The Fellini, Jazz, and Co. concert was performed at the Waldbuhne in Berlin. This is a famous outdoor theater for classical music concert performances. It is one of the most successful and largest venues for such concerts in the entire world. Each concert has a huge gathering of classical music fans with audiences of 20,000 or more at these outdoor concerts. The performance was done in collaboration with EuroArts and NHK.

This performance of the Fellini, Jazz, and Co. concert was held on the 23rd of August in 2011 and was under conductor Riccardo Chailly. This is a renowned conductor who is known for diverse selections in concerts. This particular concert has an emphasis on film music with selections by film composers Dmitry Shostakovich and Nino Rota. The concert also has selections from Ottorino Respighi.

The concert features the Berlin Philharmoniker. The orchestra was terrific and does an excellent job of bringing life to these music selections. There is such a wide range of musicians involved with this concert and it is a true ensemble effort. The efforts of everyone helps to make this an engaging and well realized concert with beautiful music in the style of jazz, film score, and more.

The selections featured in the concert from composer Dmitry Shostakovich are focused primarily upon the Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra. This selection includes the following passages of music: March, Lyric Waltz, Dance 1, Waltz 1, Little Polka, Waltz 2, Dance 2 and Finale. The pieces by Shostakovich were stunning. There was so much energy in these selections. The music was quite beautiful and exciting.

Nino Rota is highlighted with the La Strada Ballet Suite. The long suite includes passages from the score composed for the Fellini film La Strada. Nino Rota is one of the most acclaimed and prolific film composers. Rota's music is impeccably crafted. The score ranges from featuring beautiful moments of elegance to quieter and sad moments. The La Strada score is superb.

The concert is rounded out primarily with selections by composer Ottorino Respighi. There are two four-part sequences by Respighi included.  Fountains of Rome is the first sequence and it includes the following: The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn, The Triton Fountain in the Morning, The Trevi Fountain at Noon, and The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset. Pines of Rome is the second four-part sequence and it includes: The Pines of the Villa Borghese, The Pines Near a Catacomb, The Pines of the Janiculum, and The Pines of the Appian Way. The selections by Respighi are also excellent but are more calm and relaxing in style compared to the often exciting selections from Shostakovich and Rota.

There are additional selections that end the concert with Dmitry Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Suite highlighted and 2 stage works (extracted by Ottorino Respighi  and Paul Lincke). Conductor Riccardo Chailly closes out the performance on a peaceful note. Overall, this is an excellent concert with beautiful sounding music that is wonderful to listen to and fans of the composers and music selections featured will enjoy it.

The Blu-ray:

Video:

The Fellini, Jazz, and Co. Concert arrives on Blu-ray with a pleasant 1080i High Definition presentation. Though the presentation of the concert is interlaced this didn't seem to be an issue. This concert looked splendid: this is a worthwhile release with great clarity, color reproduction, and high-definition cinematography. The concert performance is marvelous to behold.  

Audio:

The music sounds remarkable on this release and is available with two lossless HD options: Uncompressed PCM 2.0 stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Either option should be a satisfying experience but the expansive and beautiful sounding surround sound option is wonderful for those with a surround setup. It's an engaging surround sound experience.  

Getting to hear the selected musical compositions in such great quality is certainly a nice aspect of the release. In particular, it's great to hear the La Strada music by Nino Rota. There aren't any remastered CD versions available for the score so hearing the music performed in this concert is quite wonderful.

Extras:

The release has no on-disc extras but comes with a print booklet featuring an essay and a listing of the music selections performed during the concert.

Final Thoughts:

The Fellini, Jazz, and Co. concert is well worth experiencing for fans of the composers whose work was selected for the performance. Film buffs and film score fans will be pleased with the inclusion of selections by Dmitry Shostakovich and Nino Rota. The other selections (primarily from Ottorino Respighi) are nice as well. Riccardo Chailly conducted a quality concert that highlighted jazz and film score compositions quite well.

Highly Recommended.

Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema. He aspires to make movies and has written two screenplays on spec. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas.