Summary: The Rhapsody in B Minor requires a range of sensibilities, from lightheartedness to a propensity for shock value. In this program, virtuoso pianist Martino Tirimo leads an engaging master class at London's Royal Academy of Music-pushing his students to find the essence of the Brahms piece, while encouraging each performer to craft his or her individual approach. Artists from the United States,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This is a performance of the Messiah in the original scoring, performed as Handel intended it, with much smaller resources than we have become accustomed to and, therefore, a perfect balance between a small chorus and orchestra. Roger Norrington conducts the London Baroque Players (comprising leading specialists in 17th- and 18th-century instrumental practice), the Cardiff (Wales) Polyphonic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: This program from the Famous Composers series offers an overview of the life and work of composer and pianist Johannes Brahms beginning with an introduction to Brahms' family and hometown, the nineteenth century seaport city of Hamburg. The film follows Brahms' musical education with teachers Otto Cossel and Eduard Marxsen, his days of playing in bars and teaching to earn money, and his...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Beethoven transformed the sonata, taking it from drawing rooms to concert halls. His third symphony altered the very nature of the genre and launched the heroic style in music. And the fact that he wrote only nine symphonies-far fewer than his predecessors-forcefully demonstrated a fundamental change in composition. In this program, the life and legacy of a genius come alive through letters,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: This program is devoted to the 19th century, the Age of Grand Opera. It covers the rise of Rossini, the triumphant premieres at La Fenice Theatre, the overthrow of the Austrian occupation as Verdi became a folk hero, and the death of Wagner in Venice. Live performances in the Salon of La Fenice.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: This program retraces the life and places, the glories and despairs of Antonio Vivaldi, the red(haired) priest whose working relationship with a diva set tongues wagging and whose love for opera led to his downfall. And throughout and above all, of course, his music. Exquisite performances of the range of his work, from the "Estro Armonico" and other string masterpieces, pieces from some...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: This program for the Famous Composers series introduces the life and work of the famous German composer J.S. Bach, starting with an overview of his family and the political and religious landscape of the time. Bach learned the violin at a young age and grew up around organ music in churches. He was soon earning money singing and successfully developing his musical talents as well as his...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: This captivating program combines key scenes from Mozart's singspiel The Abduction from the Seraglio as performed at the spectacular Topkapi Palace with a documentary about the intricate process of rehearsing the production. A winner of the International Broadcasting Convention's Golden Rembrandt, the program also provides fresh insights into the personal life of Mozart, the history of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Why is "Amazing Grace" the most-performed hymn in the English language? In this DVD, Bill Moyers seeks to understand the enduring power that has carried this song across continents and through time-and the compelling story of the slaver-turned-preacher who wrote it. This disc includes the full-length program Amazing Grace as well as a special video introduction by Mr. Moyers and a menu of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 takes on new life in this Emmy-nominated Discovery Concert(tm) Conductor George Marriner Maull and the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey create an interactive experience through which spectators become intimate with the concerto's third movement and the structure of a fugue. Engaging the live audience in spirited conversation, Maull cajoles them into...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In 1802, Beethoven faced the prospect of becoming deaf. But instead of causing defeat, that crisis triggered a season of transcendent creativity that changed the course of music history. In this program, pianist Mia Chung explores the innovations of Beethoven's genius in the face of enormous obstacles as she performs, deconstructs, and discusses two of Beethoven's most significant solo piano...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Schubert's Impromptus allow the performer a chance to display considerable skill, but modern-day pianists have tended to neglect them. This program documents Martino Tirimo's spellbinding master class at the Royal Academy of Music, in which the B flat impromptu takes on a refreshing new shape and color. Pianists from the United States, Europe, and Asia immerse themselves in the beauty of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: With its real-life characters and earthly plot, The Marriage of Figaro is the first modern opera and an example of how Mozart took his inspiration from humanity and not God, as his predecessors had done. This program tracks the meteoric career of perhaps the greatest musical genius ever. Musicologist Andre Tubeuf and Mozart scholars Jean and Brigitte Massin discuss the interplay of composition...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Inspired by Paganini's dedication to a soloist instrument, the violin, Chopin decided early in his career to write only for piano. This beautifully produced program presents a biography of the Polish-born child prodigy and composer who blended Slavic influences into his works. Sketches, paintings, and cinematic treatments of Chopin and his times complement the music. Archival footage includes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program from the Famous Composers series introduces the life and work of German composer Richard Strauss, born to a horn player, Franz Strauss, in 1864. The film sheds light on Strauss' childhood in Munich, which revolved around the boy's musical education. His father's conservative tastes played a large role in shaping the composer, but also kept him away from the important influence of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program is devoted to the 18th century, the Age of Decadence. It covers the rise of Antonio Vivaldi and his famous all-women orchestras at the Pieta, the heyday of Venetian composition, Vivaldi's departure from Venice and the rise of a new breed of composer, and the decline-when the kissing had to stop. Live performances at the Conservatorio and the Church of the Redentore.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: This program, devoted to the 17th century, explains how the St. Mark's sound was first rescued and then enhanced by Claudio Monteverdi, and covers the art of the madrigal, the rise of women composers, and why the world's first public opera house was built in Venice. Live performances in San Nicolo dei Mendicoli and the Ducal Palace.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this installment of the Famous Composers series, viewers are offered an overview of the life and music of the Austrian composer Franz Peter Schubert. The film begins by introducing the overcrowded living conditions of the composer's childhood. Schubert received a strong education, however, his father being a school teacher, and eventually gained a choir scholarship at the royal seminary. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: This installment of the Famous Composers series offers an introduction to the biography and work of Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin. The film contextualizes Chopin's early life as a child of musical parents, a Polish mother and French father. Chopin was performing and composing at a young age and became an accepted part of the musical world in Warsaw by the time he finished school...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: This installment of the Famous Composers series offers an introduction to the life and work of German composer Wilhelm Richard Wagner. Wagner's musical interests were initiated by his stepfather's involvement in theater, an influence that remained important to the composer and his philosophy of “the total work of art.” His adult life is characterized by a tumultuous marriage, troublesome debt,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program from the Famous Composers series, viewers are introduced to the life and work of Ludwig van Beethoven beginning with an overview of his family's history and eighteenth century Germany. By the age of seven, under the tutelage of his father, Beethoven was playing concerts. At 17 Beethoven went to Vienna for the first time and met Mozart but returned home quickly to help support...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Written by 16th-century Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion is a 19-hour epic opera in 57 episodes that tells a story of youth and love literally triumphing over death. This program follows director Chen Shi-Zheng and the Shanghai Kunju Opera Troupe in their monumental effort of staging the entire production, an event that had not occurred in nearly four centuries. Despite...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In this program, Charles Hazlewood addresses Tchaikovsky's final work-and what many regard as his greatest achievement: Symphony no. 6 in B Minor (Pathetique), which premiered only days before his death. After conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in a complete performance of the monumental first movement, Charles Hazlewood thoroughly explicates each of that movement's constituent parts:...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Between 1738 and 1788, Charles Wesley wrote more than 9,000 hymns and sacred poems, work which earned him the title "The Sweet Bard of Methodism." This program recounts Wesley's life and life's work, with special attention to his better-known songs, such as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." Scholars of music and theology speak about Wesley's childhood, education, and missionary work; explore the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010