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Advantages: Superb production, fascinating footage, great music Disadvantages: None whatsoever apart from wanting more
others. Some of the conductors featured are Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Thomas Beecham, LeonardBernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Richard Strauss, Leopold Stokowski and Bruno Walter to single out a few names.
Right from the opening of the documentary you realise the high quality of the production values on this DVD as Beethoven's 5th Symphony segues seamlessly between different performances by very different conductors. Hearing the same piece conducted by Toscanini, von Karajan, Klemperer and Szell heightens the contrasts between the styles and interpretations of each of these highly individual maestri.
One of the big plus-points of this DVD is that along with copious extracts from performances and rehearsals, one is given complete performances of several works including Beethoven's "Egmont Overture" conducted by Serge Koussevitzky ...
Advantages: Great songs, production, lyrics Disadvantages: If you don't like Leonard's voice this won't convert you
We've seen so many times that artists and songwriters who have great success throughout the 60's and the 70's often have a horrendous 80's as they try to keep up with the times. The songwriting becomes bland and the need for synthesisers means that the songs become so electronically ladened that the production becomes the focus over the songs themselves. It fills me with great pleasure to say that in the case of Leonard Cohen and 'I'm Your Man' this is most certainly not the case. It could be argued that prior to this Len was having a creative crisis. The mid 70's and early 80's were just about fair to him but albums were patchy compared to his 60's output and by his own high standards. Just when we thought Len's time was up, he brought us this curious powerhouse.
The scene is set with the opening track 'First We Take Manhattan ...
OPINION
I first heard of Leonard Cohen at a friends house as a record, the song was "Suzanne" and I loved it. I remembered the name and to my delight I found his CD in the Woolworths price crunch a while back now. His songs are so calming but have lyrics that explore ideas of religion, isolation, sexuality and complex interpersonal relationships, so as calm as they seem their underlying provocations are deeply moving.
ARTIST
Leonard Cohen is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. His earliest songs are rooted in European folk music, his 1970's music encompasses pop, chaberet and world music and since the 1980's his high baritone voice took on more low registers, often accompanied by electronic synthesizers and female backing singers. His writing has influenced lots of singer-songwriters and more than ...
