Elvis Costello & the Brodsky Quartet: The Juliet Letters (1992)

Elvis Costello one of rock music's most celebrated alternative tunesmiths joins forces with the classical Brodsky Quartet in this suite of songs inspired by a literature professor who answered letters written to Shakespeare's Juliet.System Requirements:Run Time: 53 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS Rating: NR UPC: 603497148127 Manufacturer No: 9714812 Product Description

Brilliant album, frustrating DVD

When this album first came out in 1993 I remember thinking "gosh this isn't something I'm going to return to very often." Now 15 years later I can say it's emerged as one of my favorite Elvis Costello albums though not typical for his material, except perhaps for the biting lyrics. This DVD however is quite frustrating. It opens with Elvis addressing a live audience and one assumes it will be a presentation of a live concert, however most all of the music here is mimed to the recordings on a set giving the presentation a very stagy and artificial feel. It works ok as a documentary and given that it's worth watching but there's really no "performance" here one can't simply listen to on the recording. September 15, 2008

Great program, mediocre quality...

I was so excited to discover the long-overdue DVD version of this wonderful program. The Juliet Letters
remains one of my all time favorite recordings, but I was always disappointed that the companion documentary
only merited the original VHS treatment for so many years. I had recorded my own copy from a PBS broadcast
nearly fifteen years ago, but the demise of my final VCR several years ago rendered the tape a mere dust collector. This DVD release is bittersweet: the program is still wonderfully entertaining and informative, but the quality of the transfer pretty much compares to the old VHS tape (grainy and flat) with audio that pales in comparison to the original CD tracks. But for the few who fully appreciate this widely under-appreciated collection of songs, this nice mix of live performances, convincing "lip-and-string-sync" performances, and interviews with the musicians is an essential study of this unique musical creation. Encore! August 11, 2008

Music and sarcassim at it's best

The Brodsky Quartet is wonderful to listen to, and perfectly recorded.
The CD is for lovers of classical music and humor.
If you have no love of sarcasm, then do not buy the album.
The letters were written by The Brodsky Quartet and Elvis Costello who's real name is Declan MacManus.
You will laugh while enjoying the wonderful music.
March 29, 2008

Brilliant-- but not your average Elvis

This isn't the typical Elvis Costello album. But, it is very enjoyable, broadens the horizons. It's actually one of my favorite albums. December 15, 2007

Would you try and sing a shopping list?

We all know Mr Costello (if that is his real name) tries any musical genre that he desires and usually does OK or at least does not embarrass himself. The days of great, classic, thoughtful, brilliant songwriting appear to be long gone although he has earned the right to do whatever he wants with his talent... Except The Juliet Letters by EC and the Brodsky Quartet. This cd and bonus disc is horrible. I understand this is my first review at Amazon, I am going to have to write a few reviews to establish my right to say bad things about EC. He remains a prodigious and more than competent talent I love much of his work (mostly the early stuff) including the Burt Bacharach cd but The Juliet Letters and Bonus disc experience is similar to going to the dentist for filling and being told you need a root canal. It keeps getting worse. November 10, 2007

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