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Post by london777 on Jul 3, 2017 22:50:21 GMT
Please recommend films about classical music, its composition and composers, interpreters, instruments and appreciation.
Please do NOT include films just because they use classical music or mock "classical music" on the soundtrack. That is too easy and we would soon get swamped with titles.
What I am after is films which "discuss" (not necessarily verbally) the nature of classical music.
In honor of Canada's sesquicentennial I will kick off with: The Red Violin (1998) François Girard which I watched last night for the second time. Possibly Canada's most ambitious movie and certainly one of its best. John Corigliano's original score won an Oscar. The film's ostensible star is the violin itself and its unseen star is Joshua Bell who plays all the violin solos. It is a rather old-fashioned movie on a romantic theme verging on the supernatural at times. The story and score are both rather nineteenth-century in style. The first time I saw it I thought it ended happily with the message that "crime does pay" (rather like a caper movie where the lovable rogues pull it off) but this this time around I see that one could put a rather sinister interpretation on it instead.
There is a rather scathing depiction of the Cultural Revolution largely shot in China and while I realize that the Communist Party does not in any way defend it now, I was rather surprised they let a foreign crew in to depict it so savagely as early as nineteen years ago.
A Late Quartet (2012) Yaron Zilberman Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken not chewing the scenery but being restrained and human, and Catherine Keener showing what she can do when she gets an intelligent part. I like Imogen Poots (she went to school with my best friend's daughter) but she is outclassed here by some of the USA's finest actors. I also liked Mark Ivanir, the fourth member of the quartet, an actor unknown to me despite his hundreds of credits.
Two very good films that fall just short of greatness.
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Post by politicidal on Jul 3, 2017 23:07:42 GMT
I've yet to see this aside from clips but it immediately comes to my mind.
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Post by OldAussie on Jul 3, 2017 23:08:58 GMT
The Music Lovers Amadeus Immortal Beloved Once More With Feeling Counterpoint
....and the Columbo episode with Cassavetes as a conductor.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jul 3, 2017 23:11:15 GMT
I bought this a while ago but haven't seen it yet, a 1945 film called Battle for Music, which is about the struggles of the London Philharmonic Orchestra during WW2. It only has 6 votes on IMDb, yet remarkably is on DVD *and* Blu-ray. No idea as to whether I'll ever get around to watching it...I've got way too many unwatched DVDs/Blu-rays.
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Post by bravomailer on Jul 3, 2017 23:13:48 GMT
Mahler (1974)
A family dedicated to classical music is central to Five Easy Pieces (1970).
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Post by OldAussie on Jul 3, 2017 23:23:23 GMT
Cornel Wilde played Chopin but I forget the title and am too lazy to look it up.
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Post by OldAussie on Jul 3, 2017 23:24:04 GMT
Shine
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jul 3, 2017 23:24:21 GMT
Carnegie Hall (1947) director Edgar Ulmer had a lifelong interest and passion for classical music
The New York City concert venue Carnegie Hall serves as the film's setting for the threadbare plot, the characters lives are intertwined with the performers, conductors, aspiring artists and humble employees who call the hall home. The simple plot merely serves as a thread to connect the outstanding music performances A tribute to classical music and Carnegie Hall, the film is a showcase which features appearances by some of the prominent music figures of 20th century performing a range of classical pieces within the legendary concert hall
Richard Wagner – Prelude from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – New York Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, conductor
Sergei Rachmaninoff – "Vocalise" – sung by Lily Pons
Léo Delibes – "Bell Song" from opera Lakmé – sung by Lily Pons
Camille Saint-Saëns – "The Swan" from The Carnival of the Animals – Gregor Piatigorsky, cello
Georges Bizet – "Seguidilla" from Carmen – sung by Risë Stevens (mezzo-soprano)
Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 (excerpts) – New York Philharmonic, Artur Rodziński, conductor
Frédéric Chopin – Polonaise héroïque – Arthur Rubinstein, piano
Manuel de Falla – "Ritual Fire Dance" – Arthur Rubinstein, piano
Eduardo di Capua – "’O sole mio" – sung by Jan Peerce (tenor)
Giuseppe Verdi – "Il lacerato spirito" from Simon Boccanegra – sung Ezio Pinza (bass)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – "Fin ch'han dal vino" from Don Giovanni- sung Ezio Pinza (bass)
Sam Coslow – "Beware, My Heart" – sung by Vaughn Monroe
Frank L. Ryerson/Wilton Moore – "The Pleasure's All Mine" – sung by Vaughn Monroe
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D major, first movement – New York Philharmonic, Fritz Reiner, conductor, Jasha Heifetz, violin
Peter Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 5, second movement – New York Philharmonic, Leopold Stokowski, conductor
Hal Borne – "Brown Danube" – sung by Harry James
Léo Delibes – "Ah!... Par les dieux inspirés ... Où va la jeune indoue" from opera Lakmé – sung by Lily Pons
Camille Saint-Saëns – "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" from opera Samson et Dalila – sung by Risë Stevens (mezzo-soprano)
Mischa Portnoff – The 57th Street Rhapsody (composed for this film) – pianist uncertain; Portnoff's hands are filmed playing the climactic piece.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jul 3, 2017 23:28:23 GMT
No idea if it counts, but: Broken Strings (1942) is a zero-budget film with an all-African-American cast, about a promising violinist whose career ends when his hand is damaged in a car accident, reducing him to giving violin lessons. He is greatly upset that his children want to play swing instead of classical music, thus providing most of the conflict in the film.
