Latest music DVDs reviewed

Daylight Again/Acoustic Rhino

Formed in 1968 by David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash - refugees from the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies, respectively - Crosby, Stills & Nash retain the political idealism and cultural utopianism of their Haight-Ashbury Summer of Love origins in their music and songs - To the Last Whale, Teach Your Children, Long Time Gone, Just a Song Before I Go and Our House. Although their spare melodies, introspective lyrics and soaring harmonies launched the singer-songwriter boom of the 1970s, CSN now seem curiously dated and trite amid the grunge rock and hip-hop explosion of the late 1980s and early 1990s: neither time nor taste has been kind to them. Recorded eight years apart in Los Angeles (1983) and in San Franciso (1991), Daylight Again and Acoustic are decidedly unremarkable concert recordings. CSN's hesitant, lacklustre performances in both are accentuated by Crosby's increasingly ragged voice and Stills's mawkish banter. There is no bonus material whatsoever. Both DVDs seem more like cynical brand exploitation than the fan-friendly memory boxes CSN clearly intended them to be. www.crosbystillsnash.com Jocelyn Clarke

Soloists: Karita Mattila, Carlo Guelfi, Julian Konstantinov, Lucio Gallo, Vincenza La Scola. Orchestra & Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Conductor: Claudio Abbado. TDK Mediactive

Although uneven in inspiration and somewhat gloomy in tone, Simon Boccanegra contains some of Verdi's most powerful and moving music. Originally premiered in 1857, the libretto was completely overhauled in 1881. Verdi, then at the height of his powers and fresh from his triumph with Aida, revised the score, adding some of his greatest dramatic music. The opera deals with high politics in medieval Venice and the famous Council Chamber scene, finale to Act 1 in the 1881 revision, must rank as one of his most deeply felt inspirations. In this production from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the great Verdi conductor Claudio Abbado fully realises the tremendous power and nobility of the score. Singers are excellent, with Karita Mattila especially charismatic as Amelia. With intelligent staging, this is a thrilling realisation of a great work. www.tdk-medactive.com Colman Morrissey