark. The orchestra interprets the music in a horrible way, or at least the audio in the DVD makes them sound like a junior high school children orchestra. I'm sorry, maybe a high school orchestra plays better. Being a real Philip Glass fanatic this DVD is just worth throwing away or getting your money back. Just buy any other DVD !!
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Avid Glass Fans only, June 21, 2002
This review is from: Philip Glass - Satyagraha / Davis, Goeke, Harster, Danninger (DVD)
The music in this opera is superb, I have the soundtrack and listen to it often. Howerver, the sound quality is not just poor, the orchestra seems incapable of playing the music as it was meant to be (unlike the wonderfuly done soundtrack). The picture itself is also often grainy and too dark. Why then am I giving this three starts? Even poorly played, Glass's music is excellent, and the visual part of the opera is interesting. Since I am an avid Glass fan, I feel it was worth it to own a copy of this, but for others, I suggest getting the soundtrack, and then re-thinking buying this DVD.
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