Can a work of art remain relevant 200 years after its creation? Ludwig van Beethoven’s last completed symphony proves it’s possible.
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)
A ruthless real estate agent discovers a passion for piano and auditions with help from a young virtuoso, but the pressures of his corrupt career threaten to derail his musical aspirations.
Four Minutes (2006)
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.
André Rieu - Romance (2007)
01. The Godfather Waltz (N. Rota) 02. Romance Anonyme (Anonyme) 03. Lagune Waltz (J. Strauss) 04. O Mio Babbino Caro (G. Puccini) 05. The Rose (A. McBroom) 06. Italiana (O. Respighi) 07. You Are The Emperor Of My Heart (R. Stolz) 08. Sous Le Ciel De Paris (H. Giraud) 09. Roses From The South (J. Strauss) 10. My Heart Will Go On (J. Horner) 11. Intermezzo Sinfonico (M. Mascagni) 12. Moonlight (Kojo No Tsuki) (R. Taki) 13. The Last Rose (F. von Flotow) 14. Limburg Anthem (H. Thijssen / G. Krekelberg) 15. Concierto De Aranjuez (J. Rodrigo) 16. Swinging Bells Of Limburg (J. Hoes) 17. Nightingale Serenade (E. Toselli) 18. Auld Lang Syne (Traditional) 19. Ode To Maastricht (Y. Duteil) 20. Lullaby (J. Brahms)
What Difference Does It Make? (2014)
A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.
The Unanswered Question I : Musical Phonology (1976)
This series comprised six lectures on music, which cumulatively took the title of a work by Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question. Bernstein drew analogies to other disciplines, such as poetry, aesthetics, and especially linguistics, hoping to make these lectures accessible to an audience with limited or no musical experience, while maintaining an intelligent level of discourse: Phonology is the linguistic study of sounds, or phonemes. Bernstein's application of this term to music results in what he calls "musical phonology".
Toscanini: The Television Concerts, Vol. 9: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5/Respighi: The Pines of Rome (1952)
The historic Toscanini television concerts with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Broadcast #9 was of a concert on March 22, 1952, at Carnegie Hall, featuring Beethoven's 5th Symphony and Respighi's Pines of Rome. (Concerts #8 and #9 were released on "Vol. 5" in the DVD series.)
Aida - Arena di Verona (2013)
The grand scale and magnificent acoustics of the Roman arena in Verona are ideally suited to the pageantry of Verdi's Egyptian opera, presented here in a staging that is true to the original 1913 production, framed by obelisks and sphinxes and filled with chorus and dancers. Chinese soprano Hui He has won international acclaim for her portrayal of the eponymous slave girl whose forbidden love for the war hero Radamés (Marco Berti, the experienced Verdi tenor) brings death to them both.
Herbert von Karajan: Maestro for the Screen (2008)
Documentary on conductor Herbert van Karajan, focusing on his early adoption of audio and video recording technology and his impetus to make use of it to preserve his musical legacy for future generations.
Toscanini: The Television Concerts, Vol. 8: Franck, Sibelius, Debussy and Rossini (1952)
The historic Toscanini television concerts with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Broadcast #8 was of a concert on March 15, 1952, at Carnegie Hall, featuring Sibelius's En Saga, two of Debussy's Nocturnes, and Franck's Redemption. (Concerts #8 and #9 were released on "Vol. 5" in the DVD series.)
Allegro non troppo (1976)
The film is a parody of Disney's Fantasia, though possibly more of a challenge to Fantasia than parody status would imply. In the context of this film, "Allegro non Troppo" means Not So Fast!, an interjection meaning "slow down" or "think before you act" and refers to the film's pessimistic view of Western progress (as opposed to the optimism of Disney's original).
Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty (2017)
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.
Divertimento (2023)
Zahia Ziouani, 17, dreams of becoming a conductor, while her twin sister Fettouma hopes to be a professional cellist. They want to make classical music accessible to everyone and create their own orchestra.
The Unanswered Question II : Musical Syntax (1976)
This series comprised six lectures on music, which cumulatively took the title of a work by Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question. Bernstein drew analogies to other disciplines, such as poetry, aesthetics, and especially linguistics, hoping to make these lectures accessible to an audience with limited or no musical experience, while maintaining an intelligent level of discourse: Syntax refers to the study of the structural organization of a sentence, or as Bernstein summarizes, "the actual structures that arise from that phonological stuff."
The Unanswered Question IV : The Delights and Dangers of Ambiguity (1976)
This series comprised six lectures on music, which cumulatively took the title of a work by Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question. Bernstein drew analogies to other disciplines, such as poetry, aesthetics, and especially linguistics, hoping to make these lectures accessible to an audience with limited or no musical experience, while maintaining an intelligent level of discourse: Bernstein provides two distinct meanings of the term ambiguity. The first is "doubtful or uncertain" and the second, "capable of being understood in two or more possible senses"
The Life and Loves of Beethoven (1937)
Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.
Not Mozart: Letters, Riddles and Writs (1991)
Letters, Riddles and Writs is a one act opera for television by Michael Nyman broadcast in 1991.
House of Ricordi (1954)
The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.
Beethoven: The Symphonies (2013)
Conductor: Claudio Abbado. Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. 1.Symphony no 1 in C major, Op. 21 2. Symphony no 2 in D major, Op. 36 3. Symphony no 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 "Eroica" 4. Symphony no 4 in B flat major, Op. 60 5. Symphony no 5 in C minor, Op. 67 6. Symphony no 6 in F major, Op. 68 "Pastoral" 7. Symphony no 7 in A major, Op. 92 8. Symphony no 8 in F major, Op. 93 9. Symphony no 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral"