Essential Nature, Vol. 1

Combining nature appreciation with stress reduction, this half-hour program offers seasonal scenes of New England, a New Age soundtrack, and sparse commentary about the need to take a break from our hectic modern lives and rediscover the natural world. While the New England footage is lovely, the sequencing often seems arbitrary, and the quality cannot compare with similar titles by Miramar and other major producers of nature music videos. Finally, the music (which doesn't sound like the vapid copyright cleared stuff found on many special-interest videos) isn't attributed during the end credits--which could be either a notable oversight on the producer's part or an illegal use of copyrighted music. Not recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)