RVW Centenary Concert 12.10.72 now on ICA Classics

[LeMartinPecheur]

ICA Classics have earned my deepest gratitude for reissuing the BBC2 TV tapes of the RVW centenary concert in the RFH, LPO/ Boult in Symphony 8 and Job. It's a broadcast I recall very well. I had to miss the R3 broadcast of the live concert because I'd just gone up to Oxford and couldn't duck out of the Freshers' Dinner that night. A week or so later I managed to commandeer the Oxford Union's TV room to watch the TV broadcast - sadly minus one of the 3 works, Richard Lewis singing On Wenlock Edge in the composer's rewrite for orchestra. That sounds like a very big loss to posterity - does anyone remember this? Was any board-er in the RFH audience that night?

The DVD is IMHO brilliant even though the sound is the mono TV soundtrack - kinda hoped we'd get the R3 stereo tapes overdubbed. Superb performances and excellent playing - I especially enjoyed the trombones in the symphony's opening movement. Job is nicely treated by the TV broadcast, with the titles of the various sections given against the appropriate Blake print.

Was the LPO's leader Rodney Friend? Can anyone give the principals of the LPO of that vintage? The oboist seemed especially good but it's probably invidious to single just a few players for individual mention.

One annoyance though. My main DVD player refused to play the disc, putting up some message about incompatability. The DVD says it's Region 0 and should be playable on all modern machines. The player says it's Region 2, whatever that means, but this is the first DVD it's ever refused to handle. My old basic Philips player attached to the spare telly in another (much colder!) room then played it without problem. Can anyone explain this and suggest any cure?

[makropulos]

ICA Classics have earned my deepest gratitude for reissuing the BBC2 TV tapes of the RVW centenary concert in the RFH, LPO/ Boult in Symphony 8 and Job. It's a broadcast I recall very well. I had to miss the R3 broadcast of the live concert because I'd just gone up to Oxford and couldn't duck out of the Freshers' Dinner that night. A week or so later I managed to commandeer the Oxford Union's TV room to watch the TV broadcast - sadly minus one of the 3 works, Richard Lewis singing On Wenlock Edge in the composer's rewrite for orchestra. That sounds like a very big loss to posterity - does anyone remember this? Was any board-er in the RFH audience that night?

The DVD is IMHO brilliant even though the sound is the mono TV soundtrack - kinda hoped we'd get the R3 stereo tapes overdubbed. Superb performances and excellent playing - I especially enjoyed the trombones in the symphony's opening movement. Job is nicely treated by the TV broadcast, with the titles of the various sections given against the appropriate Blake print.

Was the LPO's leader Rodney Friend? Can anyone give the principals of the LPO of that vintage? The oboist seemed especially good but it's probably invidious to single just a few players for individual mention.

One annoyance though. My main DVD player refused to play the disc, putting up some message about incompatability. The DVD says it's Region 0 and should be playable on all modern machines. The player says it's Region 2, whatever that means, but this is the first DVD it's ever refused to handle. My old basic Philips player attached to the spare telly in another (much colder!) room then played it without problem. Can anyone explain this and suggest any cure?

I've had this DVD for a few weeks and agree with everything you say about it - except to note that mine played in both my DVD players without problems - so perhaps worth asking for a replacement?
I was at the concert, saw the TV relay a few days later, and also have the Intaglio audio CD with Job and On Wenlock Edge - so not quite lost to posterity, but sadly it wasn't on the telly. It was (and is) interesting to hear it, but the 8th Symphony and - especially - Job are the things I would have wanted more on a DVD, and now at last we have them (EMI announced Job ages ago on the DVD, but in the end only the 8th Symphony was included on that disc).

Yes, it's Rodney Friend leading. I can't remember the other principals, but somewhere I even have the programme. It was one of the really great concerts on my youth

[mercia]

Region 2, whatever that means

playable in Europe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Region_2_DVD#Region_codes_and_countries

I can't help with your problem though

[Dave2002]

.
One annoyance though. My main DVD player refused to play the disc, putting up some message about incompatability. The DVD says it's Region 0 and should be playable on all modern machines. The player says it's Region 2, whatever that means, but this is the first DVD it's ever refused to handle. My old basic Philips player attached to the spare telly in another (much colder!) room then played it without problem. Can anyone explain this and suggest any cure?

Difficult to be sure what the problem is. This page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code - which has been mentioned already, suggests that there isn't an explicit flag set for Region 0 - which it describes as "not an official setting", so perhaps that's the problem. According to that article, ALL the flags should be set to allow the DVD to be played anywhere.

