Art Of Conducting - Great Conductors Of The Past (DVD)

...together booklet, containing full details of all the archive material and pieces played as well as a well written essay on the conductors in "The Art of Conducting" by the journalist Alan Sanders - which has some interesting photos of some of the maestri and musicians on the DVD too.  ... more

It surprises me a lot that no-one has written a review for this amazing DVD! I've had it for a few years now and it frequently comes off the shelf to be played as it always makes an inspiring impact on me in one way or other no matter how many time I have watched it. Anyone who has an interest in classical music and the big name conductors of the past will find this a fascinating document which will inevitably lead to further exploration of the recordings by these renowned names.

Basically the DVD attempts to lift the lid on the mystique of the "maestro" - with rare and often previously unseen archive footage of a wide-ranging selection of the great conductors of the 20th century in performance and rehearsal, combined with insightful comments from famous colleagues such as Yehudi Menuhin, John Eliot Gardiner, Isaac Stern and many others. Some of the conductors featured are Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Thomas Beecham, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Richard Strauss, Leopold Stokowski and Bruno Walter to single out a few names.

Right from the opening of the documentary you realise the high quality of the production values on this DVD as Beethoven's 5th Symphony segues seamlessly between different performances by very different conductors. Hearing the same piece conducted by Toscanini, von Karajan, Klemperer and Szell heightens the contrasts between the styles and interpretations of each of these highly individual maestri.

One of the big plus-points of this DVD is that along with copious extracts from performances and rehearsals, one is given complete performances of several works including Beethoven's "Egmont Overture" conducted by Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood in 1949 which is as vivid as if you were actually sitting there playing - a real highlight of the DVD for me! Other complete pieces include Felix Weingaertner conducting Weber's "Die Freischuetz Overture" in a very sonically impressive film considering it dates from 1932. It is always much more satisfying to enjoy some longer sections of music than just having short extracts all the time, especially when this archive material is so precious and revealing.

Anyone who has wondered what it is like to play in an orchestra will find the footage in several of these archive films absolutely riveting. As an orchestral violinist myself I was engrossed in Verdi's Overture to "La Forza del Destino" where even though it was filmed in 1944, the flesh-penetrating, tempestuous and passionate laser-beam gaze of legendary Italian maestro Arturo Toscanini straight to camera still sent an instant chill down my spine!

There are too many other moments like that to mention them all in this review and combined with the wide range of repertoire from Schostakovich to Mozart; and excellently edited, astute, frequently entertaining and always enlightening comments, this is a truely first class production which will send you off to explore further the work of these many great conductors.

An additional bonus to the actual documentary itself, which must NOT be ignored, is a 45 minutes extra segment, (accessed through the main menu) consisting of exclusive interviews with the famed soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.; renowned orchestral leader/concertmaster - violinist Hugh Bean; record producer Suvi Raj Grubb and last but not least the acclaimed solo violinist Isaac Stern. Lots of unmissable opinions, anecdotes and musings on various maestri featured in the DVD and and much pondering on what elusive ingredients go together to make that rare beast - a "Great Conductor".

Finally, the DVD is accompanied by a very well put together booklet, containing full details of all the archive material and pieces played as well as a well written essay on the conductors in "The Art of Conducting" by the journalist Alan Sanders - which has some interesting photos of some of the maestri and musicians on the DVD too. 

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