The Flying Dutchman[DVD]

Mind you, I don't do sports, no matter what ball or national passion is being pitched or kicked about. But boy, did I get a kick out of joining 18,000 fans at Kerkrade stadium in Holland, and did I have a ball watching the globetrotting Andre Rieu perform for his fellow countrymen! Their rapt smiles triggered memories of my first exposure to him on PBS and subsequent purchase of a DVD. While watching it, a curious sensation took hold of me. Eventually I pressed PAUSE and hotfooted over to the nearest mirror. Sure enough, I had this huge, improbable smile pasted on my face and simply couldn't wipe it off. Watch his Kerkrade concert and see this unabashed joy mirrored on 18,000 faces. The Flying Dutchman has the crowd in the palm of his hand as he wows them with a dazzling mix of musical numbers and rollicking fun. Share his obvious delight as 3-year-old Akim performs his own bottled-water antics before earnestly playing a lovely Concertino on his child-prodigy-size violin. Toward the end a lovable maniac named Otto - the world's fastest sketch artist - has the audience in stitches to the tune of "Old MacDonald." They sing "The Limburg Anthem" with obvious pride, root for Irish and Japanese numbers, roar over the signature waltzes, and beam with pleasure when prancing horses dramatize the Triumphal March from Aida. The soloists delight, the orchestra is gorgeous, and "The Making of The Flying Dutchman" makes for a fine dessert after a lavish entertainment meal. Take it from this old Swiss: there is nothing cheesy about the Dutch violinist and entertainer. He's a consummate professional who delivers a classy show. Would I keep giving this DVD as a gift if I didn't envision more surprise smiles showing up in bathroom mirrors?

My DVD was a gift from my sister who received it from PBS in early September. It has English sub-titles and has a picture of Andre with the backdrop of the stage in Roga Stadium where the concert was held. You have your choice of English or French sub titles.I had never heard of Andre Rieu before and as I put the DVD in my wife and I didn't budge till it was finished. The next day I ordered from Amazon, Tuscany, Live in Dublin, and the Concert in Albert Hall. I have viewed them all and it is hard to say which is best but I lean to Tuscany and the Flying Dutchman. My favorite number from the Flying Dutchman was the German comic, Otto, doing Old McDonald. What fun, all of them. Classical music mostly but a lot of popular music too and lavishly produced to create a fun atmosphere. In every one of his concerts the people participate and I am already making plans to get tickets for his 2006 tour in the US.I can understant being upset with no sub-titles but I would have rated this 5 stars even without them. The sub titles make what is going on more understandable especially that this is a Dutch event and Andre is back home but it is the music and singing that make it such a good time.

I gave this DVD 5 stars for the MUSIC, but when I hadwatched it on television it had English Subtitles and soI assumed this one would, especially since I was buyingit in the United States!!It DOES NOT have English Subtitles and although you canenjoy the music ... without knowing what Andre is sayingyou have no clue what's going on, not to mention you missout on his charm and humor which is so much a part of hislive concerts ...I would not recommend buying this DVD from here at all andwould strongly suggest ordering it from Andre's Homepage ...THAT one has the English Subtitles! (As this one SHOULD have!)

Andre is amazing and this DVD shows why

The concert was full of surprises and joy, and a lot of different types of music.

I don't understant what everyone is complaining about. I bought a DVD of this program from thetangotienda and it came with English and French subtitles. Video quality is just excellent as well. I had doublts when I saw that it is an import, but it turned out to be a good thing because all others come with only English subtitles. How can anyone give it anything less than five stars after viewing the 3yr old Akim Camara's performance.

Good quality, even is used disc.

Unfortunately, this DVD did not work although the DVD player was ok with any other DVDs. Within 24 hours , after writing to the seller, a refund was issued plus, there was no need to return the item, which would have costed just about the price I paid for the DVD. Prepaid postage label was not available for this item.Wow! That is great service!

He and his orchestra is completely entertaining - their is nothing but smiles and tapping of foot or even dancing while watching his concerts.

Je suis satisfaite! Merci!

Adam (at addysshopofhorrors) was very polite and answered all of my questions (over 3 days). I've only watched half of the Concert so far. The music is very good as usual. HOWEVER, the visual quality of the DVD isn't as good as I'm used to (I've bought 27 of them). Maybe Denon's recording techniques weren't up to standard in 2004. There are times when it looks as if someone has bought an original DVD and made copies by Videoing it when they play it on TV - you can almost see the pixels. Denon have also failed to enter every spoken word in the subtitles (they only put the Subtitles in after Customers who bought the first edition complained that there were none), e.g. when Andre gives credit to the people who provided the Horses for the Light Cavalry Overture. Sorry to be slightly negative, but the visuals do spoil it a little, and I need subtitles because I don't speak Dutch, etc.