I enjoyed watching the film despite its dumb ending.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jul 3, 2017 23:37:04 GMT
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) The first of a number of Straub-Huillet films to be based on works of classical music. This film consists of excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach's works, presented in chronological order and linked by the narration of a fictional journal written by his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach. The film stars renowned harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt as Johann Sebastian Bach Each work is typically presented in a single, often immobile take, with the musicians dressed in period costumes performing in the locations where many of the works were premiered....
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Post by mikef6 on Jul 3, 2017 23:38:58 GMT
They Shall Have Music / Archie Mayo (1939). NYC juvenile delinquent Gene Reynolds and a buddy are being chased by a cop so they duck into a concert hall and find two empty seats. The performer comes out on stage. It is master violinist Jascha Heifetz. (When amateur violinist Jack Benny appeared as the celebrity guest on What’s My Line, he signed in as “Heifetz.”) Reynolds is transfixed. When he gets back to his family’s apartment, he digs a violin out of a closet. He had lessons as a child; now he is inspired to take up the instrument again. He is sponsored by Joel McCrea to a music high school presided over by maestro conductor Walter Brennen (no kidding). A familiar movie plot then develops that requires Reynolds and McCrea to convince Heifetz to perform in order to save the school. But learning classical music and playing a classical instrument is the focus of the film.
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Post by london777 on Jul 4, 2017 1:01:30 GMT
Song Without End (1960) Charles Vidor, George Cukor (uncredited) Dirk Bogarde as Franz Liszt.
(Dean Martin was Brahms and Liszt in many movies but I do not think classical music was involved).
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Post by london777 on Jul 4, 2017 1:31:45 GMT
Between 1959 and 1965 Ken Russell directed 24 TV documentaries for the BBC Arts program "Monitor", some of them about classical music. They included:
- The Debussy Film (1965) - Bela Bartok (1964) - Elgar (1962) - Portrait of a Soviet Composer (1961) about Prokoviev - Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill (1961) - Gordon Jacob (1959)
If my memory is correct (a big "if" these days) it was his film on Elgar that brought him to the attention of the wider public.
The one that impressed me most was not musical: - The Lonely Shore (1962) in which alien archaeologists from the future speculate on our world and times based on rubbish left on a beach.
These films should be reissued as a package.
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Eλευθερί
Junior Member
@eleutheri
Posts: 3,710
Likes: 1,670
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Post by Eλευθερί on Jul 4, 2017 1:39:01 GMT
two excellent films:
The King is Dancing (Le roi danse)
The Piano Teacher (La pianiste) (caution: extremely disturbing!)
Grand Piano - all about a professional pianist and a very special performance; unfortunately, there are a lot of problems with this story
Taking Sides - about conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler's collaboration (? or not) with the Nazis; despite Harvey Keitel's, Moritz Bleibtreu's, and Stellan Skarsgard's performances, I found this one plodding
in my (admittedly very long) queue to be seen: Song without End (won 1961 Oscar) The Page Turner Mozart's Sister
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Post by neurosturgeon on Jul 4, 2017 6:01:21 GMT
Here is my list:
The Glass Mountain - Opera The Seventh Veil - great drams with piano The Magic Fire - Wagner bio
i was trained as a classical musician with a pretty good knowledge of classic orchestral works. I do not make a distinction between works created for the concert stage and those created for the motion picture. Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Smetans, Berlioz wrote "Ptogram Misic," which was Music based on a theme or story. Film composers writer music to a pictorial background which should not put it on a lower level.
