The Lord Of The Dance DVD ****

This is the first DVD I have seen that is sourced from video rather than film. And it really looks the business, being more or less indistinguishable from broadcast TV at any kind of sensible viewing distance at all.

This is a recording of the Michael Flatley stage show in Dublin. Ex-Riverdance, the show features much hoofing from your man (who I've never been able to take seriously since Father Ted's Ardal O'Hanlon's stand up show). Slow mo, back lit, under his feet - no angle is spared. The show also ups the sex content rather - 2 dueling PVC clad female violinists lend a certain something to the proceedings if, despite all his hard efforts, Mr Flatley doesn't do it for you.

There are a few nasty sound splats on the second number, Erin The Goddess, but these seem like they may be problems with the original material. Otherwise, technically there's little to fault with this - the stereo sound is good, showcasing the mighty Anne Dudley's great musical arrangements and the all important toe tapping is picked up with radio mics in the shoes! The picture, filmed in good old fashioned 4:3, is crisp and has beautifully saturated colours which would fall apart horribly on VHS. A bit of video noise on a few shots, especially the theatre audience, is clearly on the source material, which this disc faithfully encodes!

There isn't much in terms of extras, but it's hard to think of what could have been included (a running commentary by Flatley might just have tipped me over the edge). The standard issue Polygram menus are still a bit grim, but in this case the do all work as intended.

So. If overblown egotistical Irish stage shows are your thing, then this must throw you straight into hog heaven.

 

The Three Tenors ****

Featuring: Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti

Directed by: Brian Large

Before the sophistication of Spice Up Your Life put him right, Luciano Pavarotti used to sing with these noisy upstarts from time to time. This disc, then, is of The Three Tenors' historic live broadcast from Rome in 1990, to a worldwide audience of - look, mama! - 800 million.

If your TV had a impeccable, ghostless picture then, this damn-near visually perfect DVD will look exactly like it did eight years ago - in a different league to your dropout riddled VHS. But 5-channel surround was a very strange man's fantasy then (as it is today for me, actually). Lack of a Dolby Digital decoder aside, my humble Pro-logic set-up was nevertheless endearingly embarrassed to have to choose between the three different soundtracks on offer.

There's PCM stereo, MPEG 5:1 and Dolby Digital 5.1. Of the three, MPEG 5.1 immediately waves its arms about as the odd one out tonally - although it is obviously at a lower level on the disc, it is also much sweeter, more detailed and has a more "realistic" soundstage. Brownie points for MPEG you'd think, but on the down side, it does lack in the in-your-face dynamism that the other two offer. As you'd expect, PCM stereo sounds a mess in surround, but curiously the reverse isn't true - they's all pass muster to a casual listener through stereo speakers. But, you know, the thing is - they all sound alright when your ears have taken 10 seconds to adjust.

Since it is eight years old, there is a certain lack of artistic sophistication to the broadcast, but the tatty titles, precious few swooping Technocrane shots (hurruh!) and old fashioned 4:3 format don't detract from the talent on display. On the DVD's part, to help lend a bit of style to the proceedings, there is a nice goldy coloured accompanying booklet, complete with background, lyrics and translations.

If there is any criticism at all, it is just that a little more thought wasn't given to putting some of this on the disc itself. A few production notes would have been easy enough, but the real missed trick was to have the translated lyrics available as subtitles. Ah well, c'est la vie as they don't say in Italy.

Niggles aside, if you love opera, there's no way you'll want to miss this. The disc instantly becomes a definitive record of the biggest gig of them all. Good on ya, Decca.

 

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All reviews / articles copyright Guy Rowland (1998).