Product Details

• Actors: Cecilia Gasdia, Ildiko Komlosi, Jose Carreras, Ruggero Raimondi, Zubin Mehta
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 7, 1998
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305075867
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,623 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Requiem From Sarajevo" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Three of classical music's greatest talents--Jose Carreras, Ruggero Raimondi and Zubin Mehta--unite for an extraordinary performance of Mozart's "Requiem" in war-ravaged Sarajevo. Staged in the charred shell of the once-grand National Library, this is a profoundly moving and uplifting concert that will be remembered for years to come. Features the Choir of the Cathedral of Sarajevo and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Sarajevo.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mozart: Requiem from Sarajevo DVD, November 3, 2003

By 

Robert C. Cargill "cargill2388" (Eden Prairie, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Requiem From Sarajevo (DVD)

It's not about the music, Dummy.

I found this to be one of the most dramatic examples of courage and the human spirit - related to the arts - that I have ever seen!

To just imagine the evil of their situation in Sarajevo 1994, a city that less than a decade earlier had been site for the Winter Olympics. For this city to become a killing field by Serb snipers in the mountains that surround Sarajevo is my definition of human obscenity. Their library was the very symbol of enlightenment between three different cultures that had existed in community for centuries.

People were being shot while trying to get water back to their apartments and cellars - where they were trying to survive the siege. Imaging polishing up YOUR violin skills in a cold, dark room - alone. Imagine walking down the street carrying your instument knowing that you might be shot dead at any moment. Might make concentrating on Mozart a bit more difficult.

Why would a conductor, a camera team or sound engineer want to even do something like this? To get the best music or video?

Their reason: Not to give in to the forces of evil and brutility and ugliness. To look death and evil in the face and make music!

Astounding.

The reviewer from Florida comparing this to a TV hunger drive and to complain about bad camera angles should pull himself away from his Pro-Wrestling Channel, turn off his TV and read the book, "War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning" by Chris Hedges.

Perhaps then, he could be worthy of offering a critique of a Mozart performance. Or Zubin Mehta.

We are honored to have such people - however rare - in this world to show us the way to keeping our humanity.

Bob Cargill

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "a gift of remembrance", March 28, 2004

By 

Alejandra Vernon "artist & illustrator" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Requiem From Sarajevo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This concert is a somber statement of war and man's senseless inhumanity, and also his ability to rise above the horrors he has created. With this glorious Mozart Requiem, God triumphs over evil, and a little light shines in the darkness.
It is a mass for the many souls slaughtered in Sarajevo, and interspersed with the concert is footage of the city being bombed, burning ruins, and its children caught in the conflict.

The performers are on a platform built in what was left of the magnificent National Library, with Zubin Mehta leading the Philharmonic Orchestra of Sarajevo. The sound is dreadful, rather like a bootleg tape, but this is not something to buy only for its musical value, but rather to in some small way, share in the experience. Bass Ruggero Raimondi fares the best among the singers, and though Jose Carreras sounds tired, his phrasing and soulful quality are those of a master tenor, and his "Mors slopebit et natora" (my favorite section in the entire piece) is gentle and lovely. Also singing are Cecilia Gasdia, soprano, and Ildiko Komlosi, alto. Total running time is 50 minutes.

The text of Mozart's Requiem is so appropriate, in its solemnity and also in its ultimate hope of redemption. God bless the courageous participants in this concert.
"Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis,
cum sanetis tuis in aeternum,
quia plus es".
"Grant the dead eternal rest, O Lord,
and may perpetual light shine on them,
with Thy saints for ever,
because Thou art merciful".

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to buy from outside the USA, April 13, 2009

By 

Silvio Calvi - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Requiem From Sarajevo (DVD)

I have bought the item because I knew it is a masterpiece.
However I was unable to receive idirectly, because of term of sales: it cannot be sold outside the USA. So I had to ship it to friends, in order to be able to get it.
Don't you believe that such limits are useless? Except of course for sensitive items!