Tarja Turunen & Harus: In Concert - Live at Sibelius Hall Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Tarja Turunen & Harus: In Concert - Live at Sibelius Hall Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 21, 2013

Tarja Turunen is a name that may not be overly familiar to many reading this review, but she is a Finnish star of some repute who has sold millions of records, first with her so-called “metal opera” or “symphonic metal” band Nightwish, and more recently as a solo artist. Trained as a classical soprano, Turunen first came to attention combining her classical chops with the more head banging ethos of metal, and it was a striking and in some ways unforgettable mixing of ideas and styles. This new live concert release actually comes from December 2009 and finds the singer working with her new ensemble Harus in what might be termed a holiday concert featuring three settings of the Ave Maria, some familiar hymns, a pop tune or two and a couple of more outré offerings.

The ensemble here features a rather unusual assortment of instruments accompanying Turunen’s gorgeous and languid soprano. Kalevi Kiviniemi plays Sibelius Hall’s massive pipe organ (up in a loft with his back to the audience and the rest of the band), Marzi Nyman plays guitar (sounding a lot like Jan Akkerman at times) and Markku Krohn plays percussion (as in vibraphones and the like), though it wasn’t completely clear to me whether it was Krohn oran uncredited musician playing tympani, which from certain angles seems to be in the Hall’s pit. The instrumentation is unique and well suited for a holiday themed concert but it’s also rather repetitive after a while, lending a certain sameness to the proceedings. The same can’t really be said of the repertoire, which features three lesser known settings of the Ave Maria (no Bach/Gounod here) as well as traditional hymns like Maa on niin kaunis (which will be recognized stateside as “Fair is Creation” or “Fairest Lord Jesus”), as well as Walking in the Air from the old animated film The Snowman, a song Turunen helped to popularize with Nightwish.

Tarja Turunen & Harus: In Concert - Live at Sibelius Hall Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tarja Turunen and Harus In Concert Live at Sibelius Hall is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Ear Music and Eagle Rock Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer. This is a fairly soft looking high definition presentation, part of which is due to the misty effects and diffuse stage lighting in Sibelius Hall. That said, not even close-ups really totally pop with brilliant fine detail, but what's here is at the very least above average, with well saturated color, solid black levels and acceptable if not overwhelming amounts of shadow detail.

Tarja Turunen & Harus: In Concert - Live at Sibelius Hall Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Tarja Turunen and Harus In Concert Live at Sibelius Hall features lossless DTS-HD Master Audio tracks in both 2.0 and 5.1. Fidelity here is excellent, highlighting Turunen's beautiful voice, though some may question the rather aggressively forward mixing of the lower register of the organ, which frequently buries the vibes completely (you can see the mallets hitting the tines in several shots, yet you hear virtually nothing). The balance between Turunen and the ensemble is very well handled, however, and Turunen's voice shines clearly above the massed instrumentation.

Tarja Turunen & Harus: In Concert - Live at Sibelius Hall Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (1080i; 7:37) features Tarja along with the band and various production crew.


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 6:07)


• Bonus CD

Tarja Turunen & Harus: In Concert - Live at Sibelius Hall Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This concert may be too laid back for fans of Turunen's Nightwish days, but it's a very evocative and almost kind of meditative hour or so that shows off the singer in a number of standout pieces. The video quality here is a bit on the iffy side, but the audio is largely excellent. Fans of Turunen's solo works will certainly want to check this out, but this would make a very unique holiday viewing experience for just about anyone. Recommended.