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The glorious sounds and remarkable lives of Bach, Mozart, Glenn Gould, Yehudi Menuhin, Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, and more
Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 Oct. *10-14
*Opening Night Oct. 10 at 7:00 w/filmmaker and performance
The Silence Before Bach Oct. 15 & 18
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts Oct. 17 & 20
Olivier Messiaen et le Oiseaux Oct. 17 & *21
*Oct. 21 at 7:30 intro by Michael Boriskin
Alexander Nevsky Oct. 18 & 23
Yehudi Menuhin: The Violin of the Century Oct. 19 & 21
Music From the Inside Out Oct. 19 & *22
*Oct. 22 at 7:30: w/musicians of the Westchester Philharmonic
The Master and His Pupil Oct. 24 & 27
Glenn Gould: Hereafter Oct. *29
*Oct. 29 at 7:30 Reel Talk w/Brian Ackerman
In Search of Mozart Oct. 25 & 28
Brief Encounter Oct. 25 & 28
Arvo Pärt: 24 Preludes for a Fugue Oct. 26 & 27
Tous les Matins du Monde Oct. 29
Glorious sounds will reverberate through the Burns in our crowded three-week series devoted to composers, performers, their instruments, and classical music. Films on Bach, Mozart, Glenn Gould,Yehudi Menuhin, Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, and others will be seen - and heard! - along with Brief Encounter and Alexander Nevsky, two masterpieces that showcase the power of classical music scores in cinema.
Presented in Association with Copland House and The Westchester Philharmonic
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Support the JBFC and the Village Bookstore! Pick up a copy of Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand (Paperback)
by James Barron, in the theater lobby during the film's run. |
NOTE BY NOTE: THE MAKING OF STEINWAY L1037 Oct. *10-14
Ben Niles. 2007. 81 m. US. Argot Pictures.
Chronicling the meticulous construction of a single Steinway concert grand piano (#L1037), this new film is both surprising and joyful. A diverse collection of craftsmen, from Haiti and Croatia and Italy and Queens - some are musicians, and others are more interested in the Mets home opener - all play their parts in the creation of the soundboard, strings, keys, hammers, and the eleven thousand other pieces that come together to make up the famed Steinway. A glorious reminder of pride in craft and collaboration and of the critical line that separates the world of human work from automation.
*OPENING NIGHT Fri., Oct. 10, 7:00
A movie, a filmmaker, a pianist - and Steinway concert grand L1037
Live Performance: Acclaimed concert pianist and Copland House Executive Director Michael Boriskin will play the actual Steinway assembled in the film on our stage after the screening. Followed by a conversation with Boriskin and filmmaker Ben Niles.
Tickets: $15 (members), $20 (nonmembers)
Steinway Piano L1037 provided courtesy of Steinway Hall. |
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THE SILENCE BEFORE BACH
Oct. 15 & 18
Pere Portabella. 2007. 102 m. Spain, in Spanish/German/Catalan with subtitles.
"A mysterious, magnificent blend of drama, documentary, and quasi-surrealist whimsy." (New Yorker)
Through a series of vignettes, Pere Portabella uses J. S. Bach's works to look at the deep relationship between image and music across the centuries. In one scene of this provocative narrative-free mélange, a player piano plunks out the "Goldberg Variations" while moving itself around an empty loft; in another, Felix Mendelssohn rediscovers the manuscript of the "St. Matthew Passion" wrapped around meat at a market. A wildly unconventional film for the Bach lover. |
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GLASS: A PORTRAIT OF PHILIP IN TWELVE PARTS Oct. 17 & 20
Scott Hicks. 2008. 119 m. Australia/US. Koch Lorber Films.
"Surprisingly close-up portrait of a man typically heard much more than seen." (Boston Globe)
Exploring Glass's creative process in opera, concert, and film, this documentary is a uniquely intimate view of an inquisitive and deeply spiritual man. Filmmaker Scott Hicks presents candid scenes of the composer's personal and working life shot across three continents, from the Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster to an opera premiere in Germany to a performance with a didgeridoo virtuoso in Australia. Enjoyable cameos abound - including Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Errol Morris, who quips that "Philip does existential dread better than anybody." |
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Photo: Private collection of Nigel Simeone
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OLIVIER MESSIAEN ET LES OISEAUX
Oct. 17 & *21
Denise Tual/Michel Fano. 1974. 80 m. France, in French with subtitles.
Messiaen blended elements of his passions - from his lifelong devotion to birds and birdsong to his powerful Catholic faith - to write completely original music full of color and beauty. His ear for birdsong was such that he could notate the most intricate avian trills and melodies; he integrated them into many of his compositions. We commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth with this lovely, rarely seen documentary directed by Denise Tual, a patron of Messiaen's, and one of his students, Michel Fano, now a composer in his own right.
Screening courtesy of Delphine Selles and the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs.
*Oct. 21, 7:30: introduction by concert pianist and Copland House Executive Director Michael Boriskin.
Tickets: $6 (members), $10 (nonmembers) |
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ALEXANDER NEVSKY New Print!
Oct. 18 & 23
Sergei M. Eisenstein/Dmitri Vasilyev. 1938. 111 m. Soviet Union, in Russian with subtitles. Seagull Films.
On the eve of World War II, the great Russian director Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin) and composer Sergei Prokofiev were whisked into service as Russia readied itself for battle - and so Alexander Nevsky, one of the most powerful and effective marriages of imagery and music, came to be. This stirring epic of Russians expelling invading Germanic hordes in the 13th century is noteworthy for its filmmaking alone, but Prokofiev's ominous, rousing, triumphant musical narrative propels it into the cinematic pantheon. The great conductor Valery Gergiev (see The Master and His Pupil), says that Prokofiev's music for this film is "the best ever composed for the cinema." |
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YEHUDI MENUHIN:THE VIOLIN OF THE CENTURY Oct. 19 & 21
Bruno Monsaingeon. 1996. 117 m. France, in English. Idéale Audience.
Filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon, who knew Menuhin intimately, crafted this sweeping musical portrait of the great violinist, one of the titans of 20th-century classical music. Menuhin was the very definition of the cosmopolitan humanist, a man who traversed cultural, musical, and political boundaries: He recorded with Duke Ellington and Ravi Shankar and - firmly committed to the idea of internationalism in all things - was an outspoken advocate for human justice. Quite simply, one of the most extraordinary musical lives of the 20th century, beautifully presented. |
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MUSIC FROM THE INSIDE OUT
Oct. 19 & *22
Daniel Anker. 2004. 90 m. US. Daniel Anker.
"Captures the power of the creative process in an uncommonly perceptive and inspiring way." (New York Times)
Why make music? What is its relevance to our lives? Filmmaker Daniel Anker sat down with dozens of members of the Philadelphia Orchestra to ask these questions and explore the mystery and magic of playing music. A musical essay that evokes exhilarating response in audiences wherever it's shown.
*Q&A Oct. 22, 7:30: Musicians of the Westchester Philharmonic will discuss the film and the life of the ensemble player.
Guests:
Sandy Robbins, viola;
Lorraine Cohen, co-principal trumpet;
Sara Cutler, harp;
Lanny Paykin, cello;
Mary Whitaker, violin;
Jon Taylor, Artistic Administrator and former trombonist with the Philharmonic.
Tickets: $6 (members), $10 (nonmembers) |
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THE MASTER AND HIS PUPIL Oct. 24 & 27
Sonia Herman Dolz. 2003. 89 m. Netherlands, in Dutch/English with subtitles. Hasten Slowly Films.
Valery Gergiev is one of the most celebrated conductors in the world, having led orchestras and opera companies from London to St. Petersburg to New York. In this documentary we're given a rare, privileged seat at a master class in which the "madman of music" attempts to convey the elusive art of conducting to three young protégés. In the process we're initiated into the mysteries of the conductor, that ineffable mixture of interpreter, mentor, musician and collaborator - all bound with the iron conviction of a leader. Fascinating and mesmerizing.
Screening courtesy of Holland Film. |
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GLENN GOULD: HEREAFTER
Oct. *29
Bruno Monsaingeon. 2006. 106 m. France, in English.
Bruno Monsaingeon's gorgeous film about the late, great iconoclast pianist is a delight for any fan of Gould, Bach...or classical music, period. Gould elaborates on his unconventional positions on music, interpretation, life, and everything in between. In one scene he wrangles with Yehudi Menuhin over the value of concert performance, and in another a Russian woman attributes hearing his music on the radio for the first time with restoring her health. Monsaingeon synthesizes a wealth of archival material into a profound experience, all capped by Gould's miraculous playing.
Screening courtesy of Delphine Selles and the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs.
*Q&A Oct. 29, 7:30: Reel Talk with Programming Director Brian Ackerman
Tickets: $6 (members), $10 (nonmembers) |
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BRIEF ENCOUNTER Oct. 25 & 28
David Lean. 1945. 86 m. US. BFI.
"A pleasure to watch...and deeply touching." (James Agee)
David Lean's early classic is striking for its original use of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, which plays as the score throughout. It's a deceptively simple tale, based on a Noel Coward one-act play about two strangers, a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) and a handsome doctor (Trevor Howard) whose casual interaction slips inexorably into a deepening involvement, set against the backdrop of repressed middle-class British life of the '40s and its comfortable but sterile routine. A tight, brilliantly acted masterpiece, with a perfectly integrated score. A must-see on the big screen. |
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IN SEARCH OF MOZART Oct. 25 & 28
Phil Grabsky. 2006. 128 m. UK. Direct Cinema Limited.
"A myth-busting stride through a prodigiously talented life." (New York Times)
A fresh look at Mozart, more than two decades after Amadeus. Filmmaker Phil Grabsky crisscrossed Europe visiting Mozart's haunts and interviewing many celebrated figures in the music world. Their personal insights - Jonathan Miller elaborates on Mozart's mental health and "toilet humor," conductor Louis Langrée explains how the Symphony in G Minor is "full of screams" - enrich this music-packed documentary, "a meditation on brilliance and verve [and] the man who may have best embodied both those traits" (New York Sun). |
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ARVO PÄRT: 24 PRELUDES FOR A FUGUE
Oct. 26 & 27
Dorian Supin. 2002. 87 m. Estonia, in Estonian/German/Russian/English with subtitles. Idéale Audience.
"Superb fare." (Variety)
The airily sublime and minimalist music of the hugely influential modern composer Arvo Pärt has stolen into over 50 major film scores from A Thin Red Line to There Will Be Blood. Yet the public remains barely aware of the man behind the extraordinary sound. This film is an elegant portrait of the Estonian composer who left for the West in 1980 (he now lives in Berlin) after continuous clashes with Soviet authorities. His music - transcendent and mysterious - evokes a world at once ancient and modern in a soundscape of intensely religious power. |
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TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE
Oct. 29
Alain Corneau. 1991. 115 m. France, in French with subtitles. Koch Lorber Films.
"Speaks directly to the heart." (Washington Post)
This wonderful French drama starring Gerard Depardieu swept the French Academy Awards in 1991, helping to revive interest in "early music." It's a tale of intrigue and jealousy between two largely forgotten French composers of the late 17th century: wily student Marin Marais and his purist, reluctant mentor, Sainte-Colombe. The sumptuous soundtrack - an international sensation - offers a feast of Sainte-Colombe, Marais, and Couperin featuring the remarkable Jordi Savall on the viola da gamba. |
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