November 19th, 2008 by Patty
This is fantastic publicity, immeasurable. What comes from this is recognition on an unbelievable scale. Some of the nicest sequences in the film are the chase through our building. Of course, it’s not a very good film otherwise.
-David Pountney, artistic director of the Bregenz opera festival in Austria
Hmmm. I’m gonna guess the Bond people aren’t terribly appreciative of that quote, but I guess he can say what he wants to say as he enjoys what “We charged what it cost and a little bit more.”
I read it here, and I’d blogged about it before, including the vido clip. I do love that part. I have yet to see the entire movie. Knowing me I won’t until it’s available for rental.
October 30th, 2008 by Patty
It didnt take long before I’d realised that this is no ordinary concert broadcast. The film basically provides a deconstruction of individual members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, through a series of interviews, peeling away the layers of confidence and exuberance which they portray through their concerts. Slowly, the film reveals some of the inner fears, tension, internal contradictions, and sometimes ghosts of the forgotten past. A horn player relating how she was “Ms Unpopularity” in school, a second violin speaks of “the struggles of not being able to pick up the subtlies of playing in an orchestra which had developed a rich culture”, of being ashamed of his asian heritage and not being about to assimilate into everybody else. The principal oboist shared how he used to stutter as a teenager, and how his instrument became his medium to becoming mainstream. Similar sentiments echoed through several more members from the various sections of the orchestra. Rattle speaks of the Jekyll and Hyde within his musicians. The concertmaster speaks of the sound of orchestra back in Karajan’s days still ringing in his ears and his continual quest in search of that sound again. The level of sheer frankness and directness, at times an overload of information, is just overwhelming and leaves much food for thought.
Hmmm. Did every musician get into this to make up for some weakness?
The quote above is regarding a movie, Trip To Asia: The Quest for Harmony, about the Berlin Phil and Simon Rattle. Any readers seen it?
October 6th, 2008 by Patty
The film’s unrehearsed style extended to its use of music. Demme had long wanted to “provide the musical dimension of a movie without traditionally scored music.” And as it turned out, Rachel is getting married to a music producer. And Rachel’s father is a music industry bigwig.
Demme reasoned that the wedding weekend — taking place at the family home — would be a congregation of musicians playing more or less nonstop for 72 hours. He enlisted friends — New Orleans-born jazz saxophonist Donald Harrison and Palestinian violin virtuoso Zafer Tawil — to compose the score and play it on the spot while Demme shot the movie.
I actually am interested in seeing this movie (Not that I ever actually go see movies. But I have a list of the ones I want to see. That’s about as close as I usually get!). But … musicians … heh … we sometimes like silence. And if we are talking, many of us prefer no background music. Music requires listening.
And can you imagine musicians playing “more or less nonstop for 72 hours”? Yikes! Of course the musicians in the movie aren’t playing “classical” music, so maybe folks who play jazz and Arabic music actually do play all day and night. I can’t speak for those genres. Heck, I can only speak for myself. And even then I sometimes get it wrong. :-)
May 27th, 2008 by Patty
There’s a documentary of the making of Dr. Atomic, called Wonders Are Many. I was looking at the site to see if this was using the San Francisco Opera production. (What else would it use, eh?) It appears to be the case, but I couldn’t find a place that gave the San Francisco Opera orchestra any mention at all. I hope I’m just missing it. (That’s easy for me to do.) It would be a shame not to mention the orchestra, don’t you think?