Customer Reviews

The Pyongyang Concert - New York Philharmonic & Lorin Maazel [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a S. Korean, who has never been to N. Korea, I really enjoyed this concert and thought the event was meaningful and historic in a once-in-a-lifetime way. At the beginning, the N. Korean audience looked like rather nervous and uncomfortable but as time goes by, they seemed to open their hearts and to be free by the power of music. At the end of the concert, their ovation was almost endless as if they would never let the musicians go. Lorin Maazel, who later mentioned that he'd felt warmth and enthusiasm from the audience, kindly explains about each music he's going to play next with some short Korean sentences, which makes the audience laugh.

New York Phil played many different works including Richard Wagner: Lohengrin, Prelude to Act III; Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No.9 in E minor "From the New World; George Gershwin: An American in Paris; George Bizet: Farandole from L'Arlesienne Suite No.2; Leonard Bernstein: Candide, Overture; Traditional: Arirang. I thought New World Symphony in Pyongyang makes sense and liked the long version (maybe too long?) of the Korean traditional music "Arirang", which was appropriate to play at the end.

Along with the flawless concert, the hi-def documentary "Americans in Pyongyang" is very interesting and enjoyable to watch. You will be able to peek some aspects of N. Korea and people's lives there.

Technically, this EuroArts's very first blu-ray is a bit disappointing, however. The concert was shot in 1080i and AVC coded but birates are around only 10mbps, which means more compression was made than most other blu-rays whose bitates are usually between 20-30. I don't understand why only one layer (25B) was used to include both the concert and the documentary in hi-def. The feature of trailors is available but actually you cannot see them (the click button doesn't work). The audio is excellent with PCM 5.1 and 2.0. A 36 page booklet included.

All in all, this blu-ray is definitely worth getting to enjoy not only the great musical performances but also the historical moments happened in Pyongyang, the last place isolated in the world.

The repertoire was not the best, but the opportunity to view this historic concert makes this DVD worth the purchase price and more. It is a rare glimpse into this closed society and of how music definitely is a universal language. Congrats to all involved in making this concert happen and in making it avalable to all those of us who will most likely never get a chance to visit Pyongyang. Image and sound were very good so the viewing experience is most satisfying. Enjoyed the special feature almost as much as the concert itself, although it makes it very evident that brainwashing is alive and well in North Korea. Sadly, North Koreans seem terrified to speak (like the beauty who could not utter a single word when interviewed) and those music students who dared to speak made it a point to say that they could learn nothing new from the visiting musicians because their teachers were just as good. Really sad.

This historic concert is a document of monumental significance, musically and politically. During the reign of the "imperial" presidency, an American orchestra achieved a connection on lots of levels (human, artistic, diplomatic) with an audience of brain-washed communists who stood up for the American anthem and even cried, moved by the Americans' performance of the Korean folk tune "Arirang" ! What was going through their minds, listening to the New York Philharmonic's brilliant renditions of Gershwin's "An American in Paris" and Dvorak's Symphony "From the New World" ?
Were they really appreciative of the New Yorkers' exquisite interpretation of Wagner's Prelude to Act 3 of "Lohengrin" ? Judging by their obviously sincere smiles and frenetic standing ovation, the North Koreans loved the performance. Judging by the reaction of the New York Philharmonic members, who were all deeply moved by this unique and profound experience, a miraculous level of rapport had occurred, that no diplomats or ideologues could have ever achieved. The human beings on both sides of the stage reached out to each other - the audience applauding and expressing frank appreciation, the performers - waving with tears in their eyes, savoring the moment of true connection, lingering around, reluctant to leave the stage, and their listeners, behind. What a transcendental, unspoken, deeply felt, enormously touching act of offering this was - an olive branch only hinted at in the mystical language of music, and accepted for what it truly was - a simple handshake, a warm smile, a gentle greeting.

The music performances on this blu-ray were on a whole well conducted and recorded. But the overall concept behind this concert seems a bit weird and goofy.

The concert program almost seems like it was a randomly selected collection of works that don't represent the best that classical music has to offer. Any program can be acceptable, but for a purported "once-in-a-lifetime" event, why include works like "An American in Paris" or the "Candide Overture," which are borderline classical in their styles, almost trifles of classical music? Did the concert organizer think that the intended audience was too serious and so maybe they could "lighten them up" with these pieces? For a "diplomatic" concert designed to build understandings, it would have been better to focus on or at least include influential music that everyone seems to agree on, like some Mozart or Beethoven.

The concert organizers also seemed to use the DVD documentary as a platform for taking petty political potshots at the North Koreans. In the documentary, subtle criticisms were voiced at the way they run their country. It is usually somewhat comical to try to mix art with politics. Even if the criticisms were valid, there's no point in raising them. First, some of the criticisms are too obvious to bother pointing them out. Second, even if they were pointed out, North Korea's politics are so ingrained that pointing them out isn't going to change anything. It is best to let professional political thinkers and scholars try to untangle the knots of this country, and let the politically amateurish violin players focus on the music.

One thing I did find entertaining about the documentary was this filming of a North Korean traffic officer dressed up in a very goofy blue colored uniform. She gave out traffic signals with such wooden, doll-like precision it seemed as if she might have had a nervous breakdown at some point in her life. Too much stress in that country?

I found this DVD stunning. Viewing this was an opportunity to enter a closed society. Naturally,the music is first class. I viewed all of the components. The camera views of the audience, filled with a very limited western population, were most wonderful to see, especially the colorful Korean traditional clothing worn by the women in the audience.

When the orchestra played our national anthem, I found myself standing with my hand over my heart. I have viewed this at least five times.

Nice picture and sound quality though only 1080i. Gave a glance of North Korea and the people there. Familiar classical music selected. Members of New York Philharmonic were mostly elderlies, it's an old men band! Young generation of New York doesn't play classics anymore? Guess they all go into raptalk now!

This was simply a great concert... the music, the video- and most of all, the story behind the concert. The audio is excellent, and is uncompressed PCM in 48/24 res... the video is fantastic (many nice camera angles, not overly done)... the bonus material is also a real nice plus, and is a mini-documentary on the arrival in Korea, misc activities outside of the concert, the concert itself, etc. If you enjoy classical music, or if you want to discover the power of music to move people (or even nations), then this disc is a must-have. I've also included a link to the original concert program at the New York Philharmonic website:

[...]

The visit of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to North Korea was hoped to be a sign of thawing of relations between the countries and a catalyst for better communications. Sadly this has not been the case.
The formal concert by the orchestra is enjoyable but the announcements, followed by translations into Korean inbetween each item are offputting as are the generally grim, stoney faces of most of the audience - thankfully erupting into joyous applause at the end. But I guess the FF button can be used to skip through those boring translation/announcements.
It is well recorded with fine sound and high quality video although really not extraordinary apart from the unusual setting. By itself the concert would not make the disc any more attractive than the many others like it but the 52 minute very interesting accompanying documentary does make acquisition more worthwhile.
On the player used here the setup menu did not immediately appear and the remote had to be used to invoke it - a minor irritation.
So, recommended but more for its curiosity value, particularly the documentary, than for the concert which is fine, but nothing "out of the box" either content wise or audio wise.

It is substance like this that justifies Blu-ray. The image was glorious and the sound was very good. The performance was also of the first order. I was surprised to find that both the Korian national anthem music and the other Korian work were quite acceptible (much more that music from much closer nations). In summary, this Disc is absolutely recomended

My wife & I share this very high opinion of the disc. It was at once entertaining and infirmative.