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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Superb DVD, 29 Nov 2007
This is wonderful. As soon as I had my evening meal, I had to sit down and watch this lovely DVD right through, after all I think Katherine Jenkins has a lovely voice, and er, yes she is quite a stunner too with a very open and natural personality.
Recorded at Margam Park, near Swansea on a lovely summers evening only a few months ago, this is a music festival designed to be enjoyed by everyone who was there that night. Amongst the numerous tracks are
Music of The Night (Phantom of The Opera)
I Will Always Love You (The Bodyguard)
Nella Fantasia (The Mission) *This brought tears to my eyes, its an amazing piece, superbly sung by Katherine
Requiem For A Soldier (Band of Brothers)
and numerous pieces of pure Welsh Music with the audience joining in a couple of tracks which isnt surprising.
There is also a guest Tenor, Juan Dego Florez who sings Granada superbly and also joins in with Katherine in a duet Non Ti Scordar Di Me.
I cannot praise this DVD too highly. For those viewers who for some reason, do not think much to it, maybe the music isnt to their taste, or perhaps they have a hard heart. But for Katherine fans, and genuine music lovers they will love this I am sure.
There is also an added bonus of three further tracks recorded elsewhere with Mozart's Classic Laudate Dominum being the highlight of the three.
Picture quality is very good indeed. And for a further bonus, if you have a Home Cinema Amplifier capable of reproducing DTS 5:1 as well as Dolby Digital 5:1, then you are in for a treat, for the sound is excellent. If your system does not have DTS, then perhaps you should think about upgrading your sound system; after all, more and more DVDs are being released with this sound format these days.
A Great Buy.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Picture quality below par?, 29 Dec 2007
A beautiful performance, but (in my opinion and based on results from my DVD player) the picture quality is not as good as the original TV transmission, and lacks clarity. Perhaps this is because the DVD has been issued in NTSC format instead of PAL. The performance was recorded in the UK (Margam Park in Wales) so why use NTSC when our own PAL system could have produced better quality pictures? Perhaps the producers could issue a second edition in PAL!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful voice - poor technical quality DVD, 18 Dec 2007
I first heard and saw Katherine Jenkins on TV here in South Africa where they had a few minutes interview with her and some sound bites from several of her songs. Immediately I heard her voice, I must confess I melted inside! There is something about not only her looks, but her voice that sets her apart from the ordinary.
My first reaction when I played Katherine in the Park and Universal's blurred and fuzzy logo came on the screen was to wonder if I was wearing my reading glasses." I have many Universal DVDs but this is the worst one by far. The technical quality of the rest of the DVD is nothing to shout about either and I would have thought that more care would have been put into making this production. Katherine Jenkins has perhaps the richest, fullest and most beautiful Mezzo-soprano voice I have ever heard, and to produce such a poor quality product as this, is almost an insult to her. I normally watch my DVDs using a 1280 x 720 pixel native widescreen projector so if a DVD is of poor quality it is immediately noticeable, but even when played on my TV, the quality is noticeably below par. If it hadn't been for the poor technical quality I would have given this DVD 5 stars plus!
For me, one of the best parts of the DVD are the four extras: Ave Maria; Laudate Dominum; Calon Lan and Nella Fantasia, all of them studio productions. Once again the picture quality goes from fair to abysmal with the sound quality also varying. My favourite is Nella Fantasia and it's in this piece that her voice can be heard at its best. Unfortunately the sound engineers had the orchestral backing so loud at times that her voice was almost drowned out in places. Her voice has such a wonderful quality that I think another reviewer of her CDs summed it up by saying that her voice has a "presence" to it that he'd heard in only one other soprano! My other favourite in the extras is Laudate Dominum. The picture quality of this track is the worst on the DVD - but her voice is SO rich and lovely! I then played another DVD I have of Rachel Harnisch singing the same piece. To be fair to Rachel, she is not a Mezzo, but even so, Katherine's rendering is fuller and richer and "light years" better than Rachel's imo.
Outdoor performances are usually problematic with the accoustics being poor to non-existant, but even so, her two duets (Only Make Believe and Non ti Scordar di me) with the tenor, Juan Diego Florez, were outstanding as were the two pieces he sang solo. The impression I got from this DVD is that Katherine's voice is more suited to classical and semi-classical works and that for her to sing the more "popular" pieces does not do justice to her voice. Two works come to mind where her mezzo-soprano would be well suited; Mozart's Requiem and Handel's Messiah. My hope and prayer is that Universal will allow her the freedom to do this type of work and not to push her harder into the pop market where they can make a quick buck from her talents before dropping her.
For those who are interested, her birthday is the 29th of June. The year? Sometime in nineteen keep-you-guessing!!
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