Concerto: A Beethoven Journey
★ 7.5 · 2015 · 93m · Music · Documentary
Filmed over the course of four years, Grabsky and his Seventh Art team followed leading concert pianist Leif Ove Andsnes's attempt to understand and interpret one of the greatest sets of works for piano ever written: Beethoven's five piano concertos.The end result is a beautifully-crafted film with lavish cinematography, a signature of Grabsky and Seventh Art's style. Considered one of the top pianists of the age, Leif Ove Andsnes offers rare insights into the mind of a world-class pianist and access to his personal and professional life. Against the wonderful background of Leif Ove Andsnes playing these five pieces, we also peel back the many myths of Beethoven's life. Perhaps above all it is the fresh new biography of Beethoven that is most revealing.
More Like This
Alexander Malofeev: Verbier Festival
2022
Pianist Alexander Malofeev in a live recital from the Verbier Church at the Verbier Festival 2022. The young virtuoso offers an entirely Russian program which brings together Scriabin, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev, with Rachmaninov’s sublimely mysterious Études-Tableaux op.33 as the centerpiece, alongside Prokofiev’s celebrated Piano Sonata no.7, which blends certain expressionist elements with a pensive lyricism. Program: SCRIABIN: 5 Preludes op.16 … RACHMANINOFF: Etudes-tableau op.33 … SCRIABIN: 2 Impromptus op.12 … PROKOFIEV: Sonata 7 in B-flat op.83 … LISZT: Mazeppa S.139/4 … MEDTNER: Canzona Serenate (Forgotten Melodies I op.38/6) … TCHAIKOVSKY/PLETNEV: Pas de deux (Andante maestoso)(Nutcracker) … MEDTNER: Tales of the Elves (Fairy Tales op.48/2) … PROKOFIEV: Tocata op.11
More info →
Le Robot Solitaire
2020 · ★ 10
Robots live alongside mankind in a not too distant future, but are they really living?
More info →
A World Without Beethoven?
2020 · ★ 7.2
"What would the world be like without Beethoven?" That’s the provocative question posed by this music documentary from Deutsche Welle. To answer it, the film explores how Ludwig van Beethoven's innovations continue to have an impact far beyond the boundaries of classical music, 250 years after his birth.
More info →
Four Minutes
2006 · ★ 6.8
Jenny is young. Her life is over. She killed someone. And she would do it again. When an 80-year-old piano teacher discovers the girl’s secret, her brutality and her dreams, she decides to transform her pupil into the musical wunderkind she once was.
More info →
Watch the Tempo
2018
On 18th of December 2017, the Filarmonica Teatro Regio Torino, directed by Timothy Brock, presented "The Gold Rush" by Charles Chaplin, with live performance of the soundtrack. But let's go back a few days: this short film takes us in the backstage of the concert!
More info →
Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty
2017 · ★ 10
Known for his mournful "Adagio for Strings," Samuel Barber was never quite fashionable. This acclaimed film is a probing exploration of his music and melancholia. Performance, oral history, musicology, and biography combine to explore the life and music of one of America’s greatest composers. Features Thomas Hampson, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop and many more of the world's leading experts on Barber's music, with tributes from composers Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and William Schuman. The film was broadcast on PBS, and screened at nine film festivals internationally, with three best-of awards. It was named a Recording of the Year 2017 by MusicWeb International.
More info →
Alain Jean-Marie, impressions cubaines
2024
On the occasion of his 80th birthday, an intimate documentary follows the illustrious pianist and great French jazz musician, Alain Jean-Marie from Guadeloupe, on a recent trip to Cuba. He talks about his career, his adolescence, and his youth in Guadeloupe, where he was rocked and deeply influenced by Cuban music. Director Bertrand Fèvre followed this now essential artist in Havana, to be discovered or rediscovered through a film set to jazz.
More info →
Voice
2025 · ★ 10
A journey into the life of blind jazz musician Caitlin Smith as she explores how her voice as a musician and teacher has become a tool of identity, resilience, and empowerment.
More info →
Beethoven Missa Solemnis
2012
With this performance of the Missa solemnis Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Honorary Guest Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, once more attained the status of a living legend, due mostly to his wide-ranging expertise of music from the Baroque and Classical era. The highly acclaimed soloists are Marlis Petersen (Soprano), twice the singer of the year by the renowned Opernwelt magazine, Elisabeth Kulman (Alto), Werner Güra (Tenor), winner of the BBC Music Magazine Award for the best vocal performance, and Gerald Finley (Bass), Grammy-Awardwinner for the best opera recording. They are accompanied by the famous Netherlands Radio Choir.
More info →
Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio
2003 · ★ 8.5
Two years prior to the opening scene, the nobleman Florestan has exposed or attempted to expose certain crimes of the nobleman Pizarro. In revenge, Pizarro has secretly imprisoned Florestan in the prison over which Pizarro is governor. The jailer of the prison, Rocco, has a daughter, Marzelline, and a servant (or assistant), Jaquino. Florestan’s wife, Leonore, came to Rocco’s door dressed as a boy seeking employment, and Rocco hired her. On orders, Rocco has been giving Florestan diminishing rations until he is nearly starved to death. Place: A Spanish state prison, a few miles from Seville; Time: Late 18th century.
More info →