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Summary: Throughout history, musicians and musical works have reflected the fashion, culture, and social attitudes of their times. Music today is more diversified than ever, from the megahits of teen pop stars to the depth and emotionality of gospel choirs to the tones and textures produced by large-scale orchestras. Add to this the unstoppable forces of MySpace, YouTube, the iPod, and a rapidly...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

View online at AVOD

Summary: Liszt frequently expanded upon the work of previous composers to create new musical forms. His transcription of Verdi's Rigoletto was part of a completely new style of piano composition. In this program, Martino Tirimo guides students toward a mastery of the Rigoletto paraphrase and an understanding of its compositional layers. Assembled at London's Royal Academy of Music, pianists from the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

View online at AVOD

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

View online at AVOD

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: Flemish conductor Philippe Herreweghe is credited with restoring the freshness and purity of Baroque choral music. His ensembles, which embrace a wide variety of musical periods, have included Collegium Vocale Ghent, La Chapelle Royale, the Orchestre des Champs Elysees, the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique, and RIAS Kammerchor, and his artistry is a model for choral music worldwide. But above all he...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

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

View online at AVOD

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

View online at AVOD

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

View online at AVOD

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

View online at AVOD

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

View online at AVOD

Summary: The enduring power of a single song across continents and time-and the ironic story of how that song was written by a man who traded in slaves-is examined in this program with Bill Moyers. One of the most popular and enduring hymns in the English language, its lyrics were written in the 18th century by the captain of an English slave ship. In the 19th century, the song successfully crossed the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

View online at AVOD

Summary: Handel always knew how to succeed. His Italian operas took London by storm, but when the public rejected music in foreign languages he gave them the oratorio in English. And when the Royal Academy of Music folded, Handel revived it under a scheme of subscriptions and box-office receipts and modern theater was born. This program traces Handel's distinguished career, focusing on his great output...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005

View online at AVOD

Summary: This program illustrates how melody is used to move musical pieces along in one continuous flow. Beginning with a long, slow strain, we see and hear Ravel's melody progress through a series of changes and variations created by the addition of different instruments. The result is a musical piece replete with obvious shade and tone.

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008

View online at AVOD

Summary: In this TEDTalk, Charles Hazlewood explores the role of trust in musical leadership, and then shows how it works as he conducts the Scottish Ensemble onstage. Hazlewood's idea is to break away from rigid and more coercive models of conducting to let performers shine, confident of a positive result. Hazlewood also shares clips from two musical projects based on his notion of trust: a Xhosa...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011

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Summary: In this program, the Trio Solisti practice, interpret, and perform two of Beethoven's piano trios, the "Archduke" Trio and the "Ghost" Trio. Pianist Jon Klibonoff, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and violinist Maria Bachmann discuss the challenges of transforming the composer's score on paper into a vibrant performance. Footage of their work sessions in the studio is mixed with highlights of their...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

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

View online at AVOD

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

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Summary: The life of Giuseppe Verdi contained almost as much tragedy and joy as his timeless operas. This beautifully filmed program traces the long and eventful career of a giant in musical composition who vowed to never write an opera again after the fiasco of his first production. Dramatic reenactments, photos, archival footage, and rare recordings from the National Institute of Verdi Studies and La...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

Summary: His playing too advanced for small-town churches, his cantatas far more complex than those of his contemporaries (and thus under-appreciated), Bach initially found his genius thwarted. This program surveys the amazing achievements of the man of whom Beethoven said: "Not brook but ocean should be his name." Interviews with cellist Pablo Casals and organist Pierre Cambourian complement an array...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

View online at AVOD

Summary: In Lohengrin Wagner links arias with recitatives-unbroken musical continuity is born. In Tristan und Isolde he changes the very role of the orchestra. And in The Ring of the Niebelungen he invents the leitmotif. This program charts the fortunes and innovations of the composer who truly revolutionized opera. Beginning with The Flying Dutchman, the video explores the connections between Wagner's...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

View online at AVOD

Summary: Considered Tchaikovsky's first mature masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet marks the start of the composer's remarkable career. After conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in a complete performance of the Fantasy Overture, Charles Hazlewood reveals how Tchaikovsky distilled the essence of Shakespeare's great romantic tragedy into music. Friar Laurence's theme, the transition to the exposition, the...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007

View online at AVOD

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 overview of the life and work of Gustav Mahler from the Famous Composers series opens by introducing the composer's parents and the political and social landscape of nineteenth century Bohemia. The film follows the young Mahler's musical education at the Vienna Conservatory and his general education, both supported by his father, Bernard Mahler. By the age of 20, Mahler secured steady work...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009

View online at AVOD

Summary: This installment of the Famous Composers series offers an overview of the life and work of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, born in Tuscany to a historically musical family. The film characterizes the young Puccini as a talented but disinterested student until he was inspired by a performance of Verdi's Aida to pursue opera. Following the composer to the Milan Conservatory, the program traces...

Format: software, multimedia

Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006

View online at AVOD

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