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Three Three Muskateers (Silent) (1921/2016)

Three Three Muskateers (Silent) (1921/2016)

by | Dec 25, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

The first Three Muskateers film, starring Doug Fairbanks in 1921! Three Three Muskateers (1921/2016) Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Adolphe Menjou, Mary MacLarn, Nigel De Brulier Director: Fred Niblo Writer: Alexandre Dumas Studio: Verdoux-vision/ Synergy Ent./ Undercrank Productions/ Silent Cinema Presentations Inc. 2016 Restoration: Karl Malkames New theater organ score: Ben Model Video: 4:3 B&W, tinted Audio: stereo PCM Length: 119 min. Rating: **** This is the 95th anniversary remastering of the original Douglas Fairbanks film, and a very good job they have done. The success of The Mark of Zorro in 1920 gave Fairbanks the impetus to create his own production, set in France hundreds of years ago, with lavish sets, a large cast and magnificent costumes. The swashbuckling Fairbanks found his place as a celebrity and creator of fine films with this one. D’Artagnan turned out to be a role Fairbanks was born to play. He looked to the exuberant Gascon young man as his ideal screen self, and this was a sort of a career leap to the sort of action film which is popular today. Fairbanks showed bravery, arrogance and a fine touch of humor thruout the film. He was also a fine athlete who did his own […]

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 1 in g minor, “Winter Daydreams”; The Tempest – Orch. of St. Luke’s/ Pablo Heras-Cadado – Harmonia mundi

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 1 in g minor, “Winter Daydreams”; The Tempest – Orch. of St. Luke’s/ Pablo Heras-Cadado – Harmonia mundi

by | Dec 20, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Conductor Heras-Casado and St. Luke’s capture two programmatic symphonic works by Tchaikovsky. TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 1 in g minor, Op. 13 “Winter Daydreams”; The Tempest, Op. 18 – Orch. of St. Luke’s/ Pablo Heras-Cadado – Harmonia mundi HMC 902220, 68:18 (11/4/16) [Distr. By PIAS] ****: Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony (1868) combines his strong desire to compete in “German” forms – under the strict guidance of Anton Rubinstein – with his innate commitment to Russian folklore and landscapes. The urge to sonata-form that dominates the first movement must also accommodate its program, “Dreams of a winter’s journey.” Conductor Heras-Casado (rec. 7 November 2014 and 3031 October 2015) follows the likes of Igor Markevitch, Leonard Bernstein, and Lorin Maazel who find an intensely lyrical impulse’s permeating the score, from the opening, fluttering flute and the brass fanfares that ensue, fortissimo. The declamatory material will provide material for Tchaikovsky’s last movement finale as well.  The clarinet ushers in the serene secondary theme, which soon moves through variants and paraphrases. The extensive coda pulsates with the original theme, now accompanied by virile riffs in the basses. The second movement, like the first, bears a program of sorts: “Land of desolation, land of mists.” Muted strings […]

DEEMS TAYLOR: Three Century Suite – Moravian Philharmonic Orch./ Petr Vronsky – Navona EP

DEEMS TAYLOR: Three Century Suite – Moravian Philharmonic Orch./ Petr Vronsky – Navona EP

by | Nov 18, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

A very short EP but very accessible music from Deems Taylor. DEEMS TAYLOR: Three Century Suite [TrackList Follows] – Moravian Philharmonic Orch./ Petr Vronsky – Navona NV6066. 15:39 [6/21/16] ••••: This is the 50th anniversary of the passing of Deems Taylor, who was the narrator in Disney’s original Fantasia, and composed the delightful Thru the Looking Glass on Alice in Wonderland (one of my personal favorite works…Ed.). The Three Century Suite had only one previous performance, at Interlochen in 1960, so it is more than welcome to have this recording at this time. You can see and hear each of the five movements on You Tube, because evidently the music went with historical video images on screen. The “Bartholomew Fair” closing movement is a celebration of sheer joy. It is in waltz time and has a lovely melody for strings and winds. The Moravian Philarharmonic does a fine job playing this short score. Sound is excellent – a recording made just this year. TrackList: 1. Pavan – Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra / Petr Vronsky 4:19 2. Saraband – Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra / Petr Vronsky 2:33. 3. Jig – Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra / Petr Vronsky 2:36 4. Ragadoon – Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra […]

STRAVINSKY: Petrushka; DEBUSSY: La Boite à joujoux — Seattle Sym. /Ludovic Morlot — Seattle Sym. Media

