Solti Centenary Concert Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Solti Centenary Concert Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 8, 2013

Sir Georg Solti’s immortal recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen topped my list of classical Blu-rays last year, even though it was “only” an audio Blu-ray. Solti’s contributions to 20th century classical music are legendary, and with the centenary of Solti’s birth last year, fans were treated to two more celebrations. Sir Georg Solti: Journey of a Lifetime provided a retrospective biography of the stellar conductor, and now this new release presents a musical reminiscence of sorts, as several pieces that meant something to Solti during his lifetime are performed, with interstitial commentary by Solti’s widow.

One of Solti’s most notable (no pun intended) accomplishments was forming the World Orchestra for Peace, an assemblage of musicians from all over the world who pledged to work together to promote mutual understanding between cultures. This effort sprang from a special 80th birthday celebration for the Maestro where a handful of musicians from world orchestras he had conducted just in that one year banded together to perform at a concert given in his honor. The Orchestra for Peace moves through a huge gamut of pieces here, including everything from Mozart to Mahler, though unfortunately several of the selections here are merely excerpts, though we do get a thrilling rendition of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. However that is offset by Lady Valerie Solti’s incisive commentary, some of which is culled from Solti’s own autobiography, which puts every piece in its biographical context. The playing here is effortless and artful, under the expert leadership of Solti’s hand picked successor Valery Gergiev.

Solti Centenary Concert Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Solti Centenary Concert is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Unitel Classica and ArtHaus Musik with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. While there's nothing horribly wrong with this high definition presentation, it never really pops as strongly as many other contemporary classical Blu-ray releases. The image is sometimes a bit on the soft side and colors tend to be muted.

Solti Centenary Concert Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Solti Centenary Concert features two excellent sounding audio options, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix and an LPCM 2.0 stereo mix. Both feature excellent fidelity which capably supports both the varied music as well as the spoken interludes. Hall ambience is very nicely rendered in the surround mix.

Solti Centenary Concert Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Solti's Vision (1080i; 20:47) profiles Solti's World Orchestra for Peace on the occasion of its fifteenth anniversary.

Solti Centenary Concert Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is a wonderful compendium of pieces which Solti himself considered to be unusually important in his musical history and development. Aided by a stellar cast of guest stars and the fantastic World Orchestra for Peace, and with the really wonderful commentary by Lady Valerie Solti, Solti Centenary Concert is a suitably celebratory outing that helps all classical music lovers to remember just what an iconic figure Solti was. Recommended.