Organs, Toccatas & Fantasias / Johann Sebastian Bach, Marie-Claire Alain

Director: Bruno Monsaingeon
Actor: Marie-claire Alain
Studio: Kultur White Star
Category: DVD

List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $11.01
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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 reviews
Sales Rank: 30743

Format: Classical, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc, Subtitled
Languages: French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), German (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

MPN: 4387
UPC: 032031438798
EAN: 0032031438798
ASIN: B001AR4K94

Theatrical Release Date: 1990
Release Date: August 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
Organs, Toccatas & Fantasias / Johann Sebastian Bach, Marie-Claire Alain

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5 out of 5 stars This treasure at last    November 22, 2008
Tim Brain (WA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This long-awaited presentation dedicated to Marie-Claire Alain is quite magnificent. To have from your armchair a leisurely world tour of great organs and cathedrals via Bach's towering masterworks, at the shoulder of one of his greatest living scholars and interpreters, what more could be asked?

From the benchmark audio recordings that had for so long been our only access to M-C Alain, we finally unveil this priestess of Bach as she speaks to her passion and depth of understanding in these compositions, and the intricacies of the instruments they command. With a lifetime of devotion to Bach's work, little wonder she appears as thrilled to share her knowledge and insights with us as we are to receive them.

Marie-Claire journeys with us from obscure villages to the major cities of Europe, conducting a study tour of the greatest pipe organs in the world and elucidating Bach's life and genius along the way. We learn that several of these organs are considered so perfectly made they remain unmodified from the 17th century when Bach himself played them. I found Marie-Claire's comments on the building, catagorization and history of these mammoth and mysterious instruments, their peculiarities of sonority and design, and the political/religious background of their creation to be a good part of the value of this DVD.

The other, of course, is watching her play. If you ever contemplated how any one person elicits the avalanches of sound built into the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, the assurance and artistry of Ms. Alain's hands and feet flying nimbly over multiple keyboards, foot pedals, stoppers and levers at once is a revelation. In other moments witness the delicacy in subtle passages for which she is perhaps even more greatly renowned.

Sound and picture quality are excellent. Thankfully, this production for the most part is spared the over-caffeinated video editing that has plagued classical performance DVDs of late.