Jacqueline Treichler & Katharina Wollitz, sopranos/Michael König,
tenor/Beethoven Chorus of Ludwigshafen/ The Dessau Orchestra/Marcus R.
Bosch — Nishimura DVD-A DVDA-00, 1:06:56 ****:
Another Nishimura DVD-A this one somehow got stuck on our back burners,
and with the current diminishment of the DVD-A format it seemed it
should be reviewed even if perhaps too late. Recorded again
during a live concert performance as with other Nishimura DVD-As, this
one has four different audio options: the normal Dolby Digital for
those with only DVD-V playback facility, a 5.0 (no sub) 48K group for
multichannel DVD-A playback, a special two-channel 48K mix from a
single-point mike pickup, and finally a 10-minute excerpt from a
rehearsal — recorded with a binaural dummy head for headphone
listening. (The notes advise the the demo reproduces the acoustics of
the recording location and thus can optimize the setup of the surround
speaker system. But it doesn’t explain exactly how it can do
that.)
The live recording was made in 2000. Not one of Mendelssohn’s
frequently-heard symphonies, understandably. Mendelssohn
subtitled the work “Symphony-Cantata with Text taken from the Holy
Scriptures.” It may be thought of as a Germanic Te Deum. Though
of Jewish ancestry, the composer was baptized in the Protestant faith
as a child, and leaned more toward rational, Enlightenment thought. His
biblical quotations seek illumination not after death but in the here
and now. The work opens with a three-movement instrumental Sinfonia.
There are five choruses, including a chorale on “Now Thank All Our
God.” The Beethoven Chorus, though composed of amateurs, has high
standards and provides good support for the three soloists in their
arias. Though recorded somewhat more distantly than most commercial
surround discs, there is a quite natural spread of the chorus and
orchestra across the soundstage.
— John Sunier
