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The Movie: This is the second of the DVDs for the Naxos Musical Journey series, this time focusing on the music of Bach, and accompanied by images of beautiful architecture and scenery. It's a wonderful idea, although most will choose to have this as a DVD that simply plays in the background during work or relaxation. In terms of presentation, the disc actually gets it half right. The music is perfect, and the most pleasing thing is that it is offered in both DTS and Dolby Digital audio. Both are marvelous, surrounding the viewer in crisp, clear music that is both beautiful and relaxing. The room is simply full of sound during the entire presentation. In terms of the differences between the Dolby and DTS audio, the DTS is noticably fuller and smoother. The Dolby audio, on the other hand, sounds very good, but a little thinner by comparison. The video...well, the video is not as pleasing. I suppose that many will have this as simply music in the background so it's not hugely unfortunate, but the video quality does have some noticable problems, including pixelization, soft images, shimmering and an occasional "digital" appearance. It's unfortunate, because the scenery really is breathtaking at times. My feelings in general are the same as the Mozart version of Naxos Musical Journey that I reviewed a couple of weeks ago; it's not perfect, and the video quality could certainly use improvement, though. The audio, on the other hand, is remarkably good, and the choice of both Dolby Digital and DTS is excellent. If you're a fan of any of the artists included in the series, the $19.95 retail price makes this worthwhile, even if you're just going to listen (and not watch) it.  Grade:B- |