Educational

Leonard Bernstein - Young People's Concerts / New York Philharmonic

Leonard Bernstein earned glory as a composer, conductor, and pianist (classical and jazz), but nothing gave him more pleasure than the joy of teaching. He presented the unique blend of spoken words and music known as the "Young People's Concerts" throughout his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic and for several years after. His enjoyment, and his audience's, can be seen vividly captured by the video cameras. He is an intensely interactive teacher, getting his audience to sing, springing a quiz full of trick questions, and singing a Beatles song to demonstrate a point.

Bernstein is completely at ease talking to his audience. He can take the most abstruse subject - the meaning and function of intervals, tonality and atonality, the links between Gustav Mahler's troubled life and his music - and present them to a young audience with clarity, without condescension, and with a clear sense of the material's value. His subject-matter is enormously varied. For Igor Stravinsky's 80th birthday, he simply tells his audience the story of Petrouchka while conducting a dazzling performance of the colorful ballet. For a program on "Folk Music in the Concert Hall," he plays some of Canteloube's folk song arrangements and the boisterous finale of Ives's Symphony No. 2, full of borrowed pop and folk melodies. The influence of folk music is shown in folk song imitations by Mozart and Carlos Chavez.

The sound and images, taped over a 15-year span when the art of recording was rapidly advancing, are varied in quality; the series begins in black-and-white and ends in vivid color. Not all of the programs are equally compelling, but all are worth close and repeated attention. --Joe McLellan

Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic stand among his greatest achievements. These televised programs introduced an entire generation to the joys of classical music. Bernstein conducted his first Young People's Concert on January 18, 1958, just two weeks after becoming Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. Such programs were already a Philharmonic tradition when Bernstein arrived, but he made them a centerpiece of his work, part of what he described as his "educational mission." Looking back on the concerts years later, he referred to them as being "among my favorite, most highly prized activities of my life." When he took a sabbatical season from the orchestra in 1964-65, he still came back to lead the Young People's Concerts. He continued to lead these programs until 1972, even though he had stepped down as director of the Philharmonic in 1969. Bernstein led a total of fifty-three Young People's Concerts during those fourteen years, and covered a broad range of subjects. The works of the great composers were explored, including tributes to modern masters such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Paul Hindemith, Gustav Holst, Aaron Copland and Charles Ives. Bernstein discussed "Jazz in the Concert Hall," "Folk Music in the Concert Hall," and "The Latin-American Spirit." He explained the intricacies of Music Theory in programs such as "Musical Atoms: A Study of Intervals" and "What is a Mode?" He broached complex aesthetic issues such as "What Does Music Mean?" (his first program) with clarity and without condescension. Bernstein also used the Young People's Concerts to introduce young performers to the musical world. The sixteen year-old pianist André Watts made his debut in the concert of January 15, 1963. Originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, the programs were considered so important that for three glorious years CBS presented them at 7:30 p.m. (prime time for television viewing). Eventually the programs were moved to Sunday afternoons. The concerts were translated into other languages and syndicated to forty countries.

The Unanswered Question - Six Talks at Harvard by Leonard Bernstein

Always absorbing and frequently brilliant, Leonard Bernstein's The Unanswered Question is a very lucid and convincing discussion of music's history and forms, with particular emphasis on modern music. It addresses the average intelligent listener who is not musically trained but wants to know what makes music work--what is meant, for example, by "tonal" and "atonal." It requires some concentration, but Bernstein, a superb teacher, keeps technical jargon to a minimum, illustrates what he means with musical examples and graphics, and repeats key points.

Delivered in 1973, the talks were transcribed for a book, but in it Bernstein insists "The pages that follow were written not to be read, but listened to," really an endorsement of the video edition. The talks are, in fact, performances. Television was always kind to Bernstein; he had magnetism and knew how to use it. To illustrate various points in his analyses, he plays the piano frequently, sings occasionally, and conducts significant works of key composers: Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner, Ravel, Debussy, Ives, Mahler, and Stravinsky.

