You might think that a company called Concert Hot Spot would specialize in...well, concerts, but only two of the upstart label's five releases feature live musical performances. The remainder of their catalog is anchored around classical music playing over themed high-definition imagery: A View from Space with Heavenly Music paired an extensive array of compositions with footage recorded from the Endeavour space shuttle, the awkwardly but aptly titled A Stained Glass Christmas with Heavenly Carols followed in time for the holidays, and their latest release is Nature's Colors with the World's Greatest Music.

The song hasn't changed. Nature's Colors is a collection of high-definition nature footage shot around the world, set to the following classical pieces:

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]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27385 Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:10:12 UTC Skip It

The Movie:
In a move some will undoubtedly view as a shocking turn of events, this one will be short and sweet.Have you ever wanted to be trapped in the television section of your local Best Buy for the better part of two hours, watching one of those demo reels over and over? If so, this disc may just be the next best thing, because Nature's Colors with the World's Greatest Music (how's that for an unwieldy title?) is roughly two hours of high-def nature footage set to selections of classical music. For those who are interested (and to help pad out this review), here's a rundown of the featured pieces:

Clair De Lune • Debussy
Cannon In D • Pachebel
Dawn From Peer Gynt • Greig
Moonlight Sonata • Beethoven
Eine Kleine Nachtmusic • Mozart
Piano Concerto #21 • Mozart
Air For The G String • Bach
Allegro From Spring • Vivaldi
Jesu Joy Of Man's Desir...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25931 Sat, 06 Jan 2007 05:05:50 UTC Rent It

New Orleans is a town with soul. Whether you are sipping coffee and eating a beignet in the French Quarter or riding the street car through St. Charles there is no denying the beauty of this town. Unless you've been living under a rock since 2005, then you are aware of the storm that decimated the city and took out the levees holding back the lake. Some thought that the soul of New Orleans would die as that water receded, but that didn't happen. The music returned to the streets and the clubs, and where there is music, people followed.

The New Orleans Concert: The Music of America's Soul bring together some classic talent from the New Orleans and from around the world. The lineup is a somewhat interesting mix of outstanding jazz and blues with standouts like the two song set from legendary Snooks Eaglin and George Porter Jr (of The Meters), and the excellent demonstration of the New Orleans piano st...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25515 Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:45:55 UTC Skip It

A Stained Glass Christmas With Heavenly Carols must be the most self-descriptive title I've ever seen. It perfectly encapsulates the experience that awaits you inside the disc. That is, images of stained glass windows set to Christmas carols, or, if you prefer, selections from Handel's "Messiah." That's it. Nothing else to see here. Move along. I probably didn't even need to watch the disc for this review, but since I care so much, I did.

Stained Glass Christmas follows in the footsteps of Concert Hot Spot's A View From Space With Heavenly Music in that there seems to be absolutely no point to the content of the disc. Yes, stained glass windows are pretty, and no, I don't want to hear Christmas carols again, but even if I did, surely there must be more entertaining ways to present them than the way shown here. As Adam Tyner mentioned in his View From Space review, a sense ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/24581 Mon, 23 Oct 2006 01:39:21 UTC Rent It

The Movie:

As we are all aware, Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans. Congress threw gobs of money at rebuilding the city, and other than that, I don't remember seeing too many benefits based around the event. Of course, I might not have been paying attention, considering just how much we heard about Katrina when it happened. Either way, The New Orleans Concert completely fell under my radar.

The concert line-up didn't seem particularly strong when I glanced at the disc. The only artists whose names caught my eye were Keith Richards and Bonnie Raitt. Still, the back of the disc sounded promising, saying the concert offered a selection of jazz, R&B, blues, folk, and rock. Being an eclectic music fan, I proceeded in with an open mind.

The disc opens with a ...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/23458 Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:32:13 UTC Recommended

The Concert:

There aren't many concerts that have been released in the Blu-Ray format. In fact, the only one that I'm aware of is A Guitarscape Planet,that presents classically trained guitarist Muriel Anderson playing 25of her songs.  Though not the type of music I'd first turn to whenlooking for something to listen to, I quite enjoyed this soothing musicpaired with appropriate visuals.

For those of you not familiar with her, Muriel Anderson is an acclaimedguitarist who has been described as "one hell of a great player" by noless than Les Paul.  The first female National Fingerpicking GuitarChampion, Muriel is technically capable but is also able to fill her musicwith emotion and fun.  A Guitarscape Planet presents the acclaimedplayer in a small setting concert where she performs over two dozen o...Read the entire review

]]> Blu-ray https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/23221 Mon, 14 Aug 2006 05:05:04 UTC Rent It

The Program:
Every home theater room needs at least one good video wallpaper program to play in the background when you're throwing a party. When it's not turned on, that big screen TV is just an ugly gray box eating up real estate in your room. If you want to show off that expensive purchase, naturally you'll need to turn the set on, and better not to distract your guests with a movie or TV show when they're supposed to be mingling with one another. What you need is a series of pleasantly innocuous images that look nice on the screen but can be safely left running in the background and ignored, and better still if they're in High Definition.

The content of A View from Space with Heavenly Music should be pretty self-evident from the title. Shot in High Definition by cameras aboard the space shuttle Endeavor, the program is pure video wallpaper. No actors, no dialogue, no stor...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22757 Sun, 16 Jul 2006 17:29:21 UTC Recommended

A Guitarscape Planet features an eighty minute live performance by Muriel Anderson, an accomplished guitarist with a style that straddles the line separating folk, classical, and bluegrass. Joined at times by drummer Paul Wertico, bassist Nicki Parrott, and cellist Julie Adams, Anderson alternates between a traditional six-string acoustic guitar and a thirteen-string harp guitar for these twenty-five instrumentals, the majority of which have not appeared on any of her previous albums.

1. 

 

Two Shores

 

Read the entire review ]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22095 Wed, 07 Jun 2006 23:48:01 UTC Rent It A View from Space with Heavenly Music represents a number of firsts for HD DVD. It's the first disc from an independent studio and is the first non-narrative release for the format. This is the first title to have been shot on video rather than film, and it's also the first HD DVD to be encoded using MPEG-2 rather than Microsoft's VC-1 codec. A View from Space with Heavenly Music's title sums up this HD DVD well enough -- it's an hour of high-definition video recorded from the Endeavour space shuttle, and one of a number of classical soundtracks can be selected to play in the background. There are eight hour-long soundtracks in total on this disc, most of which are themed around a particular composer. They include: Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries from "The Valkyrie" · Pachelbel - Canon in D · Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring · Ravel - Bolero ...Read the entire review ]]>