Vivaldi’s Four Seasons may be the most widely heard piece of classical music ever composed. As the composer Max Richter suggests, “The piece is part of the musical landscape, and a part of my daily life. I hear it in supermarkets, and it’s always turning up in TV ads.” He has approached his “Vivaldi Recomposed”-project as an admirer of Vivaldi, but no less importantly, as a composer. “Anything that a composer writes is part of a conversation with music that has gone before,” he says. Max Richter’s co-conspirator in the documentary on this project is Daniel Hope, the British violinist; and the orchestra “l’arte del mondo” with violinist Werner Ehrhardt, its artistic director.
Mirella Freni – A Life Devoted to Opera
Mirella Freni is one of the most remarkable soprano singers in the world of opera. She has been winning over audiences for half a century with her ever fresh and youthful vocals and a voice quality which remains undiminished. In 2010, the year of her 75th birthday and the 55th anniversary of her stage debut, she receives the MIDEM Classical Award in the category ‘Lifetime Achievement’. The portrait shows Mirella Freni during a Singing Class at the Centro Universale del Bel Canto (CUBeC) in her hometown of Modena. Interviews with colleagues and friends such as tenor Plácido Domingo complete the portrait.
Murray Perahia – Not Of This World
After over thirty years on the concert stage the pianist Murray Perahia has himself become a legend, one of the most sought-after pianists of our time. This film is not designed to be a conventional portrait. The documentary observes Perahia at work on the interpretation of some pieces by Chopin and Schumann at his holiday home in Switzerland. It shows him as conductor of the famous Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, follows him into the recording studio and a master class in Hanover and finally captures a concert performance at a Warsaw Chopin recital in February 2010. Interviews with Murray Perahia cast light on his approach to music, his personality and the way he has managed to cope with the personal crises that has beset him.
Lang Lang – The Highest Level
“The Highest Level“ explores the Berlin recording session of Lang Lang and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. The documentary provides insight into processes that are usually veiled: the recording of an album in a league of its own: the preparation of the musicians, the recording in the Philharmonie Berlin, the battle for the perfect sound, the mixing and balancing units during the audio post-production. It is the striking distance to the artists that makes the film an intimate experience. Lang Lang, Sir Simon Rattle, and the musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker, but of course the audio engineers as well are taking the centre stage. The musical pieces to be recorded are Béla Bartóks Piano Concert No. 2 and Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
Loud, Hard, Magical – The Sound Of Finland
The film takes the audience on a road trip into the unique Finnish music scene: a mixture of melancholy, metal and humour. Bassist and Sibelius descendent Lauri Porra, and the cello quartet Apocalyptica interpret Finnish’s unofficial national anthem ‘Finlandia’ in their own style and in doing so, delve deep into the culture and psyche of this young nation.
The Finns nurture an eclectic mixture of musical styles, they do so with a dark and anarchistic humour, as well as a deeply felt melancholy. The breadth of musical style ranges from Finnish Tango to deafening heavy metal, from all male choirs that shout to a long line of successful Finnish conductors.
Kurt Masur – Adventures in Listening
Kurt Masur, one of the world’s great Maestros, challenges and teaches the next generation of young musicians and conductors by stretching their limits and transforming their perspectives and abilities. Following master classes around the world over a period of few years, the film is a carefully constructed collage organically interviewing the maestro’s teachings and his personal life experiences. The result is a comprehensive emotional portrait of one of the most respected music conductors of our time.
Soldiers of Music: Rostropovich Returns to Russia
Documentary showing the return to his native Russia of Mstislav Rostropovitch, includes extensive performance footage and coverage of political and personal matters for the cellist. This film is an account, in cinema verite style, of what happened when Rostropovich, along with his wife, the renowned soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, returned to the country that had stripped them of all rights to perform, demolishing their careers because they had dared to shelter and defend Solzhenitsyn. ACCOLADES: Jury Prize, Montreal; Emmy Award
John Williams & Steven Spielberg – The Adventure Continues
A documentary by Laurent Bouzereau including new interviews with Steven Spielberg and John Williams! Over the 90-year history of sound film, there have been a handful of instances where a director and a composer have formed a longtime partnership that resulted in a series of classical scores, creating music that stands the test of time. None, however, have been as long or as fruitful as the 43-year collaboration of Steven Spielberg and John Williams. None have encompassed such a wide range of subject matter or, more significantly, have had such an enormous impact on worldwide popular culture. From the ominous shark signature of Jaws to the five-note alien greeting of Close Encounters of the Third Kind; from the heroic march of Raiders of the Lost Ark to the moving themes for Schindler’s List the music Williams has written for more than two dozen Spielberg projects has not only served them brilliantly but entered the wider public consciousness.
Magic Moments of Music – Maria Callas & Tosca
The beginning of 1964 held a great surprise for the music world: Maria Callas returns to the opera stage as prima donna. Her “Tosca” at the Royal Opera House becomes a sensation. Not even the Beatles received more press coverage. All this, for an artist whose glorious career was said to be over, with the singer herself passing over to legend. It is no longer her performances, but her scandals that, are dominating the headlines. Unlucky in love with her billionaire boyfriend Aristotle Onassis, Maria Callas wants to show them all that the title of ”Primadonna assoluta” is still rightfully hers. On condition that famed stage director Franco Zeffirelli takes on the production, the exceptional vocalist is prepared to take on the role of Tosca. Her fans queue outside the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden for four, even five nights. To get their hands on the sought after tickets, they spend the freezing winter nights in sleeping bags and on fold up chairs. A British broadcaster has recorded the opera’s second act. It is one of the most dramatic acts in opera history – to save the artist Cavaradossi from his torturer; Tosca ends up murdering the chief of police Scarpia. The film recording is one of the few opportunities to see Maria Callas on stage and witness her emotional dramatics and vocal competence.
I’m a creative animal – Barbara Hannigan
She crosses boundaries and loves to explore new territory. Barbara Hannigan is one of the most fascinating and multi-facetted artistic personalities of our time. She sets new standards as a singer, conductor, and performance artist. The intimate portrait “I’m a creative animal” takes the viewer into the world of an exceptional musician – a world of both passion and discipline. Her performances possess a breathtaking intensity because of her exquisite vocal technique and virtuosity, musical and theatrical expressivity, and uncompromising engagement.