Bernstein traces the development of music from its origins to the 20th-century struggle between tonality (championed notably by Stravinsky) and atonalism (represented mainly by Schoenberg). The last two talks, devoted to these composers, are particularly enlightening, but all six are outstanding. He argues persuasively that humans are born with an ability to grasp musical forms, and that rules of musical syntax are rooted in nature--in mathematically measurable relations between tones and overtones.

These talks are a key document. They coincide chronologically, as cause and/or symptom, with the movement of America's leading composers back from Schoenbergian forms toward a tonal orientation. Bernstein predicts and promotes this movement, which is still in progress. He is clearly an advocate of tonality, but he discusses atonal music with sympathy and understanding. --Joe McLellan

Valery Gergiev - In Rehearsal & Performance (Stravinksy, Prokofiev, Debussy)

One of our most dynamic conductors, Valery Gergiev has single-handedly lifted the Kirov Opera and Orchestra into an elite status among the world's musical institutions. As shown by this compelling DVD of the conductor at work with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Gergiev is a firebrand but also an intelligent musician whose interpretations burn with intensity. The performances of all four works on the disc--Stravinsky's Fireworks and Piano Concerto (the latter has as soloist Alexander Toradze), Prokofiev's Scythian Suite and the suite from Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint Sebastian--are stamped with originality, although Gergiev saves his best for his countrymen, particularly Prokofiev, whose Scythian Suite is thrillingly rendered. The noteworthy rehearsal footage documents Gergiev and the Rotterdam musicians as they dive into the nuts and bolts of the Prokofiev work; as an added bonus, the composer's son, Oleg Prokofiev, gives some insight into his father's and the conductor's fearless artistry. --Kevin Filipski

Valery Gergiev is the Principal Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and has almost single-handedly made St. Petersburg's Kirov Opera a household name. In this thrilling performance, The Rotterdam Philharmonic showcases four stirring works: Stravinsky's "Fireworks" and "Piano Concerto," Debussy's "Le Martyre De Saint Sebastien" and Prokofiev's "Scythian Suite." This special release also features the intimately filmed documentary "Valery Gergiev: In Rehearsal," which captures the fascinating dynamics between the galvanic conductor and his orchestra as they rehearse "The Scythian Suite." 116 minutes.

What the Universe Tells Me - Unraveling the Mysteries of Mahler's Third Symphony / Stockard Channing, Thomas Hampson

Magnificent! What the Universe Tells Me is probably the deepest, most painstakingly detailed but also approachable attempt to decipher the inner dynamics of a complex work of art ever entrusted to any recording medium. And Mahler's Third Symphony deserves such careful. loving attention; one of the many commentators in this production calls it an attempt "to capture the human condition in a work of music." All the commentators contribute precious insights from their specialized disciplines to help viewers see this masterpiece whole. Besides Stockard Channing, the primary narrator, and Thomas Hampson, who discusses the music and sings a song whose melody is an important element in the symphony's structure, commentators include Henry Louis de la Grange, author of the definitive Mahler biography, and a fine array of musicologists, music historians, philosophers, and a theologian. A theologian? Yes; this symphony is, among other things, a vast theological stattement about man's place in the universe. Philosophers are needed, too, to explore Mahler's relations to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. But they all do it in easy-to-understand terms.

Mahler gave six working titles to the symphony's movements: "Pan Awakes; Summer Marches In"; "What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me"; "What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me"; "What Humanity Tells Me"; "What the Angels Tell Me"; and "What Love Tells Me." These were left out when he published the symphony, but they give useful hints to the commentators and justify some breathtaking visuals shown with the music: landscapes, flowers, paintings and sculptures and churches.

The music, of course, is magnificent, and it is presented twice on two discs, once with voice-over commentary and once in a live, unedited performance. Special features include 11 "mini-documentaries" on subjects related to the music. --Joe McLellan

WHAT THE UNIVERSE TELLS ME:UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES OF MAHLER'S THIRD SYMPHONY is a documentary that explores how philosophy, mythology and music combine in Mahler's Third Symphony to create an all-encompassing panoramic experience. From the volcanoes of the South Pacific to the Alpine peaks and meadows where Mahler composed, in WHAT THE UNIVERSE TELLS ME dramatic images from the natural world give shape to the Symphony's evolutionary saga. Performances combine with illustrative artwork, computer animation, historical film clips and the insights of world-renowned historians, philosophers and biographers. Thinkers such as Howard Gardner, Stan Brakhage and Catherine Keller join Mahler experts Henry Louis de La Grange, Donald Mitchell, Peter Franklin and Morten Solvik to introduce this masterpiece to new audiences and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its premiere.

Opera Stories: An In-Depth Look at Ten of the World's Favorite Operas / Charlton Heston

Opera Stories provides a perfect introduction to the drama, characters and spectacle of opera. Each of its ten programs tells the story of a single opera, bringing the drama and emotion of the plot vividly to life. Charlton Heston narrates each program from, as nearly as possible, the original location stipulated by the composer: the story of La Bohème is told from the sidewalk cafés of Paris where Mimi and Rodolfo fall in love, Aida from the majestic pyramids of Egypt, Tosca from the battlements of the Castel Sant Angelo in Rome where Tosca takes her own life. The stories are illustrated by extensive performance extracts taken from NVC ARTS unique library of full-length recordings.

The Royal Opera productions of:

La Bohème (Puccini) from Paris, France
Ileana Cotrubas and Neil Shicoff

Manon Lescaut (Puccini) from Château Mauviers, France
Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa

Andrea Chénier (Giordano) from Paris, France
Placido Domingo and Anna Tomowa-Sintow

Falstaff (Verdi) from Windsor, England
Renato Bruson, Barbara Hendricks and Katia Ricciarelli

Der Fledermaus (J. Strauss) from Vienna, Austria
Kiri Te Kanawa and Hermann Prey

Arena di Verona productions of:

Il Trovatore (Verdi) from Aragon, Spain
Rosalind Plowright, Franco Bonisolli and Giorgio Zancanaro

Tosca (Puccini) from Rome, Italy
Eva Marton, Ingvar Wixell and Giacomo Aragall

Aida (Verdi) from Luxor, Egypt
Maria Chiara, Fiorenza Cossotto and Nicola Martinucci

Otello (Verdi) filmed in Marakesh, Morocco
Kiri Te Kanawa, Vladimir Atlantov and Piero Cappuccilli

La Scala, Milan production of:

Ernani (Verdi) from Aragon, Spain
Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Renato Bruson and Nicolai Ghiaurov

Sounds Magnificent (The Story of the Symphony) - Brahms Symphony No. 4 / Previn, RPO

In this fascinating series of films, Sounds Magnificent: The Story of the Symphony, Andre Previn conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in some of the most popular works from the concert repertoire--symphonies by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Each program is introduced by Andre Previn, who discusses the piece to be performed and the lives of the composers who created these masterpieces by giving illustrations of aspects of their music with a variety of orchestral excerpts. Image Entertainment is proud to bring you the first in this series: Brahms's Symphony No. 4. 86 minutes.

Sounds Magnificent (The Story of the Symphony) - Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique / Previn, RPO

In this fascinating series of films, "Sounds Magnificent: The Story of the Symphony," Andre Previn conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in some of the most popular works from the concert repertoire--symphonies by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Each program is introduced by Andre Previn, who discusses the piece to be performed and the lives of the composers who created these masterpieces by giving illustrations of aspects of their music with a variety of orchestral excerpts. Image Entertainment is proud to bring you another in this series: Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique."

