Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
A Loving Documentary and Performance of 'Enigma Variations', 1 Jun 2005
If there is a more quintessential British composer than Elgar, I don't know who it is. And if there is a more quintessential work by Elgar than his 'Enigma Variations' the same holds true. Here we have, with Sir Andrew Davis conducting the BBC Symphony, not only a fine performance of the work, but also a documentary about the piece itself featuring Davis who tells us much about each of the people who inspired the individual variations while wandering about the beautiful Malvern Hills, Elgar's home, the Worcester Cathedral and environs. He elucidates the nature of the relationships between Elgar and his subjects. Periodically there are appropriate short film clips from the early years of the twentieth century including some of the composer himself. There is a particularly amusing clip, skillfully synchronized with the music, featuring several dogs running and jumping into a brook and back out again, while Davis talks about Elgar's friend G. R. Sinclair's bulldog, Dan.Separate from the documentary section, the uninterrupted performance takes place in the grand space of the Worcester Cathedral whose warm acoustic lends a lovely aural patina to the performance. One feels positively Edwardian in its sonic embrace. At the beginning of each variation there is a black-and-white photograph of the person whom the variation depicts. And, of course, for the variation entitled 'G.R.S.' (organist George Robertson Sinclair) a picture of Dan is shown. There are tracks for each of the variations and the booklet contains a brief paragraph about each of the 'friends pictured within.' Davis touches briefly on the putative 'secret theme' mentioned by Elgar, but dismisses it as an insoluble puzzle whose solution makes little difference in the long run. Sound is in either LPCM stereo or DTS surround sound. Subtitles for the English narration of the documentary are in German, French, Italian, Spanish and English. TT 85 minutes. A delightful DVD. Scott Morrison
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
A Wonderful Insight to Elgar, 4 Aug 2005
I found Andrew Davis' illumination of each of his favourite characters contained in the Variations, most moving.
I felt that he,(Andrew),understood the sometimes, very subtle, references to people known and loved by the composer, and was extremely sensitive in his handling of the orchestra, in every variation.
The mixture of archival and modern film-clips were very skilfully tailored to the plot and well suited to the music.
I thought the ghost-like images of the characters on the cathedral pillars, at the start of each variation, was a subtle, but brilliant idea on someones part.
I have listened in both LPCM Stereo, and DTS surround, and found both formats to give great pleasure, although I do prefer the surround version.
The sound quality is superb for a live recording, and really gives presence.
Can we please have many more DVDs of this calibre in the future.
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