Sheherazade: An Oriental Night with the Berliner Philharmoniker

Top music by top performers in a beatiful open arena during sunset. Treat yourself if you can appreciate good music performed by top performers around the world. I listen to it nearly every day and it’s a new surprise every day without fail (like today I noticed that one violins had a broken string at the end of the concert). The camera moves across the audience from time to time to give full appreciation of the audience enjoyment and the fabulous atmosphere that makes you wish you were there! Love how the camera zooms in on groups or individual players to give you the best views possible. Sound and camera work is superb. I don’t understand how some people have to be so critical about the fact that it is an open air concert or that the first chair plays solo parts in some of the pieces, as is expected. Love the music, love the DVD and love the artists. Spoil myself every day with a few treats from this production. Janine Jansen, Marita Solberg, Ingebjorg Kosmo and Neeme Järvi = TREAT !

The Berlin Philharmonic, considered to be one of the five greatest orchestras in the world, plays a pops concert on this DVD. The evening opens up with a Mozart overture played with great charm by the BPO. Next comes a short work by Nielsen that is interesting but hardly inspired. It features some outstanding brass playing.The first two movements of Sheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov are next followed by three excerpts from Grieg's Peer Gynt. Two of them feature female vocal soloists and both performances are quite wonderful. Next comes Janine Jensen in the Meditation from Thais by Massenet and the famous Introduction and Rondo Capriciosso by Saint-Saens. Her performances are as passionate as you will ever hear. Sheherazde's last two movements follow the three soloists and the concert concludes with three encores.Although I loved this DVD, I felt the programming was strange. All the soloists were magnificent but only Ms. Jensen spent enough time on stage. It was nice to hear Sheherazade but why was it broken into two parts? Just a few quibbles. I still highly recommend it.

First of all, i had no idea that Janine Jansen was NOT the soloist for the Rimsky Korsakov Scheherazade, as is implied by the appearance on the cover. Secondly the performance of the piece was broken up with other pieces in the middle of it. At first I thought, why in the world perform the first two movements of Rimsky's piece and then play several other pieces by other composers and then perform the last two movements of Scheherazade!? Why break the piece up that way???? But after hearing the entire DVD, it seems an interesting concept, given that the end of the second movement of Scheherazade plays like an ending. So it can work that way. But, I bought this DVD. totally believing it was going to feature Jansen as the soloist. If you look at the cover of the DVD it doesn't even mention any of the other works and you see pictured Janine playing the violin and Neeme Jarvi conducting. One has to assume that is what you are getting!!l I must say too, that i have heard better performances of Scheherazade, For me this one is not always at the right tempo and at times does not flow as it should.What you actually get on the dvd is Mozart, Nielsen, then two parts of Rimsky-K. then Edvard Grieg, Massenet, Saint-Saens, then the rest of Rimsky's Scheherazade, then three more pieces by other composers. It is not as advertised. Yes, a lot of classic music, granted, but not what I expected. I feel ripped off by false advertising. Lastly, it was shipped UPS, who leaves articles on the doorstep, out in the open to be stolen. To top it off the case on this DVD was smashed on the bottom although the disc itself was not damaged. The outside package was not torn but there was evidence of someone dropping something heavy and pointed on it and that same mark showed up near the bottom of the plastic jewel case and pieces of the bottom edge broken off.If I had read the reviews before buying this I probably would have passed on it because my only reason for buying it was the idea of Jansen on the Rimsky. The 4 rating is because of the splitting up of the Rimsky. I have never seen that done before. As for the total content, sure, it is good but it is mostly music i would not personally collect in my library. It is a pricey Scheherazade. Gorgeous looking DVD however.

A fun concert in the outdoors in Europe. The music has a festive, light feel to it and with the crowd you really feel a part of the crowd that was enjoying that warm summer night. Good on a night when you feel lonely. The Sheherazade piece has the usual annoying anti-climactic feel to it, but also moments of brilliant and intriguing music. Other interesting pieces of music are interpolated between parts of the Sheherazade. The program overall seems a bit random, but all the music is well interpreted. The most intellectual piece is the opening Mozart Barber of Seriglio overture, after which the classical music equivalents of ear-candy and fluffy marshmellow music take over, but overall the music is intelligent and well-interpreted.

This was a great concert. Despite it being outdoors the video and sound quality were both excellent. I found it a bit strange that Sheherazade was broken up into two parts -- for me it disrupted the emotional continuity of the piece. However overall I was pleased. One of the things I really like about the DVD recordings done at Waldbuhne is the lovely fade from afternoon to evening and into the dark of night. I suspect that even with large flood lights this presents a significant video recording challenge, yet the video image quality remained high the entire performance.

Themed Sheherazade, the pieces chosen really bring out the spirit of an "oriental" summer night in the famed Waldbuhne arena. The recording quality and direction is of an extremely high quality, astounding for a 2006 production.

This was a fabulous concert from start to finish. Berlin Philharmonic are faultless, as were the various soloists. It was indeed an oriental night to remember.

ein tolles Konzert!

Lo esperado. Concierto maravilloso.

E' adatto a tutti, anche ai non addetti ai lavori.L'ho acquistato perché, attualmente, è l'univo DVD in Italia, dove compare Janine Jansen, che considero la più grande violinista vivente. Se ce ne fossero altri e non vengono importati, il direttore del marketing, è da licenziare. La manifestazione in sé è da censurare: gente sdraiata che dorme mentre la più grande orchestra esistente suona, è inqualificabile, prova ne sia che Janine, nonostante la standing ovation, non ha concesso il bis. Ciò non toglie che l'esecuzione sia di altissimo livello e la musica sia molto orecchiabile.Il DVD è arrivato 30 ore dopo il mio ordine.Datemi altri DVD e Blu-Ray con Janine e li comprerò tutti.

Sheherazade/ Berliner Philharmoniker/Janine Janses/Neeme JärviVoici un DVD magique offrant un concert magique dans un décor magique, celui de la Waldbühne (traduction : scène en forêt) de Berlin à l’acoustique parfaite, avec une violoniste magique et un chef d’orchestre magicien. Vingt mille personnes ont connu le privilège de pouvoir écouter cette féerie musicale en 2006 en pleine nature.Le programme est savamment dosé. Mozart ouvre le bal avec l’ouverture de l’Enlèvement au Sérail, une séduisante interprétation de sensualité sonore.La Marche Orientale de Nielsen suit et en troisième position vient Shéhérazade de Rimsky-Korsakov , suite symphonique célèbrissime: un moment de rêve oriental parfaitement évoqué par le Philarmoniker, un bijou musical poétique inoubliable. Le lyrisme enivrant de cette musique des Mille et Une Nuits va de pair avec une nature très présente, la forêt encerclant la Waldbühne.Suivent des extraits de Peer Gynt de Grieg avec la chanson de Solveig que chacun reconnaitra.La « Méditation de Thaïs » de Massenet et « Introduction et Rondo Capricioso » de Saint –Saens : deux grands moments de ce concert ; la belle Janine Jansen y transcende la musique : elle joue avec son violon certes, mais en plus avec son cœur et son corps. Dans le rondo, sa virtuosité fait mouche et touche le mélomane séduit par tant de charisme.Un DVD absolument indispensable tant le spectacle autant que la musique est au rendez-vous.