Classical Destinations: An Armchair Guide to Classical Music is available in three forms of media: Video (I believe it started as a PBS TV show), book, and music CD. I believe there are three seasons, and what I'm reviewing is season 1.
The format of the video and book is looking at various European cities and the classical composers that came from that area. The scenery is beautiful in both formats, and the CD is also enjoyable.
For those who want a nice overview like this, you'll enjoy it. It's pleasing to the eyes and informational. However, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Reasons?
- This series focused more on the history and being a travelog than on the artists. I, on the other hand, wanted more focus on the composers.
- Related to above, the book lacks an index. Thus, I had to dig through the book to find out about the artists I was most interested in.
- Also, when I looked at the menu, I found the episode I most wanted to see on the first of two DVDs was the 7th of 7, dealing with Praugue and one of my favorite composers, Dvorak. But starting with the 2nd episode, the numbers are off, and instead of being on Prague, the 7th episode dealt with Venice, which was program #6 accordig to the guide.
None of those diminished from the quality of the product. If you saw the series on PBS, you'll enjoy having at least one of the formats. And the book would make a great coffee table book.
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