Eric Schulz reveals in his latest music film a new perspective on the personality and oeuvre of Richard Strauss, who saw himself as the last great composer at the end of an era, “at the end of the rainbow”. This carefully researched production presents spectacular hitherto unreleased pictures of Richard Strauss. Among others: a live recording of the premiere of the “Olympic Anthem” at the Berlin Olympic stadium in 1936. The very first performance of this piece ever to be heard, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic and a choir of 1000 singers conducted by Richard Strauss himself. These spectacular rare pictures are embedded in interviews with relatives, famous musicians and Strauss experts, such as Christian Strauss, Stefan Mickisch and Brigitte Fassbaender.
Mahler Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
In many ways Mahler’s Seventh and Eighth Symphonies are the most unusual works that the late Romantic composer ever wrote. The Seventh was the last in a series of middle-period pieces that were purely instrumental in character. Two movements headed “Nachtmusik“ (night music) and the remarkable writing for a guitar and a mandolin help to create a sequence
of darkly Romantic visions. And even within Mahler’s markedly eclectic output, the Eighth Symphony enjoys the status of an exotic outsider thanks not only to ist two-movement form combining an early medieval hymn and the final scene from Goethe’s Faust but also to the vast forces for which it is scored, earning it the title of “Symphony of a Thousand”.
“If I knew Mahler only from his music, I would say that he has a huge heart and a deep connection with the soul and humanity.” – PAAVO JÄRVI