Don Giovanni Blu-Ray with Simon Keenlyside, Joyce DiDonato, Ramon Vargas (NR) +Movie Reviews

Great opera--less than great recording

Warden Manford | 09/10/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Opus Arts series has spoiled me. Their blu-ray discs contain crisp photography and beautiful sound. This Don Giovanni harmonia mundi production has neither clear photography nor quality sound. The overture was recorded in etched sound, almost painful to the ears. The arias were recorded at a distance, as though the viewer were seated many rows from the front. Sometimes the soloist could not be heard.

All being said, Vincent Boussard's direction was exceptional, the René Jacobs musical conducting and the orchestra quite extraordinary, the operatic performers accomplished and sang in concert. whether it be a duet, a trio or a quartet. The round/oval scenery by Vincent Lemaire, though, was odd, to say the least. It seems to be in vogue to use scenery that fails to appear life-like, but somehow must be mounted on some type of movable turntable to be turned around several times. Half of the time the audience was treated to a view of the back of the scenery. Odd, indeed."

Superb In All Respects

Albert R. Barron | 11/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the most completely satisfying video production of Don Giovanni I have encountered to date. Allow me first to assuage concerns regarding the sound on this Blu-Ray disc -- succinctly put, the LPCM 5.1 sound is impeccable. The singing, acting, conducting, design, stage direction, and video direction converge ideally with each other to create a jewel of operatic performance. The result is an as near perfect production of Don Giovanni as I have ever seen (N.B. The search for such a well-balanced production of Don Giovanni, either in live performance in opera houses around the world or in video productions from film to Beta to VHS to Laserdisc to DVD, has been the "Holy Grail" of my opera enjoyment for the past thirty years. I believe I have found it.) I am heartened to think that this production on Blu-Ray may provide newcomers to Mozart and opera in general with an elegant and superb introduction to both the composer and the medium."

A Great Don Giovanni production on Blu-ray

Robert Noblitt | Houston, TX USA | 06/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was reluctant to buy this item due to W. Manford's review which faulted the audio quality. Now that I have played it, I must conclude that Manford's system was to blame. This disk has some of the best-quality audio and video I have experienced in my collection of a dozen or so blu-ray operas. The DTS-HD audio is first-rate; the orchestra and soloists can be heard clearly with excellent fidelity.

I particularly enjoyed Rene Jacobs' direction, which I believe brings us closer to Mozart's original vision. In appearance, the production is spare, but effective in communicating the essence of the story. I enjoyed all the soloists including the youthful Johannes Weisser in the title role."

Disappointing sound

A. Lupu | Rochester, MN USA | 08/14/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Very disappointed of the sound. When I buy a pricey Blu-Ray disc from Opus Arte I expect exceptional sound quality. That is not the case with this disc. Regrettably anything else from the production to the singers becomes kind of irrelevant without good sound. The overture started very good. The orchestra is vibrant and with full sound. But once the singers appear you start looking for the sound, looking for anything wrong with the audio systems. The problem is the disc itself. What a pity!"

Don Giovanni a cenar teco m'invitasti e son venuto!

cinemod | 07/20/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This was my first opera experience. I could never see the sense in going to an opera without being able to understand the language. :) So I was much depending on the subtitles.

I had researched the available Don Giovanni blurays by reading the reviews to find the one which was the closest to the original (if that is possible), with the best quality video / audio.

I am a former musician, trained in percussion / having played in my early years (10-13) in several local Italian

concert orchestras with much older musicians, an experience that left it's mark on me.

Hence my desire for the best audio experience possible within the limitations of my audio system, which

is connected via optical and supports Dolby 5.1 and DTS.

It was disappointing when the opening D minor chord sounded. I could tell immediately that something was not right and then I noticed the receiver didn't sense either format.

What I hadn't realized, when I researched, was the listing of PCM format.

And the reviews you are reading are not necessarily on the product you are considering. Be very careful

in your research as there are not that many unique Bluray reviews for operatic content and the same reviews appear

on Amazon and across the web for different bluray productions. At $51, it's not as easy to just try another one.

I find this to be misleading and unreliable and I will be more careful next time.

The LPCM 2.0 stereo quality is fine when the receiver decodes it into surround via ProLogic on my system, but if you are connected to the source via optical, you will not experience Dolby 5.1 or DTS. To experience the higher quality LPCM 5.1 audio with this bluray, you must be connected to your audio receiver via HDMI and obviously the receiver must also support the higher quality uncompressed format.

Although it is a great performance, I took off 1 star for lack of additional support for optical DD5.1 and DTS and 1 star for the price.

What I also find strange is, I also purchased Cosi fan Tutte which appears to have been produced by OpusArte in the same year. I was able to listen to that in Dolby 5.1 and the audio quality was excellent!

But I guess it's time to update my receiver.

--------------------

I am including a direct response I received from the OpusArte Authoring House a few days after I wrote the comments above:

In case of discs with 5.1 PCM the BD player/PS3 has to be connected to the amplifier through HDMI or analog 5.1 connection.

If it's connected through SPDIF (which seems to be the case here with your customer) it will be downconverted to 2.0 PCM.

Cosi Fan Tutte has Dolby TrueHD surround audio and in this case he can enjoy surround sound through SPDIF, but not in full quality - he hears a Dolby Digital version.

He needs to connect his PS3 through an HDMI cable to the receiver to be able to enjoy lossless surround audio offered by Blu-ray.

"

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	Don Giovanni Blu-ray Actors: Simon Keenlyside, Joyce DiDonato, Ramon Vargas, Miah Persson, Charles Mackerras Directors: Francesca Zambello, Robin Lough Genres: Indie & Art House, Musicals & Performing Arts NR 2009 3hr 22min
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