Captivating his audience with passionate but perfectly controlled energy, Daniil Trifonov is a true musical phenomenon. Wishing to get away from the concert halls he is accustomed, we follow this great pianist on an intimate journey, from a Parisian Jazz Club to the streets of New York via the peace and quiet of his home in the Connecticut forest. A. SCRIABIN Sonata No. 9; P. I. TCHAIKOVSKY Children’s Album; S. RACHMANINOFF Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14; M. RAVEL Gaspard of the Night J. S. BACH/S. RACHMANINOFF Partita No. 3 in E major. Prelude; S. PROKOFIEV Sarcasm, Op. 17
At home with Gidon Kremer
In this episode, the audience is invited into the Berlin residence and studio of legendary violinist Gidon Kremer, who plays “a kaleidoscope of things” dear to him, including pieces by Piazzola, Weinberg and Schubert. The violinist also performs in Paliesius Manor in Lithuania, a concert venue that feels like home to Kremer. In conversation with Annie Dutoit, he talks about growing up in a musical family, his childhood in Russia, and the composers that shaped him and inspire him. PROGRAM: Astor Piazzolla (Arr. Andrei Pushkarev): Introduccion del Angel • Milonga loca Valentin Silvestrov: Serenade Victor Kissine: For Pablo Giya Kancheli: Rag-Gidon-Time Arthur Vincent Louriè: Concerto da camera, Serenata Mieczyslaw Weinberg (Arr. Gidon Kremer): Prelude Nr.5 Oscar Strock (Arr. Andrei Pushkarev): My last Tango Franz Schubert (Arr. Giya Kancheli): Du bist die Ruh
Barenboim On Beethoven
As a musical highlight during the Summer Olympics 2012 in London, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the baton of Daniel Barenboim performed all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven during the famous BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall. In 2011, Barenboim worked on and performed the symphonies with his truly one-of-a-kind orchestra made up of young musicians from across the Middle East, and scored great successes on his tours with them through Europe and Asia.With his film the well-known English filmmaker Michael Waldman documents the rehearsals and the Asia tour. As a supplement to the concerts, he offers a fascinating look at Daniel Barenboim’s work with the young musicians. We see Barenboim showing them how Beethoven forged a new symphonic language, while also investigating how this music continues to communicate with such undiminished power.
Barbara Hannigan – First Rehearsals
Her vocal mastery is undisputed, but it is Barbara Hannigan’s talent of conducting an orchestra that is of particular interest to Mathieu Amalric. In his film, the celebrated French actor and director follows her for three days in Amsterdam. He documents the creative process of the conductor and the Ludwig ensemble during the rehearsals for the recording of Alban Berg’s Lulu Suite for the album Crazy Girl Crazy – what does it take to achieve perfect harmony?
A Trio For Schubert: Voyage d’hiver
Schubert’s masterpiece is seen through the eyes and heard through the voice of baritone Matthias Goerne in this documentary about the making of Schubert’s song-cycle for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, as visualized by William Kentridge.
Renaud Capuçon – The Boundless Violin
Violinist and conductor Renaud Capuçon lives entirely for his art. Driven by an overflowing curiosity and an insatiable thirst for sharing, the native of Chambéry, who has enlightened thousands of people with his daily performances on social networks, has since returned to the whirlwind of rehearsals, concerts and recordings that have marked his career. For a year, Andy Sommer and Romain Girard accompanied Renaud Capuçon on his many travels and projects, capturing the unflagging energy of this mad lover of music, who strives to make it accessible to all audiences. Collecting numerous testimonies from close friends and family (his wife Laurence Ferrari, his sister Aude Giraudon) and musician friends (pianist and maestro Daniel Barenboim, violist Gérard Caussé, conductor Daniel Harding), the filmmakers have created a moving portrait of this “musician and entrepreneur”, capable of uniting the older and younger generations around him.
A Prelude to Debussy
Claude Debussy died one hundred years ago. His writings reveal him to have been profoundly non-conformist and extreme. Whether they find it mysterious and impenetrable or fascinating and brilliant, no one is indifferent to his music. Through correspondences, interviews with contemporary artists, archival materials and lots of music, this film brings to life the man and his work. In this film, contemporary artists – among them conductor Philippe Jordan, singer Barbara Hannigan and pianist Alexandre Tharaud – recount ‘their Debussy’, providing keys to a better understanding of the composer’s works and the radical rupture they constituted at his time. The portrait is completed by up to now unpublished archival interviews and excerpts of performances by great ‘Debussians’ like Samson François, Leonard Bernstein and Pierre Boulez.
Karajan vs. Bernstein – Battle of Giants
Bernstein vs. Karajan: a musical Yalta. They were on top of the world of classical music, reflecting also the political conflicts of their time: the grandson of a rabbi against a member of Hitler’s national-socialist party, America against Europe, modernists against traditionalists. These two conductors mostly distinguished themselves by renovating the music industry, television and opera. They were icons of the 1970s who created a special sort of glamour in classical music and at the same time contributed to its democratization.
Camille Saint-Saëns – The elusive composer
The film follows the life of a man who is said to have been a revolutionary for 40 years and then a conservative for 40 years who considered Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky and Webern (among others) as naughty punks… However, as a composer and a pianist Camille Saint-Saëns was incredibly talented in music as in various sciences and arts. The film contains archive material, original drawings, musical excerpts and interviews with specialists, with a light comment made from Saint-Saëns’ personal writings as if he commented himself some parts of his long and rich life.
Verdi’s Backyard
The documentary introduces us to the beautiful “homeland” of Verdi, the region of Parma. From the little village called Le Roncole in the vicinity of Parma, where Verdi was born, to the estate close to Parma, to which Verdi – despite the great triumphs he celebrated in Milan, Venice, Naples and other major cities – always came back to and chose to spend the most time of his life. We get to know how Verdi “lives on” in the region and has even formed the area – from the everyday life of a simple
peasant to the life of one of the biggest opera stars in the world – Leo Nucci, whom is a regular guest at the Verdi Festival in Parma.