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  • Dual Layer (RSDL 92.10)
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
    English, French, Spanish, German, Italian
  Extras
  • Booklet
Great Composers - Tchaikovsky - Puccini - Mahler
BBC/Warner Music . R4 . COLOR . 177 mins . G . PAL

  Feature
Contract

The third volume in the Great Composers series is somewhat better value in terms of sheer content compared to its predecessors, as it includes three hour-long episodes instead of two, in order to wrap up the seven-episode series. Still operating in roughly chronological order, this disc presents episodes on the lives and music of Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Mahler - probably the most disparate trio of composers you could ever wish to see in one place.

Tchaikovsky, one of the more underrated of the “great” composers, wrote six symphonies (the last of which is one of the most emotional pieces of music ever put to paper) but is best known for his ballet scores. He didn’t actually write that many ballets, but the ones he did create are among the few that people who aren’t ballet fans can instantly recognise (Swan Lake, anyone?). This episode focuses most heavily on Tchaikovsky’s achievements in ballet, as well as the personal torment caused by having to hide his own homosexuality; the (probably untrue) story that he committed suicide by request is also covered.

Puccini, meanwhile, was to become one of opera’s favourite people. The man responsible for Nessun Dorma (and hence vital in the success of The Three Tenors!) was a true 21st Century man living, err, not in the 21st Century. He hated war and lamented the pain of human tragedy, but loved new technology and was always the first on his block with the latest stuff. We know this because the makers of this documentary have managed to track down Puccini’s neighbours, who cheerfully gossip about his married life and his eccentricities. “He was quite miserly. Stingy. Not very generous,” offers one of them. Fortunately, he was a rather good composer.

The music of Gustav Mahler only really became widely popular in more recent times, but his hugely emotional, adventurous and epic symphonies are truly remarkable - and usually very, very long. A Mozart symphony might run for 22 minutes; Mahler’s longest efforts were four times that length and infinitely more intricate. His music takes time to click, but it’s addictive once it does. Typically, Mahler had a truly miserable life (most of the composers covered in this series did, regardless of professional successes) and he poured all of it into his music; this is as good a summary of what Mahler’s all about as you can expect in an hour.

Narration on all episodes is, as with the others, by Kenneth Branagh.

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

After the disappointing video quality of the first two discs in the series, we’re pleased to be able to say that the third one looks splendid, with most of the compression problems that plagued the other two discs now a thing of the past thanks to the use here of a dual-layered disc and a substantially higher encoding bitrate. There are still some minor problems with aliasing and the occasional bit of odd visual “pumping” from the encoder, but unlike earlier discs, this is an experience akin to watching the actual master tape. It’s crisp, detailed and looks so much better than the first two discs you wish they’d go back and do those ones again on dual layer.

The layer change comes midway through the Puccini episode, and is well placed and handled.

Subtitles are provided in English by default to translate only the foreign-language opera and interview items; a full English subtitle stream is also available, along with four other languages. Like the other discs, though, the talking heads on screen are annoyingly unidentified, and this time there’s no blow-by-blow listing of who’s who in the accompanying booklet either.

Audio is once again Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and is perfectly fine throughout, aside from some very minor distortion in the left channel during the Mahler episode. Special mention must be made of the sheer quality of the recording for the Puccini episode, with the BBC Philharmonic sounding rich, warm and full behind tenor Jose Cura’s focussed vocal.

There are no extras, and none were expected to appear. The disc’s enforced startup delay is an annoyance (we’re going to note this from now on), preventing the viewer even from stopping the disc while the copyright screen and corporate logos are displayed. At 40 seconds, it’s more than a bit excessive - imagine having to wait 40 seconds after pressing “play” on an audio CD before you got to hear the music!


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  •   And I quote...
    "More episodes and better video quality than the other two discs in the series..."
    - Anthony Horan
      Review Equipment
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