In Rehearsal with John Eliot Gardiner (Bach Cantata No. 63)

The In Rehearsal series continues to offer fascinating insights into the technique of conducting with this film about John Eliot Gardiner rehearsing Bach's Cantata BWV63 (Christen, ätzet diesen Tag). The devil is in the detail: what Gardiner says about Bach and period performance (enlightening though it is) is less interesting than the way he says it. After one rousing chorus, for example, he leaves everyone breathless in silence while he digs some dirt from his fingernails before giving them a cool "Well done". A mild contretemps with the first trumpet leads to an interview in which the brass player nervously and darkly hints at even greater conflict under the surface of the rehearsal. It's remarkable to hear the sublime music-making that results despite, or perhaps because of, the tension: Gardiner continually urges the musicians to swing the beat and feel the pulse as if it were a dance, and they do. One quibble: the names of the soloists aren't credited anywhere, so here they are: Ann Monoyios, Sara Mingardo, Rufus Müller, and Stephan Loges. --Warwick Thompson

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is one of the most versatile and exciting conductors of our time. Acknowledged as a key figure in the revival of early music, his concert performances and recordings are unmistakable for their zest and technical mastery. This fascinating film of Bach's "Cantata No. 63" in rehearsal at London's Abbey Road Studios is intercut with comments from the singers and an interview with Gardiner, giving a deeper appreciation of this festive work lavishly celebrating Christ's birth.

Sounds Magnificent (The Story of the Symphony) - Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (Excerpt) and No. 7 / Previn, RPO

André Previn's 1984 BBC series chronicling the development of the symphony moves onward to Beethoven. More explicitly musicological in intent than its Haydn/Mozart installment, the program nonetheless remains pitched for the interested layperson; while there's brief mention made of intervals and transpositions, nothing is brought up that would go over the head of even the least informed novice. Previn's laid-back, easy-going manner--informative but not pedagogic, staring comfortably into the camera wearing a Mr. Rogers sweater and a "Well, isn't that interesting?" expression--is suited to this informal lecture style. There's a brief examination of Beethoven's personal struggles, mostly gleaned through reading bits of the Heiligenstadt Testament (a letter written to Beethoven's brothers, unsent and found among his papers after his death; see Maynard Solomon's psychoanalytically inclined Beethoven biography for a fascinating analysis). Rather more time is spent, appropriately, on the music itself: a few examples demonstrate the composer's debt to Mozart and thus place his genius in context; several well-chosen snippets deftly illustrate the Fifth Symphony's unprecedented organic structure.

After the talk, Previn and the Royal Philharmonic have time to perform only the opening movement of the Fifth and deliver a fine, professional run-through, which many will find enhanced by the preceding analysis. The Seventh is given a complete reading; oddly, considering he quotes with approval Wagner's assessment of the symphony as the "Apotheosis of the Dance," Previn's greatest failing here is rhythmic. This is an enjoyable reading, but far too genial and cozy. The Allegretto fails to drive forward; the concluding Allegro con brio lacks the whirling abandon that prompted Wagner's comment. It's possible, at least when it comes to Beethoven, to be too laid-back and easy-going. --Bruce Reid

In this fascinating series of films, "Sounds Magnificent: The Story of the Symphony," Andre Previn conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in some of the most popular works from the concert repertoire--symphonies by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Each program is introduced by Andre Previn, who discusses the piece to be performed and the lives of the composers who created these masterpieces by giving illustrations of aspects of their music with a variety of orchestral excerpts. Image Entertainment is proud to bring you another in this series: Beethoven's "Symphony Nos. 5 & 7."

Sounds Magnificent (The Story of the Symphony) - Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique) / Previn, RPO

In this fascinating series of films, Sounds Magnificent: The Story of the Symphony, Andre Previn conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in some of the most popular works from the concert repertoire--symphonies by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Each program is introduced by Andre Previn, who discusses the piece to be performed and the lives of the composers who created these masterpieces by giving illustrations of aspects of their music with a variety of orchestral excerpts. Image Entertainment is proud to bring you the second in this series: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6. 87 minutes.