| New Music On DVDs |
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| Written by Kevin Filipski | |
 BITTEN - PETER GRIMES The Britten-Pears Collection (Decca) The intimate relationship between composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears extended throughout their professional and personal lives. Britten composed many vocal works specifically for Pears’ soaring voice, and they collaborated on many live opera productions, recitals and recordings during their nearly 40 years together (which ended with Britten’s death in 1976; Pears lived another decade). These DVD releases are most welcome: there are the singer Pears and composer Britten at their dramatic best (notably in those sublime operas, Peter Grimes and Billy Budd); a folk-song recital with Britten accompanying Pears on piano, and Pears singing Schubert’s Winterreise in an artsy concept video with Britten again on piano; and a rare performance of Mozart’s epic Idomeneo with Pears singing the title role and Britten conducting his own re-arrangement of the opera. There are meager but worthy extras, including a glimpse of the pair rehearsing and discussing the sublime Schubert song-cycle. ALSO AVAILABLE.... Stockhausen Helicopter Quartet (Euroarts) is a fascinating documentary about the German avant-garde composer’s typically controversial idea to have a string quartet play a new composition while in four separate flying helicopters, which did happen at the 1995 Holland Festival; Henry Purcell’s 1689 baroque opera Dido & Aeneas (Kultur) is given a thrilling performance by singers Karl Daymond and Maria Ewing and conductor Richard Hickox in this 1995 film by Peter Maniura; Richard Strauss’s Intermezzo (Kultur), though not his best opera by a long shot, is given a modestly humorous production from Glyndebourne, England, led by the charming leading lady, Felicity Lott; Ildebrando Pizzetti’s Murder in the Cathedral (Decca), one of the 20th century’s least-known but most thrillingly dramatic operas, finally gets its due with this superbly-filmed production, starrring Ruggero Raimondi as the ill-fated Thomas Beckett and conducted by Piergiorgio Morandi; Genesis: When in Rome (Rhino/Atlantic) is a packed 3-disc set showcasing the reunited band’s 2007 tour, although fewer pop hits and more art-rock classics would have been nice (best extra: 2-hour tour documentary, Come Rain or Shine); the acclaimed Soundstage Series (Koch Vision) continues with a trio of aging rock acts—Heart, REO Speedwagon and Sheryl Crow—but their fans will be pleased by punchy versions of their best-known tunes; another rocker past his prime but still a huge concert draw, Steve Miller Band—Live in Chicago (Koch) highlights his ‘70s run, when Miller’s straight-ahead blues-rock was monstrously popular (best extra: behind-the-scenes feature); Martin Scorsese hints at more than a mere concert film in the first 10 minutes of Shine a Light (Paramount), then chickens out and gives us a brilliantly-shot but middling performance by the ultimate “past their prime” rock group (best extra: more energetic live performances not included in the film); and then there’s Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (Disney), which is a record of the sold-out tour that bankrupted families last year: this 2-disc set is much cheaper (best extra: real 3-D glasses to watch the concert). |
