Gentleman of Music (2002)

 A good musical concert
The concert is lively and the musical performance is good except the sound recording of this DVD is not up to expectation. March 18, 2006

 Happiness is....James Last
I have the VHS tape, about a one hour twenty minutes of concert in Bayreuth Germany. The music is wonderful, James does a great job as both a musician and a showman and the music selection is varied from Elvis to Anka to the Beatles. This is one of a few shows I would pay bigbucks to see the live performance. January 11, 2005

 a true gentleman of music!
Just plain old fashioned beautiful! It's really magnificent how James Last plays this music with his orchestra.
He was the first conductor who didn't use a stick, but just his hands. He wrote the music for each and every instrument used, played by a whole orchestra with people from over 15 nationalities.
It's beautiful to hear those delicate violins, or that bundle of trumpets; everyone plays in sync, not a single mistake, let alone hitting a false note.
SUPERB!
Also very entertaining to see the images of the crowd dancing and going crazy.
Do not only buy this one, but also the other James Last DVD: world of music, that's also a treat.
I also always thought that most of his hits were covers, but now I found out that he really did compose them! He even composed songs for Elvis! (fool)
Here are the hits from James "Hansi" Last on this DVD:
(this European cover shows also German titles, so I don't know the English titles from those songs, if they have an English title)
1. Granada/ Lady of Spain
2. Titanic love theme
3. Beatles medley
4. Rosen aus dem Süden (roses from the south literally translated)
5. String of pearls/ in the mood
6. Morgens um Sieben (7 am)
7. Zigeunerweisen (gipsy melodies)
8. Hit medley: when the snow is on the roses/ fool / happy heart
9. Don't cry for me Argentina
10. Hip hop polka: wochenend und Sonnenschein (weekend and sunshine)/ Jägerlatein/ zip-a-dee doo dah
11. Jigs and reels
12. Biscaya
13. German folk medley
14. Games that lovers play
15. My way
16. Orange blossom special
17. Love for sale
18. Have you ever really loved a woman
19. Carmina Burana

dolby 5.1/ DTS March 13, 2004

 Outstanding Performance
Glad to have this enjoyable DVD. The band consists of very talented musicians from 17 countries. The string (violins) and brass sections combined with the James Last beat makes this an outstanding performance. The trumpet solo by Derek Watkins in "My Way" and the guitar and accordion solos in "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" make you want to dance. The beat in "Orange Blossom Special" wants you get out of your chair and dance like what the audience is doing. Overall, it was an enjoyable performance by the band/orchestra under the direction of James Last and will make you feel young again and ready to hit the dance floor. December 7, 2003

 Top-rated - a must have
While playing this DVD with soothing melody in the backgound, I jot down this Gentleman of Music said at the end of Fanfare, the opening piece, "... music is not worthless, music is emotion, music is sometimes better than any medicine... sit down, enjoy yourselves and have fun..." Indeed, the program captures one of the best phenomena of orchestral entertainment at Zwickau as the group came back to Germany from touring. This should be the 2nd recordings* that the group taped for the American television audience as the Maestro spoke in English completely and fluently this time during the performance and the interview.

The 23 chapters of music are all in typical James Last style arrangments. This time they performed melodies from ABBA (many - ABBA's fan should like this one also), Classical-to-Date, German folk medley, etc. Two pieces, "Doo Wah Diddy" and "Orange Blossom Special", excited the audience and they should bring the group closer to the American music lover.

There are more scenes of musician-audience interactions, singing, waltzing, plus with the fans from other countries touring with orchestra as uaual.

The behind the scenes documentary bonus shows how a happy fmaily man makes happy music for the happy people. Having enjoy his music since 30 some years ago in college, from LPs, cassette tapes, CDs to this DVD, thanks to the technology I finally can not only listen the music but see "Hansi" himself, although the DVD is better on 16:9 screen, it still worth everything I paid.

* The first recording for PBS was titled "Gentleman of the Music", in 4:3 screen format. August 17, 2003

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