Shakespeare Archive
Serge PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet, Blu-ray
Serge PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet, Blu-ray (2017) Cast: San Francisco Ballet Director and Principal Choreographer: Helgi Tomasson Music: Orchestra of the San Francisco Ballet Conductor: Martin West Stage Director: Glenn McCoy Studio: C Major, Blu-ray. [7/30/2017] Video Director: Thomas Grimm Run Time: 128 minutes Video: 1.77:1 Color. Audio: Dolby, NTSC, Stereo Extras: “Shakespeare Without Words”, “En Garde”, “Children of the San Francisco Ballet” Rating: ***½ Very entertaining and traditional adaptation. This is one of a very fine and promising set of videos from “Lincoln Center at the Movies”, a series of movie house showings of concerts of all genres as well as opera and ballet. I have attended one or two of these and, to be honest, the large screen is a nice experience if one cannot get to an actual live ballet, opera or what have you. However, the resolution and sound in a movie house is never quite as good as you could experience at home by getting a really good quality video such as this. The sight and sound of this very fine performance of the San Francisco Ballet’s 2015 live performance of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet is everything you would want. I have enjoyed all of […]
SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet & Othello (comp.productions by Royal Shakespeare Co.), Blu-ray (2016)
SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet & Othello (comp.productions by Royal Shakespeare Co.), Blu-ray (2016) SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet ‒ Paapa Essiedu, Hamlet / Natalie Simpson, Ophelia / Cyril Nri, Polonius / Clarence Smith, Claudius / Tanya Moodie, Gertrude / Hiran Abeysekera, Horatio / Marcus Griffiths, Laertes / Ewart James Walters, Ghost; Gravedigger / James Conney, Rosencrantz / Bethan Cullinane, Guildenstern / Kevin N Golding, Bernardo / Priest, Player King / Theo Ogundipe, Fortinbras; Marcellus; Lucianus / Doreene Blackstock, Player Queen / Marième Diouf, Cornelia; Player / Romayne Andrews, Osric / Eke Chukwu, Voltimand / Simon Godwin, Director / Royal Shakespeare Company ‒ Opus Arte Blu-ray OA 807172 D, 180 min., main features; 5 min., extras (10/28/16) ****: SHAKESPEARE: Othello ‒ David Ajao, Montano / Nadia Albina, Duke of Venice / Scarlett Brookes, Bianca / James Corrigan, Roderigo / Ayesha Dharker, Emilia / Eva Feiler, Citizen of Venice / Owen Findlay, Gentleman of Cyprus / Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Cassio / Guy Hughes, Soldier / Gwilym Lloyd, Gratiano / Rina Mahoney, Citizen of Venice; Messenger / Lucian Msamati, Iago / Ken Nwosu, Gentleman of Cyprus / Brian Protheroe, Brabantio / Hugh Quarshie, Othello / Herald, Jay Saighal, Gentleman of Cyprus / Tim Samuels, Lodovico / Joanna Vanderham, Desdemona […]
Paul Robeson At Carnegie Hall – Vanguard/ PurePleasure – vinyl
Paul Robeson in only his second stereo recording receives a sonic upgrade… Paul Robeson At Carnegie Hall – Vanguard/ PurePleasure PPAN VSD 2035 – stereo vinyl (1958) ***1/2: (Paul Robeson – vocals; Alan Booth – piano accompaniment) Paul Robeson was an iconic figure well ahead of his time, who provided a “threat” to the conservative powers of the McCarthy period of the 1950s. Robeson was an African-American whose talents were prodigious. He was a brilliant student who excelled at athletics. He played in the NFL, while obtaining his law degree at Columbia. Robeson found a calling in the theater performing Shakespeare in England. He is most known today for his magnificent bass/baritone voice that both moved and inspired listeners. At the time of his concert at Carnegie Hall in 1958, he had been ostracized for his social activism, and his defense of the Soviet Union. Blacklisted by the McCarthy hearings, he had not been active on stage for over eleven years at the time of this recording. Only Vanguard Records, the home label of the Weavers, would record Robeson. The May 9th concert went so well that another Carnegie show was set the same month. These two concerts provide the […]
Paris Belongs To Us, Blu-ray (1961/2016)
A supposed first in the French New Wave, but not a classic. Paris Belongs To Us, Blu-ray (1961/2016) Cast: Betty Schneider, Jean-Claude Brialy Director: Jacques Rivette Studio: MK2/ Janus Films/The Criterion Collection 802 (3/8/16) Video: 1.37:1 for 4:3 display, 1080p HD black & white Audio: French, PCM mono Subtitles: English Extras: New interview with Richard Neupert, author of A History of the French New Wave Cinema; 1956 Rivette short Le coup du berger; Illus. booklet with essay by critic Luc Sante Length: 141 min. Rating: ***1/2 Rivette usually is not included in the leaders of the French New Wave with Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol and Rohmer, partly because finances delayed the post-production on this film and it wasn’t released until 1961, though shot in 1958 and ‘59. Rivette gets away from the American gangster-influenced characters but is also obsessed with Americana. He is known for the length of his films; this is actually one of his shortest at 141 minutes and could use some editing! Anne is a young literature student in a Paris hostel, drawn into the bohemian circle of her brother Pierre. Much of it is shot in rather decrepit Parisian rented rooms, with little attention to lighting. There’s […]
“Momentum 21 – New Music for a New Century” = Works of JAMES AIKMAN, DEREK BERME; FOUMAI, THEOFANIDIS – Albany
Momentum will hold your interest with these great new works.
