Review of Bach: Italian Bach In Vienna

Introduction

Another in TDK`s genuinly excellent series of classical DVDs. This disc contains a series of performances by various members of the Bach family - and Vivaldi!

Conducted by Giovanni Antonini, Il Giardino Armonica is acompanied by the world-famous Labeque twins on fortepiano and others.

Video

The main programme, recorded at the Musikverin. in Vienna si presented in humble 4:3 but otherwise I have no complaints. Colour saturation is good, the instruments all come across well despite all being brownish ;) and there is no onvious digital artifacting.

The documentary "Saving of the Bach`s Manuscripts" is even better, as it is in widescreen.

The main camerawork shows more enthusiasm than is normal for a classical concert, the cameras move around in a way more reminiscent of a "pop" concert, with extreme close-ups and sudden pull-aways, together with some odd angles but it genuinly adds to the experience and is a reason to keep the TV on rather than purely listening.

Audio

Audio is exemplary. The sound is available in LPCM stereo or as a 5.1 surround mix and both are extremely good.

The stereo track beats my existing recordings hands down for spatial imaging although it was a little bass-heavy in places.

The 5.1 surround mix was even better, placing you right in the centre of the music and really adding to the "feel" although it did sound almost disorientating at first. Separation was excellent and the whole track was very dynamic.

Features

The lonesome special feature in this case is a thoroughly interesting documentary on the problems of storing and saving the huge collection of manuscripts left behind by J. S. Bach himself. Whilst clearly narrated in English, the interviewees are all German-speaking so you might need subtitles - unfortunately these are either on or off, so you`ll also get them under the narrator`s voice too. The documentary is very much in a Discovery Channel style and is well worth the effort.

A handy set of sleeve notes is also included and the whole thing is wrapped in a super jewel case (so don`t drop it).

Conclusion

Another excellent recording from TDK with some additional extras. These discs aren`t cheap but are worth the additional costs over a cd, assuming you have a decent 5.1 set-up that can cope with real music and not just bass-heavy movie soundtracks ;)