Amazon.co.uk Review
Plácido Domingo is no stranger to stadium events, though in the old days it was as a singer with his pals, Pavarotti and Carreras. In
Spanish Night with baton in hand he has an appealingly avuncular manner, and he couldn't hope for a better class of orchestra than the Berlin Philharmonic, here playing in their annual open-air concert given at the city's Waldbühne. It's a real crowd-pleaser of a programme (and the audience's enthusiasm is immediately apparent and increasingly boisterous as the evening wears on). None of the works stretches the concentration unreasonably, and the views of Spain come not only from home-grown composers (Sarasate, Torroba, Serrano and Vives) but also as viewed through other eyes: Rimsky-Korsakov's
Capriccio espagnole, Chabrier's
España and Johann Strauss II's
Spanish March.
A pair of soloists increase the sequin quotient of the evening: the consummately poised violinist Sarah Chang (who has been round for so long it's difficult to believe she's still only 20) and the full-voiced soprano Ana María Martínez, winner of the Plácido Domingo Vocal Competition in Barcelona. Given the visual limitations of such events, the camerawork is imaginative without being distracting, and the sound, if a little boxy, is perfectly acceptable. Above all there's a great sense of fun to the occasion, and in the final number, Lincke's Berliner Lufte, Domingo is unable to resist seizing the microphone and leading the singing.
On the DVD Sound options are either Dolby Digital 5.1 or PCM stereo and the picture is formatted for 16:9 TVs. A variety of goodies have been added to the concert itself, including interviews with Domingo and Sarah Chang, footage of flamenco dancing in Berlin (which is vaguely relevant) and a behind-the-scenes documentary.--Harriet Smith
Special Features
16:9 Wide Screen
Region 0
Linear PCM
AC3 Digital 5.1
DTS 5.1
Documentary
Behind The Scenes
Interviews
English\French\German\Italian\Spanish
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