Carlos Kleiber, the eccentric and reclusive conductor par excellence, is remembered as much for the rarity of his appearances as for the brilliance of his interpretations. In marked contrast to his contemporary Herbert von Karajan, Kleiber refused to participate in the international music business – as well as in most interviews. Accordingly, Kleiber the Man and Kleiber the Musician have remained an elusive mystery that this new documentary, following extensive research amongst the conductor´s musical companions, collaborators and friends, sheds light upon. Featuring Riccardo Muti, Otto Schenk, Ioan Hollender, Sir Peter Jonas, Michael Gielen, Ileana Cotrubas and many more as interview partners as well as several musical excerpts of previously unseen footage. “What the film … conveys is the tremendous emotion that Kleiber produced in people or, rather, that he stirred up in them.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
André Previn – A Bridge Between Two Worlds
André Previn is one of the leading musicians of our day. The eighty-one-year-old cosmopolitan pianist, conductor and classical composer has not only received no fewer than foru Academy awards for his film adaptations but was also one of the most influential jazz musicians of the fifties and sixties. A Bridge Between Two Worlds is a portrait of Previn´s fascinating musicianship and also looks candidly at his private life, including his relations with his two ex-wives, Mia Farrow and Anne-Sophie Mutter. As a bonus, this release features Mozart´s two Piano Quartets K. 478 and K. 493 with André Previn at the keyboard.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk – The Case of the Three Sided Dream
The Case of the Three Sided Dream is the documentary film on the life, music and legacy of multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Kirk was a one of a kind musician, personality, satirist and windmillslayer who despite being blind, becoming paralyzed, and facing America’s racial injustices – did not relent. His life’s work was exploring sound and making music. Beyond that, he was an outspoken activist who started a political movement to get more exposure for Jazz in America – particularly on TV. Dreams were important to Rahsaan. They planted the seed in his mind to play three horns simultaneously. His name came from dreams. When asked about his religious beliefs, he would say, “I’m from the Religion of Dreams”. At the age of 40, at the apex of his career, Rahsaan suffered a stroke, which left him half paralyzed. Despite this, he continued to tour and play music, with the use of only one hand, literally until the day he died. Special Features (20 mins): Joel Dorn talks about Rahsaan “Bright Moments”, performed live in 1977.
The Phoenix Dance Company
Phoenix emerged in the 1980s as one of the most exciting contemporary groups in Britain, made up of five young black men who were introduced to dance while at school in one of the poorest parts of Leeds. Their extraordinary story is told in documentary film and in a work called The Forming of the Phoenix. The programme’s finale is a performance of Edward Lynch’s Nightlife at the Flamingo, which fuses jazz steps with Phoenix’s own eclectic style.
La Fenice: A Death in Venice
In January 1996, the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, considered by many to be the world’s most beautiful opera house, was destroyed in a mysterious fire. Made during the aftermath of this event, when speculation was rife as to the cause of the blaze, this documentary contrasts the past glories of the theatre with the devastation that remained. But La Fenice – named after the phoenix – was to rise from the ashes and plans for its rebuilding are scrutinised in this film.
Einojuhani Rautavaara – Gift of Dreams
In recent years, one of Finland’s leading contemporary composers has found international fame. His Angel of Light CD has become a world-wide best-seller and, in the words of The Financial Times, “popular taste has suddenly caught up with Rautavaara’s mystical Romanticism. The time is right for his style.” Now in his seventies, he is at the height of his musical powers. This impressionistic film explores the charismatic composer’s life and music, glimpsing the richness of his creative imagination.
In Rehearsal: Mariss Jansons
Featuring some of today’s leading conductors in rehearsal, this series gives a unique insight into the process of creating great music. The conductors’ very different styles and methods; the dialogue between an orchestra and an inspired interpreter; the intensity of the preparations for a concert performance; and the struggle towards perfection are captured in these revealing audio-visual records. Most episodes include a full run-through of the work rehearsed. All include interviews with the conductor who is seen at work. Mariss Jansons prepares Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin Suite with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Masterclass: Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig is acknowledged as one of the twentieth century’s most explorative and complete vocal artists. Her professional singing career spanned five decades. Two public masterclasses, recorded at the Volkstheater in Vienna, show her working with young singers set on finding success on the operatic stage. Candid, humorous and encouraging, she focuses on the dramatic truth expressed in the arias of their choice and helps them to communicate this in their interpretations.
In Rehearsal: John Eliot Gardiner
Through his particular combination of scholarship and inspired musicianship, John Eliot Gardiner has won international acclaim as a key figure in the revival of early music. His concert performances and recordings with the ensembles he has founded – the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestra Révolutionnaire et Romantique – are unmistakable, not just for their zest and technical mastery, but as highly personal readings of music from Monteverdi to Verdi and beyond.
This present film of the rehearsal of Bach’s Canata BWV 63 is intercut with comments from the singers and an interview with John Eliot Gardiner which reveals not only the depth of his knowledge of Bach’s music but also his profound love of the composer’s work. He talks incisively about Bach’s music as a whole, the place of the cantatas in the composer’s oeuvre, the particular structure and brilliance of “Christen, ätzet diesen Tag”, and explains something of his reasons for championing authentic rendition.
Valery Gergiev & Le sacre du printemps
This programme records the meeting of two Russian musical giants, as Valéry Gergiev, the most charismatic and dynamic conductor of our day, rehearses, performs and discusses Stravinsky’s masterpiece. Innovative, inspiring and exhilarating, the Sacre du printemps is close to the maestro’s heart. Among a wide range of archive material used in the programme is a rare clip of Igor Stravinsky conducting the Sacre, as well as footage of him talking about his composition.