Distributed by

Polygram

Cat.no: 056 204 2

Cert: E

Running time: 86 minutes

Year: 1997

Pressing: 1998

Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)

Chapters: 24 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: Songs sung in respective languages; dialogue in English

Subtitles: French

Widescreen: 1.66:1 (15:9)

16:9-enhanced: No

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £18.99 (£15.99 at Blackstar)

Extras : Scene index, Biographies

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Conductor:

Marcello Rota

Director:

David Amphlett

Producer:

Lana Topham

Cast:

Andrea Bocelli
Sarah Brightman
Zucchero
Nuccia Focile
Marta Sanchez

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Andrea Bocelli was born on September 22nd 1958 and in 1993 he embarked on a journey that has led him to international stardom. From playing in piano bars to now, he is one of the biggest selling artists in Europe, achieving massive chart success and performances with Pavarotti, Bryan Adams, Zucchero and Sarah Brightman, scoring a No.2 hit with the latter in May 1997 with "Time To Say Goodbye", taken from his Top 10 album, "Romanza". Europe has embraced this man whose remarkable voice and range is capable of singing great operatic arias and classical popular love songs.

Visually impaired from birth, at the age of 12 Andrea went completely blind following a freak accident. He recounts :

There are 24 chapters and the listing is as follows :

1. Introduction


2. Setting up the stage


3. Nessun Dorma (Puccini - Turandot)


4. La Donna e Mobile (Verdi - Rigoletto)


5. Lamento di Federico (Cilea - L'Arlesiana)


6. E Lucean le Stelle (Puccini - Tosca)


7. Interview with Andrea


8. O Soave Fanciulla (Puccini - La Boheme)
- with Nuccia Focile

9. Brindisi (Verdi - La Traviata)
- with Nuccia Focile

10. Andrea and his family


11. Tona a Surriento


12. Santa Lucia Luntana


13. O Sole Mio (Di Capua/Capurro)


14. Andrea in the studio


15. Vivo Por Elle
- with Marta Sanchez

16. Con Te Partiro


17. Romanzo


18. E Chiove


19. Voglio Restare Cosi


20. Caruso


21. Il Mare Calmo Della Sera


22. Miserere
- with Zucchero

23. Time To Say Goodbye
- with Sarah Brightman

24. Closing Credits

The picture is perfect and artifact-free bringing out the plush colour in the set design and facial tones, allowing a crystal clear image. The average bitrate is 6.77Mb/s, regularly peaking at around 9Mb/s but is not anamorphically-enhanced for widescreen televisions. The back-cover states a ratio of 16:9, but the performance is actually presented in 1.66:1 (or 15:9) which is narrower than 1.77:1 (or 16:9) so to fill a widescreen TV you'll need to zoom the picture in yourself and lose some resolution. This is a bit of a shame as it would be possible to produce an anamorphic master but enclosing its own small black bars to compensate for the difference between 15:9 and 16:9 as has once been done by Buena Vista's The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The sound is what most people will be playing this disc to discover - given the content - and it doesn't disappoint whatsoever. Whether it's Andrea on his own, with Sarah Brightman, Zucchero or Marta Sanchez (I wonder if she has a fan club website :), it comes across without a hitch in Dolby Digital, for those with the equipment, or downmixed to Dolby ProLogic for the less well-endowed in musical terms.

Extras :

Chapters :

Biographies :

Languages and Subtitles :

Menu :

The onscreen menus are static but work very well, responding quickly with every selection taking you exactly where you need to.

There's no Polygram logo on this disc, it just launches into the main menu with selections for onscreen text in six languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Swedish.

Overall, this is a release worth buying for fans of opera music and the guests that appear during the show, but there's precious little in the way of extras. That said, the Region 1 releasew seems to suffer further with no extras of any kind, a 4:3 transfer and a higher retail price of $30 so the UK version seems a better bet.

FILM 	 			: ***
PICTURE QUALITY			: *****
SOUND QUALITY 			: *****
EXTRAS				: *
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OVERALL				: ***½

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.