What is interesting is that it's the Philips unit which does play the disc - you don't say what the other one is. In my experience some of the players from "other" manufacturers are sometimes more helpful to the consumer, as they don't bother with most of the restrictions. If you really want to play the DVD on your main player then you could look on various websites and see if there's a hack for your machine. There are people around the world spending time on creating software "upgrades" or configurations to get round this sort of thing - often by entering some arcane code into your machine - though if it's only one disc I'd suggest it's not worth the bother.

I'd avoid doing that unless you really do want to watch a lot of DVDs from other regions. Also, there are some allowed reconfigurations, but the major manufacturers only allow you to change the configuration a few times, and you don't want to end up in the wrong one! Really not worth it for just one DVD.

Can you perhaps copy the DVD using your computer and set the appropriate region flag on the copy? Might be worth sending a note to ICA to see if they have realised or intended this problem.

[Pabmusic]

Difficult to be sure what the problem is. This page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code - which has been mentioned already, suggests that there isn't an explicit flag set for Region 0 - which it describes as "not an official setting", so perhaps that's the problem. According to that article, ALL the flags should be set to allow the DVD to be played anywhere.

What is interesting is that it's the Philips unit which does play the disc - you don't say what the other one is. In my experience some of the players from "other" manufacturers are sometimes more helpful to the consumer, as they don't bother with most of the restrictions. If you really want to play the DVD on your main player then you could look on various websites and see if there's a hack for your machine. There are people around the world spending time on creating software "upgrades" or configurations to get round this sort of thing - often by entering some arcane code into your machine - though if it's only one disc I'd suggest it's not worth the bother.

I'd avoid doing that unless you really do want to watch a lot of DVDs from other regions. Also, there are some allowed reconfigurations, but the major manufacturers only allow you to change the configuration a few times, and you don't want to end up in the wrong one! Really not worth it for just one DVD.

Can you perhaps copy the DVD using your computer and set the appropriate region flag on the copy? Might be worth sending a note to ICA to see if they have realised or intended this problem.

I have converted all my and my family's dvd players to multi-region for many years now. It's almost always easy to do by entering a code (seehttp://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/info/multiregion/ for most) and setting the region code to 0. Once I had to send off for a special remote control (that was a particular Panasonic model).

In case you're concerned at all, there is nothing illegal about doing this. Region codes are used so that (for instance) the latest blockbuster Loadarubbish III cannot be sold in Europe or wherever before it is released there. The ability to change the code is necessary because people move to new parts of the world taking their old equipment with them. When my wife and I visit the Philippines (region 9) we want to be able to play any DVDs we buy there back in the UK. Likewise, if I buy an American disc (region 1) from Amazon, it's no good if I can't play at home (region 2).

[Chris Newman]

LeMartinPecheur,

You are correct in saying that Rodney Friend is the LPO leader. Shortly afterwards he moved to the NYPO.

Though I missed this concert Section Principals at that time were

Leader: Rodney Friend
Sub-leader: Dennis Simons
First Violins: Martin Jones
Second Violins: John Willison
Viola: John Chambers
Cello: Alexander Cameron David Strange (co-principal)
Bass: William Webster

FLUTE Douglas Whittaker Colin Chambers (co-principal)
OBOE Roger Winfield
COR ANGLAIS Maurice Checker
CLARINET Robert Hill
E FLAT CLARINET Martin Ronchetti
BASSOON Neil Livesey
CONTRA BASSOON Valentine Kennedy

HORN Ronald Harris,
Keith Whitmore and Jeffrey Bryant (co-principals)

TRUMPET Gordon Webb
TROMBONE Derek James
TUBA Paul Lawrence

TIMPANI Alan Cumberland
PERCUSSION Keith Millar
HARP Skaila Kanga

Bernard Haitink was the LPO Principal Conductor and Artistic Director. It was just after the time when the LPO poached a lot of principal players from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Gerald Jarvis had left the BSO as leader to be co-leader of the LPO but he left in 1972 (the RVW Anniversary Year), to return to his native Vancouver. A few years before Christopher Seaman, now a conductor, was LPO principal timpanist.

I hope that is of use.
BWS
Chris.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Thanks everyone for all the info, whether on DVD regions/ players or the LPO's personnel.

FWIW my DVD machine that won't play this disc is a Panasonic 'DVD recorder' DMR-EX79. That's what is written on the machine anyway, but the instruction book calls it a DMR-EX79EB. I shall now do some googling to see if there's any easy 'hack'. Don't think I'll bother if I have to buy a new remote control though!

OOPS. One website ('videohelp') says there's no hack for my machine