Most Recent Customer Reviews
Date : 2009-09-22
Summary : Requiem VHS with Sarah Brightman
This is an excellent MASS for the dead. I would like to play it for ALL SOULS DAY on November 1st. Sarah Brightman is very young in this video (early 20's?). The insert in the product gives the whole Mass more meaning. Highly recommended.
Date : 2004-06-30
Summary : What a Requiem!
This film of the Requiem is highly exciting: wonderfully performed and in a majestic church. About the same time this film came out, Decca-London released a studio recording of the Requiem with the same artists (with the exceptions of the Orchestra, Chorus and Organist). Compared to the video, the recording is pallid. True, the sound quality on the CD is better, but so what? (I mean, why do opera buffs look for live pirate recordings from the 60s? For the performance itself!) The video performance is a little slower than the CD, but I believe that through "pulling" time, Maestro Maazel has intensified the music even more to the max. Some people complain about Sarah Brightman's shrill-canine sound, but what can we do?: One can speculate that she was chosen to be the soprano solo only because she was the composer's wife. Her high notes can sometimes give one a splitting headache, but that can be forgiven in this recording of the Pie Jesu: her duet with Paul Miles Kingston is just marvelous. As for the rest of the Requiem, it's a more hip version of shall we say...the Verdi's Requiem. Verdi's Requiem is a bedrock for all "sacred music." The intensity of the Dies Irae movement really scares one with the thought of hell. However, not to that level though, but Webber's Dies Irae is exciting too, opening with two short trumpet fanfares. The Hosanna and the Liber Scriptus sections are particularly upbeat. All in all, I could go on forever talking about this video: but why don't you find out for yourself? You'll wish like me, and many others that it was out on DVD as in not to wear your VCR out from playing this tape so much!
Date : 2003-06-12
Summary : Andrew Lloyd Webber's Masterpiece
This music is exceptionally moving. I thought the soloist were well chosen. The Hosanna was thrilling. Maestro Domingo is at his very finest. His interpretation of this piece is awe-inspiring. The young boy soprano--Paul Miles-Kingston has a wonderful instrument and I hope that he kept up his quest for serious music. He has great talent. His youth is apparent in several places, but in a very positive way. His tonal quality is breath taking. His breath control and musicianship were outstanding. I was inspired by his performance and wish him well. An Oratorio is not an opera. I did not expect to see a stage play. Sarah's duet with Paul Miles-Kingston Pie Jesu is unbelievable. The effect is ethereal--truly not of this world. Sarah's voice is bell-clear and her renditions are captivating. I've listened to this video many times and am always inspired. There is a clarity in boys' choirs that is not found elsewhere. It is captured on this particular recording. The men's choir and the orchestral also inspire me. I highly recommend this video. Andrew Lloyd Webber in this work expresses a different side of his compositional abilities from other
of his earlier compositions. He has fine classical as well as contemporary skill in composition. This is perhaps my favorite work by him, and I like much of his music. I wish this were available on DVD. I would definitely buy it! May those of you who decide to purchase this recording find at least the inspiration and blessing that it afforded me.
Date : 2002-11-20
Summary : Andrew Lloyd Webber: Requiem
I saw this performance some years ago on PBS and purchased the CD. It has been one my favorite compositions for years. This work is an absolute beauty, but unfortunately the quality of the sound and picture of the video are not up to par. At least purchase the CD and enjoy this glorious mass for the dead.
Date : 2000-11-25
Summary : What happened?
I'm sorry to say this but I don't recommend this video to buyers. What a disappointment! Sarah's voice lacked in experience on that stage. Of course I like her very much, but I can do without listening to the video again.Every time Sarah opened her mouth, she squeaked way out of her range. The sound of the recording is of poor quality too! It sounds like a child recorded the musical. I was bored too, listening to the program. There was only one uplifting song. That is "Hosanna". The boy choir sounded shrill, as a result of the poor recording.
The whole video was a waste of time and talent. I'm glad this was one of Webber's earlier attempts at bringing Sarah to her place at the top. I voted the video 1 star because of Domingo. Other than him, nothing moved me. Even the organ was depressing me.
Buy the video if you insist, but I highly urge you to forget it.
