A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand Blu-ray Movie Review

The MusiCares Tribute concerts have become annual fêtes that regularly honor an icon in the music industry with an all star evening of performances. This 2011 tribute to Barbra Streisand is no exception, providing a wealth of great (and in many instances, unexpected) interpretations of songs that Babs herself made famous. Everyone from Diana Krall swinging through “Down With Love” to Seal going a bit retro quasi-disco with “Guilty” to Glee’s Lea Michele trying (an d unfortunately failing) to channel La Streisand herself in “My Man” is featured in this overall enjoyable evening, which is highlighted by a Herbie Hancock – Nikki Yanofsky duet on “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever/Lazy Afternoon” and a fantastic Stevie Wonder – Arturo Sandoval pairing on “People”. I personally could have lived without Barry Manilow's rendition of "Memory" and I'm sure many right leaning folks will feel exactly that way about Bill Maher's conservative-bashing monologue. Barbra gets into the act herself, sounding just a tag ragged after all these years, but still “gaw-geous” on “Windmills of Your Mind” and “The Promise.”

A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This is generally a fairly sharp looking transfer that is occasionally hobbled by the busy lighting scheme that fills the upstage area and devolves more than once into moiré. The stage is awfully dark a lot of the time, leading to negligible shadow detail in more than one segment. But close-ups reveal some very nice fine object detail, and colors are very nicely saturated throughout the evening.

A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track as well as an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. Both of these tracks offer sterling fidelity with pristine clarity that easily handles the gamut of genres and styles on display. The 5.1 mix tends to present the audience a bit more loudly than I personally would have preferred (even if it is relegated to the rear channels), but otherwise both of these tracks sound like buttah.

A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements of any kind are featured on this Blu-ray disc.

A MusiCares Tribute to Barbra Streisand Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Barbra Streisand is still going strong at the incredible age of 70, currently slated to appear as Mama Rose in a new film version of the venerable Jule Styne – Stephen Sondheim classic Gypsy. You may not agree with her politics, but you'd be hard pressed to find another vocalist who has aged so gracefully. Yes, her voice does show her age, but it's like a fine wine that's mellowed and deepened in intensity with the growing years. This great MusiCares concert offers some astoundingly brilliant renditions of some Barbra's best loved classics (along with a few admitted clunkers). Recommended.