One of the greatest partnerships in music is between Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. This relationship is now in its...

One of the greatest partnerships in music is between Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. This relationship is now in its seventh decade. This DVD release celebrates Herbert Blomstedt and his relationship with the orchestra, performing the symphonic works of Franz Schubert and Anton Bruckner. This release is in honor of Blomstedt’s recent reception of the Leonie Sonnings Music Prize. Included in this DVD is an 80-minute interview with Blomstedt, himself.

Video Format: DVD 9 / NTSC / 16:9
Sound Format: Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Region Code: 0 (All)

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REVIEW:

The present DVD is taken from a 2007 concert in Roskilde Cathedral at the time of Blomstedt's 80th birthday, and featured Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, his unhurried approach allowing the music ample time to savour the warmth of the cathedral acoustic. It would appear that the filming was limited to three cameras, so that for much of the time we watch Blomstedt demonstrating how economic gestures can draw so much from an orchestra. It equally shows how to achieve a seamless flow through these long movements, changes of tempo established in body gestures before they occur. The orchestra, with a robust brass sound and mellifluous woodwind, were in fine form, though sadly the microphone set to capture the timpani does not seem to have been working, so that his contribution is visual rather than audible. The unusual element in the release is an apparent Danish belief that the symphony we have long know as Schubert’s Eighth—the ‘Unfinished’—was, in fact, his Seventh. Blomsted’s interpretation, as the opening work of the concert, is most welcome in his spacious reading. There is a brief interview with him prior to the concert as an added bonus track.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)