The Loves of Emma Bardac

ID: SRLM-1067

Price: 17,476 yen

Discs: 1

Sound: B-Mode

Running Time: 50 minutes

Released: Sony Music

From Facets Multimedia:

Acclaimed classical piano duo Katia and Marielle Labeque portray the daughters of Emma Bardac, the product of her liaisons with

composers Debussy and Faure. This award-winning program features the music of Bizet, Debussy and Faure performed by the Labeques. 1991.

Rather interesting and high production values like the more high-brow PBS series shows.



Damn good, HDTV sharp but with a hint of soft edges (looks like a cross between video shot and film shot). Clearly shot on HDVS video, this picture is bright and detailed and shows off the highly detailed sets. The costumes in this film are very eccentric and are best viewed in the Hi-Vision format. Black levels are very well defined, and shadow detail is present in many of the scenes.

Compression artifacts are nil, but when they do surface, they come across as analog noise. Far and few and practically unnoticeable.

Sound is in B-Mode, but is wonderfully presented. The sound is so clear and detailed that it feels as if the piano is in the room while you view this film. Very detailed, and very warm sound without the typical poorly produced high frequencies heard on other discs. Surround channels are limited to very light ambient reverb, and the subwoofer is never really used.

If you’re into the PBS docudrama’s, you can’t go wrong here. The sound is damn good and definitely sounds better than typical 44.1KHz audio (don’t know the original source). Picture is also nice as well.

If you’re looking for a straight movie with beginning/middle/end with lots of dialog, this isn’t the one.