Review of Three Tenors Christmas, The

Introduction

Ah crap, I missed Christmas. Ah well, only another 11 months until the next one . . . just read this review v e r y - s l o w l y :).

Set against the backdrop of the Nuclear Holocaust this DVD tells the tale 3 men and their struggle for survival in a world gone to hell . . . ok, ok, I’m lying but it certainly sounds more interesting than the real subject of this DVD. Instead we see the Three Tenors (Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti) reunite once again, this time for a Xmas concert accompanied by the Vienna Symphony, in Vienna not surprisingly.

Whilst never having truly understood some peoples fascination with Opera I’ve got nothing against it at all. I have heard some pieces that have been very emotional and I can easily imagine being moved by them, hell I’ll dance to anything with a good beat if you get what I mean. It’s just that you can’t help but approach anything with the word Christmas on with more than a little scepticism. The scepticism comes from the mass commercialisation of the festive period. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Christmas, it’s just that there are often very few genuinely good products in amongst the slew of Yuletide branded goodies.

In fact the word Christmas is probably the only reason I would entertain looking at this DVD although I will admit to having been curious about this kind of music. So are the Three Tenors trying to rob us blind or sing our socks off ?

Video

The video is a bog standard 4:3 affair but is pleasantly sharp and definitely better than you’d find on VHS. The presentation is as elegant as you would expect, from the venue through to a nice scrolling menu screen they have definitely gone all out for the classy look. A nice touch is that if you press your menu button whilst watching the DVD it will take you to the song selection screen rather than the root menu. This shows some thought and is ideal for this type of disc.

On the Tenors side Pavarotti has never looked fatter nor moved with more of a wobble, Placido Domingo looks like a school headmaster whilst you can just see Jose Carreras gulping from a can of Special Brew whilst smoking a Woodbine. An odd assortment you can be sure :).

Audio

Two audio flavours are on offer here, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo. Being a musical production some people might like to play it with the Stereo soundtrack but I would advise against it. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Stereo sound it’s just that the 5.1 soundtrack offers a much more complete audio experience. All channels are used to very good effect and the sound is very lively and vibrant. Before you say anything I know it’s not a movie :) but it does carry a very fine soundtrack, a good job for a disc of this nature :).

Features

A Discography and Artist Biographies is your lot for this disc. I suppose given the nature of the material you can’t really feel that cheated. Also the documentary "A visit to McDonalds with Pavarotti" might have been a little boring, I have trouble sitting still for more than 6 hours at a time :).

Conclusion

After having sat through the entire 81 minutes I can honestly say I was thoroughly disappointed. My worse fears were confirmed as this is indeed nothing more than an attempt to cash in on Christmas.

For me the problem is the material. Allot of the songs are classic Christmas tunes, the likes of John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas War is Over”, “White Christmas”, “Let it Snow”, “Silent Night”, the list goes on. Now Opera seems to work regardless of the fact that we are very likely never going to understand a word they are singing as they are typically in a foreign language for us. Yes you can read about the stories behind some of the great operas but in practice it’s the notes you listen to rather than the words. Take songs which are so popular that almost everyone on the planet will know and you’ll have to come up with something pretty damn special to make them your own. Add to this also that most of us know all the words to the Christmas hits and you have the DVD’s biggest problem . . . their English is appalling.

Listening to Pavarotti trying to speak English is painful enough but hearing him try to sing it is torture at times. Carrera and Domingo aren’t allot better to be honest and you can’t help but cringe as some of the more complicated words simply fall out of their mouths like drool. They almost seemed lazy in their delivery of many of the pieces.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh, after all they have fine voices and sound great together, indeed any non-English tracks are far easier listening, but as an overall package I couldn’t help but be utterly unimpressed.

At the end of the disc I was expecting the typical triumphant climax and a standing ovation from the audience however this never arrived. The end was not rousing, somewhat in tune with the rest of the performance, and I can’t help but feel that this was reflected in the crowds reaction (or lack thereof) at the end.

If you’re a fan you’ll probably have bought this already. If you’re not then it won’t awaken you to a new world of music, sorry.