Showing posts with label Classical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Classical. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Cinema Cycle - Winterreise
CINEMA CYCLE
(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)
DATE REVIEWED: 08/10/2017
FORMAT: LaserDisc
TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 16 minutes
DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 16.3 miles
TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 7227 miles
SYNOPSIS: Popular (?) Germanic Songs from the turn of the last century.
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: A time capsule of media from a time before mass media.
PROS AND CONS: If you like this sort of thing, this is a gold mine. Most folks won’t like this. Speaking German and a good understanding of German culture would be helpful.
This is a simplistic concert film. It is well done but there isn’t a lot to look at. Excluding the young woman that turns the pages for the pianist, there are only two performers.
The libretto is included with this laserdisc and the translation of almost all the songs was, to say the least, rather depressing. It appears that Germans prior to the first world war were a very depressed lot.
This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Cinema Cycle - Bruckner: Symphony #7
CINEMA CYCLE
(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)
DATE REVIEWED: 09/05/2016
TITLE: Anton Bruckner, Symphony #7
FORMAT: Laserdisc
TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 20 minutes
DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 19.1 miles
TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 5095.7 miles
SYNOPSIS: A live performance of Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in London England, conducted by Sir Georg Solti.
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Emotion that transcends the centuries in the form of sound and music.
PROS AND CONS: As concert films go, very good. It was almost impossible to get a good shot of George Solti because he was moving so much while conducting.
A powerful moving work reminiscent of Wagner who Bruckner is often linked with in musical style. An interesting intro is an interview with Solti where he discussed Bruckner's life and relationship with Wagner. Fascinating stuff.
By the end of the concert you can tell that Solti is eager to get off stage, no doubt because he had just done aerobics for an hour and a half in a tux and was apparently about to pass out.
This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Cinema Cycle - Gustav Mahler / Ruckert Lieder
CINEMA CYCLE
(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)
DATE VIEWED: 09/25/2015
TITLE: Gustav Mahler / Ruckert Lieder
FORMAT: LaserDisc
TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 15 minutes
DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 20.7 miles
TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 2855.9 miles
SYNOPSIS: Concert film of poetry set to music, performed in German.
- Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder! (Do not look at my songs!) – 14 June 1901
- Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft (I breathed a gentle fragrance) – July 1901
- Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I am lost to the world) – 16 August 1901
- Um Mitternacht (At midnight) – Summer 1901
- Liebst du um Schönheit (If you love for beauty) – August 1902
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: The expansion of the concept of media and entertainment near the turn of the century.
PROS AND CONS: And now for something completely different. Not a film that is most folks cup of tea but an interesting work in the historical sense.
In order to move the concept of classical music forward, various composers try to expand the envelope in new ways. Back at the turn of the century, one of these ways was to set popular poetry to music. While it has had limited success over the years many great composers have dabbled in the art, including Gustav Mahler.
I would not fault Leonard Bernstein or the soloist in this work. The production value of the video is good, but not astounding.
Unless you speak German and are aware of the work being performed here, it would really help to have subtitles for the songs. This concept didn’t come along until DVDs were developed so they are lacking on this LaserDisc, although the libretto (in 3 different languages) is included with the disk for viewer reading.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Cinema Cycle - Rubinstein Plays Beethoven / Brahms
CINEMA CYCLE
(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)
DATE VIEWED: 08/10/2015
TITLE: Arthur Rubinstein Plays Beethoven / Brahms
FORMAT: LaserDisc
TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 24 minutes
DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 20.7 miles
TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 2348.9 miles
SYNOPSIS: Classical Musical Performance
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Art and the people that make it and perform it.
PROS AND CONS: There isn’t a lot you can say about viewing this type of media. Criticizing the composer or the performers would be allowable if this were an amateur performance, but it isn’t
This really isn’t a concert film. The works were performed in a closed venue with no audience. The performance was for the cameras only, and there were a lot of cameras. The effect is to give the viewer the feeling of floating through the orchestra and peering over the shoulders of the performers. So to say that this is an intimate work would be an understatement.
With all that is going on in my life these days, this work was a welcome break, allowing me to get lost in the music and collect my thoughts about the meaning of a lot of things.
This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Cinema Cycle - Mahler: Symphony No.3 / Symphony No.10 (Adagio)
CINEMA CYCLE
(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)
DATE: 09/22/2014
TITLE: Mahler: Symphony No.3 / Symphony No.10 (Adagio)
FORMAT: LaserDisc
TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 2 hours 14 minutes
DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 22.2 miles
TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 486.7
SYNOPSIS: (From Wikepedia)
In its final form, the work has six movements, grouped into two Parts:
- Kräftig. Entschieden (Strong and decisive) [D minor to F major]
- Sehr langsam—Misterioso (Very slowly, mysteriously) [A minor]
- Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck (Cheerful in tempo and cheeky in expression) [F major]
- Langsam—Ruhevoll—Empfunden (Slowly, tranquil, deeply felt) [D major]
The first movement alone, with a normal duration of a little more than thirty minutes, sometimes forty, forms Part One of the symphony. Part Two consists of the other five movements and has a duration of about sixty to seventy minutes.
As with each of his first four symphonies, Mahler originally provided a programme of sorts to explain the narrative of the piece. At different times, he shared evolving versions of a program for the third symphony with various friends, including Natalie Bauer-Lechner, a close friend and confidante, Anna von Mildenburg, the dramatic soprano and Mahler's lover during the summer of 1896 when he was completing the symphony, and Max Marschalk, a music critic. In its simplest form, the program consists of a title for each of the six movements:
- "What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me"
- "What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me"
- "What Man Tells Me"
- "What the Angels Tell Me"
- "What Love Tells Me"
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: A Massive piece of classical music with a full orchestra, soprano soloist and a choir. Well shot with numerous camera angles and superbly conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
PROS AND CONS: Another one of the reasons that I got into LaserDiscs in the first place was the availability of classical works in the format. Since I started collecting, I have amassed a large array of classical works and opera discs.
This is a long piece of music. With the addition of the Adagio movement of Mahler’s 10th Symphony added to the program at the end, it lasted more than 2 hours.
This work is performed by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein, neither are slouches at their craft so to critique the quality of the performance would be nit-picking. It is very good and it is a joy to watch Bernstein conduct. The man really got into his music when he had the baton in his hand.
This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. [Not Available For This Title]
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
The summary of the project and a glimpse of what is coming up next can be found on my public LaserDisc spreadsheet.
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