STRAVINSKY: Petrushka; DEBUSSY: La Boite à joujoux — Seattle Sym. /Ludovic Morlot — Seattle Sym. Media

by | Sep 5, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

A vibrant new “Petrushka” and a Debussy rarity make for great listening. IGOR STRAVINSKY: Petrushka; CLAUDE DEBUSSY: La Boite à joujoux (“The Toy Box”) — Seattle Sym./Ludovic Morlot — Seattle Sym. Media SSM1010, 68:33 *****: The Seattle Symphony and its current music director, Ludovic Morlot, are on a real run here lately and especially since they have focused their recording on twentieth-century masterworks and on their own label. I urge you to check out their recent Henri Dutillieux albums or Morlot’s Rite of Spring coupled with the rich but obscure Raskatov Piano Concerto. This is but an example of what is coming out of Benaroya Hall lately and it’s all wonderful; including this latest sparkling new rendition of the complete Petrushka. This new Petrushka is wonderfully paced and Morlot brings out all the nuance and picturesque quality of Stravinsky’s ballet featuring the very symbolic escapades of the title harlequin puppet come to life. There is balance throughout the orchestra, and kudos to all the soloists, especially principal trumpet David Gordon for those charming but oh, so exposed, solos in the “The Blackamoor.”  I liked this Petrushka among my favorites of all time, including Giulini’s with Chicago and that of Dutoit. […]

ELGAR: Cello Concerto in e minor; WALTON: Cello Concerto; G. HOLST: Invocation; I. HOLST: The Fall of the Leaf – Steven Isserlis, cello/ Philharmonia Orch./ Paavo Jarvi – Hyperion

ELGAR: Cello Concerto in e minor; WALTON: Cello Concerto; G. HOLST: Invocation; I. HOLST: The Fall of the Leaf – Steven Isserlis, cello/ Philharmonia Orch./ Paavo Jarvi – Hyperion

by | Jun 6, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Steven Isserlis asserts his supremacy in British cello artistry with two major concertos and two unfamiliar works dear to his heart. ELGAR: Cello Concerto in e minor, Op. 85; WALTON: Cello Concerto; G. HOLST: Invocation, Op. 19, No. 2; I. HOLST: The Fall of the Leaf for Solo Cello – Steven Isserlis, cello/ Philharmonia Orch./ Paavo Jarvi – Hyperion CDA68077, 73:01 (3/4/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: By general consensus, Steven Isserlis (b. 1958) currently reigns as Britain’s finest cellist, and his latest recording of the two major cello concertos – by Elgar (1919) and Walton (1956), respectively – bear witness to a talent that has earned meaningful comparison with the likes of the late Jacqueline du Pre. Recorded between November 2014 and April 2015, the Hyperion production also provides two relatively unknown pieces, by father Gustav Holst and daughter Imogen, the booklet’s testifying to the latter in Isserlis’ life with a photo of his reviewing the score of the solo The Fall of the Leaf with the composer in 1977. A colossal energy suffuses the first movement of the Elgar Concerto, marked with a devout melancholy which often rises up in rebellion to the elegiac sensibility of loss. Beyond […]

Ken Russell’s View of The Planets, Blu-ray (1983/2016)

Ken Russell’s View of The Planets, Blu-ray (1983/2016)

by | May 27, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

An interesting visual version of the Gustav Holst score. Ken Russell’s View of The Planets, Blu-ray (1983/2016) Director: Ken Russell Performed by: The Philadelphia Orch. cond. by Eugene Ormandy Music: Gustav Holst Studio: Monarda/ ArtHaus Musik 109169 (3/25/16) Video: 4:3 1080i HD color Audio: PCM stereo All regions Extras: introduced by Melvyn Bragg Length: 50 min. Rating: **** This is surely one of the most-loved pieces of 20th-century music and one of the classic cinema images onscreen to a classical work. Ormandy and the Philadelphians are of course excellent, and the screen is filled with a mass of documentary material from Russell, some of it illustrating his strong convictions about the world at large. The cuts are often timed to match the Holst score and point up various spots in it. Of course we expect a lot of shots of the Nazi and Soviet military for the Mars (God of War) movement which opens the work. It’s most interesting that for Uranus (the God of Magic) there is a great deal of footage of The Pope blessing people from his Popemobile. (I wonder what images he would have, if any, of the current Pope.) Mixed in, of course, with plenty […]

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 in e minor; Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Ov.; SHULMAN: A Laurentian Ov. – NBC Sym./ Guido Cantelli – Pristine Audio

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 in e minor; Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Ov.; SHULMAN: A Laurentian Ov. – NBC Sym./ Guido Cantelli – Pristine Audio

by | Jan 8, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

The talented Guido Cantelli appears in 1952 Carnegie Hall for some rousing Tchaikovsky and a rare Shulman performance. TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 in e minor, Op. 64; Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Ov.; SHULMAN: A Laurentian Ov. – NBC Sym./ Guido Cantelli – Pristine Audio PASC 457, 72:08 [avail. in various formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: Andrew Rose revives two live concerts from Carnegie Hall featuring Italian virtuoso conductor Guido Cantelli (1920-1956) at the podium, in flamboyant display of his persuasive, interpretative powers. The 1888 Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony did not glean much respect from the NBC’s official leader Arturo Toscanini, but Cantelli maintained a healthy, searching respect for the score. Cantelli remains attentive (1 March 1952) to the perpetual struggle of this “fate” symphony between darkness and light, the tensions between a nervous e minor and E Major in the first movement. No less lyrically tragic, the second movement Andante cantabile moves from b minor to periodic flights of D Major. What makes the first movement especially effective derives from Cantelli’s flexible sense of rhythm and inflected rubato, much in a Romantic style we might associate with Koussevitzky, but less flagrantly epic. The NBC woodwinds – the oboe, clarinet and flute […]