The Trondheim Concertos Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

The Trondheim Concertos Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 5, 2023

One of the side benefits of listening to music which has some kind of "locational" aspect is that sometimes a little bit of world history attends the experience, and for anyone coming to this lovely collection of eighteenth century offerings and who may want some context, reading about both the city of Trondheim and the long, intertwined histories of Denmark and Norway may come in handy. While some "extracurricular" studies may be wise for those wanting a broader background, the insert booklet 2L provides with this release has a bunch of useful information, including this opening paragraph:

The Gunnerus Library in Trondheim is Norway's oldest scientific library. It was founded in 1768 [and its] collection contains a number of manuscripts from the eighteenth century that may be traced back to the circle surrounding the company's initial members and thusly to the city's musical life. Much of its content is be renowned composers wand was copied from contemporaneous printed editions. However, there are also anonymous and unique works in the collection that have no concordances with known composers or performers. In this recording, we aim to recreate some of the music performed in Trondheim during the epoch to showcase a relatively unknown part of Norwegian cultural heritage.

According to more information either in the insert booklet or on the back cover, it's highly likely that the manuscripts in the collection belonged to town musician Johan Daniel Berlin and his circle of musical collaborators. And Berlin's son Johan Henrich Berlin is one of three "named" composers in this collection, along with the probably largely unknown Joseph Meck and the decidedly more famous Antonio Vivaldi (there's one anonymous piece offered as well). And in fact all of these chamber pieces have a certain Vivaldi-esque flair, especially in the interplay of a "lead" violin and energetic ensemble background. The Baroque Ensemble of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra offers a nicely authoritative journey here, with solid intonation and appealing clarity of at times dense accompaniments.

The Trondheim Concertos Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While there is an AVC 1080 video component to this release, it's really just a standard menu, as can be seen in the fourth photo accompanying this review. A few "moving parts" are included, with the track titles changing and a complete tracklist also available, along with a credits pop up informational screen. You can control which audio codec you prefer via the colored buttons on your remote and so really don't need to have a monitor employed to enjoy this release.

The Trondheim Concertos Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fans of Blu-ray audio will find another sumptuous recording on this disc, offered via a variety of codecs, including Auro 3D, Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. As I tend to do with these audio Blu-rays from 2L, I spent the bulk of my time toggling between the Auro 3D and Dolby Atmos tracks, and both of these provide a really immersive listening experience. The hall ambience (the piece was recorded in Trondheim's Lademoen Church, another somewhat cavernous environment from the looks of things) on the Auro and Atmos tracks is especially evident, perhaps taking just a bit of the "edge" off of a somewhat secco sound in the strings. There's both beautifully fluid fidelity and some good dynamic range on these recordings, which match the generally superb technical merits of all of 2L's releases that I've reviewed.

The Trondheim Concertos Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While there is no on disc bonus content other than mShuttle availability, 2L also includes a CD and a really nicely appointed insert booklet with quite a bit of background information on Trondheim, the composers represented, and the ensemble performing these pieces, which includes "specialised baroque violinist" Sigurd Imsen and keyboard player Christina Kobb.

The Trondheim Concertos Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Vivaldi is the "marquee star" who may bring some otherwise ambivalent listeners to this recording, both the Meck and Berlin pieces show real flair and some solid compositional structuring between soloist and ensemble. As has tended to be the case with these 2L releases, technical merits are beyond reproach, and as an unabashed and unapologetic champion of Blu-ray audio, I for one hope 2L continues to offer audiophiles treasures like this one. I often "turn" to Vivaldi when I need a quick "picker upper", since his music is so often so effortlessly ebullient, and this entire recording offers quite a bit of that feeling. Highly recommended.