Nicolai Golovanov conducts TCHAIKOVSKY = Moscouw Cantata; Voyevoda; Overture Solennelle, The Tempest – Praga Digitals mono
Selected music of Peter Tchaikovsky finds an illustrious interpreter in Nicolai Golovanov, whose original inscriptions gain a new, vivid life in these Praga restorations.
FIBICH: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3 = Othello; Zaboj, Slavoj, and Ludek; Toman and the Wood Nymph; The Tempest; Spring – Czech National Sym. Orch./ Marek Stilec – Naxos
The orchestral music of Fibich follows Liszt and Smetana in his own terms, often poignant and powerful.
HAMPSON SISLER: Milestones; Five Shakespeare Sonnets— Ian Greenlaw, bar./ Michelle Trovato, sop./ National Sym. Orch. of Ukraine/ Bulgarian National Radio Sym. Orch./ Crimean State Philharmonic Sym. Orch./ Arkady Leytush – MSR
This new release of the music of Sisler casts him in a new and favorable light.
Pound of Flesh (2011)
May seem like an exploitation flick but a quite interesting watch.
MENDELSSOHN: Ein Sommernachtstraum – Soloists/ Wiener Singverein/ Tonkunstler Orch./ Kristjan Jarvi – Preiser
Great playing, great performance, but the narration will spoil it for many.
“TCHAIKOVSKY & Shakespeare” = TCHAIKOVSKY: Hamlet: Fantasy Overture; The Tempest; Romeo and Juliet: Overture Fantasy – Simón Bolívar Sym. Orch. of Venezuela / Gustavo Dudamel – DGG
An excellent Tempest and respectable versions of the other tone poems. Not a first choice but very listenable.
Duke Ellington – Such Sweet Thunder – Columbia/Pure Pleasure Records (audiophile LP)
Legendary American composer jazzed up Shakespeare.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Variations on a Rococo Theme; Souvenir de Florence; The Tempest–Symphonic Fantasy – Mstislav Rostropovich, cello/Leningrad Philharmonic Orch./ Gennady Rozhdestvensky/Borodin String Q./ USSR Sym./ Evgeny Svetlanov – Regis
A Tchaikovsky reissue of anomalous but lovely works, brilliantly performed in each case and sonically splendid.
MARIO CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO – Shakespeare Overtures 2: As You Like It; The Merchant of Venice; Much Ado about Nothing ; King John; The Winter’s Tale – soloists/ West Australian Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Penny – Naxos
A disc of overtures that are impressions of Shakespearean dramas recalling the great American film scores of the 1940s and 1950s.
Come Away, Death = KORNGOLD: Come Away, Death; WOLFGANG PLAGGE: Sodergran Songs; SIBELIUS: Come Away, Death; MAJA SOLVEIG KJELSTRUP RATKJE: HVIL; FINZI: Come Away, Death; MUSSORGSKY: Songs and Dances of Death – Kielland/Osadchuk – 2L
A morbid title? Certainly, but don’t be put off by it as some wonderful music is here.
LISA BIELAWA: In Media Res = Roam; Double Violin Concerto; Unfinish’d, Sent; In Media Res (Concerto for Orchestra); Synopses #1-15 – Carla Kihlstedt, v. & voice /Colin Jacobsen, v./ Lisa Bielawa, sop./ Boston Modern Orch. Project/Gil Rose – BMPO Sound (2)
A two-disc compilation of the vibrant, brilliantly orchestrated and imaginatively creative music of contemporary American composer Lisa Bielawa.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