Who cannot listen to the sweeping notes of the opening of GWTW without it bringing a picture to your mind of what is on the screen? One of my favorite CDs is a collection of piano concerti written for the screen. It contains:
The Warsaw Concerto Spellbound Concerto Hangover Square Dream of Olwen The Glass Mountain
Film music from classic films is classical music.
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Post by teleadm on Jul 4, 2017 17:16:58 GMT
The Magic Bow 1946, Stewart Granger as Nicolo Paganini . Paganini has also been portrayed by Conrad Veidt in a silent movie (!!!) named Paganini 1923, and Klaus Kinski in Paganini 1989.
Beethoven was portrated by Harry Baur in Un grand amour de Beethoven 1936 and Ewald Balser in Eroica 1949.
Unemployed symphony orchestra musicians was what One Hundred Men and a Girl 1937 was about with Deanne Durbin and Leopold Stokowski.
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Post by snsurone on Jul 4, 2017 18:55:57 GMT
Cornel Wilde played Chopin but I forget the title and am too lazy to look it up. It's A SONG TO REMEMBER (1945), co-starring Paul Muni and Merle Oberon.
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Post by marshamae on Jul 12, 2017 16:46:54 GMT
I don't think Impromptu got more than a mention so far and it's one of my favorite films about the creative process. Judy Davis as George Sand falls in love, no, in worship , on hearing Chopin's music. He is so frail that her robust energy practically kills him. It features the intersection of painting music and literature, the role of financial support , from lowbrow patrons and grasping publishers, and emotional support, from equally grasping partners. As in Amadeus, the creative inspiration is viewed as a gift from God. It is a very funny film by James Lapine who wrote Into The Woods.
Well Playing for Time about the Orchestra Girls of Auschwitz. Explores the logistics and ethics of making music for the enemy. It follows tge mémoire of Fania Fenelon whose view of some people and events has been challenged by other survivors of the Orchestra.
Bach in Auschwitz is a documentary featuring the views of some of these challengers.Anita Lasker Wallfisch and her sister Renate ,both members of the orchestra are among those who say That the conductor, Alma Rose was responsible for saving the orchestra, keeping girls who didn't play well, hiding them or giving them light duties when they were ill. The issues of making good music for a firmed labor and death camp, creative work as a means of survival are explored.
There needs to be a third film to round this out , about the life of Alma Rose. The niece of Gustav Mahler, daughter of Leonard Rose , tge celebrated first violin of the Vienna Philharmonic. She was raised with musical royalty, became a well- known violin soloist and married an up and coming virtuoso. She started a very popular group called the Vienna Waltzing girls who played light classics in lovely long blue evening gowns. When the Anschluss came her husband, not a Jew, left her, and she got her father to London. She returned to the continent to take offers to play , so that she could pay for his stay in London. She was arrested, sent to Auschwitz and was placed in charge of the Orchestra. She died under mysterious circumstances and was given a funeral attended by Dr. Mengele. Tell me that doesn't sound like a great film.
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Post by general313 on Jul 12, 2017 19:32:55 GMT
The Talented Mr Ripley is about someone who loves classical music, then pretends to like jazz. The movie has lots of nice examples of both genres, not to mention a great soundtrack by Gabriel Yared.
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Post by marshamae on Jul 12, 2017 21:05:23 GMT
I was completely captured by that song Tu vuo fa l'Americano that they play in the nightclub. Too much fun!
Puorte o cazone cu 'nu stemma arreto 'Na cuppulella cu 'a visiera alzata Passe scampanianno pe' Tuleto Camme a 'nu guappo pe' te fa guardà
Tu vuò fa l'americano Mmericano! Mmericano Siente a me, chi t'ho fa fa? Tu vuoi vivere alla moda Ma se bevi whisky and soda Po' te sente 'e disturbà
Tu abballe 'o roccorol Tu giochi al basebal' Ma 'e solde pe' Camel Chi te li dà? La borsetta di mammà
Tu vuò fa l'americano Mmericano! Mmericano Ma sì nato in Italy Siente a mme Non ce sta' niente a ffa O kay, napolitan Tu vuò fa l'american
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