Summary: Throughout history, musicians and musical works have reflected the fashion, culture, and social attitudes of their times. Music today is more diversified than ever, from the megahits of teen pop stars to the depth and emotionality of gospel choirs to the tones and textures produced by large-scale orchestras. Add to this the unstoppable forces of MySpace, YouTube, the iPod, and a rapidly...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Liszt frequently expanded upon the work of previous composers to create new musical forms. His transcription of Verdi's Rigoletto was part of a completely new style of piano composition. In this program, Martino Tirimo guides students toward a mastery of the Rigoletto paraphrase and an understanding of its compositional layers. Assembled at London's Royal Academy of Music, pianists from the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Early musical notation was much like a road map that lacked names or places. The use of neumes gave the basic shape of the tune and a primitive notion of rhythm, but could not tell the performer what note to start on. This program shows how all of that changed around the year 1030, when the choirmaster Guido of Arezzo came up with the simple device of a thin red line: a dot directly on it would...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Opera is unique among musical forms in that it developed over a relatively short period of time, unlike the concerto or symphony. From the birth of opera in Florence with the Camerata to the genius of Monteverdi and beyond, this program looks at how opera grew into both a form of entertainment and a vehicle for delivering incisive social, political, and cultural messages. The operettas of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Pythagoras believed that music originates in nature and that natural harmonies express very distinct mathematical relationships between their notes. From Pythagoras' first scales and the advent of harmony to the standardization of all instruments to equal temperament, this program traces the evolution of the system of tuning that revolutionized Western music. Few musical cultures have escaped...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In Zanzibar they play it at the end of weddings, in Romania at the end of funerals, in Mexico as a protest song, and in Germany as a sailor's lament. Written a century and a half ago by Sebastian Iradier and first performed in Cuba, "La Paloma"-the most frequently played song in the world-has circled the globe like a dove to touch listeners' hearts with longing. Drawing upon insightful expert...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: An industry once dominated by four giant companies-Sony BMG, Warner Music, Universal, and EMI-has undergone a radical transformation. This program examines the explosion of legal music downloading and viral marketing, which have enabled enterprising bands and singers to distribute their own work rather than signing with major labels. Focusing on the success of Nizlopi, Arctic Monkeys, Internet...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: For centuries people dreamed of being able to record and play back sound. In 1877 Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and the whole course of music was forever changed. From the jukeboxes of the 1880s to contemporary composers blending live and recorded music, this program examines the effects, both positive and negative, that resulted from the birth of the phonograph and the subsequent...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Flemish conductor Philippe Herreweghe is credited with restoring the freshness and purity of Baroque choral music. His ensembles, which embrace a wide variety of musical periods, have included Collegium Vocale Ghent, La Chapelle Royale, the Orchestre des Champs Elysees, the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique, and RIAS Kammerchor, and his artistry is a model for choral music worldwide. But above all he...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: The enduring power of a single song across continents and time-and the ironic story of how that song was written by a man who traded in slaves-is examined in this program with Bill Moyers. One of the most popular and enduring hymns in the English language, its lyrics were written in the 18th century by the captain of an English slave ship. In the 19th century, the song successfully crossed the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Handel always knew how to succeed. His Italian operas took London by storm, but when the public rejected music in foreign languages he gave them the oratorio in English. And when the Royal Academy of Music folded, Handel revived it under a scheme of subscriptions and box-office receipts and modern theater was born. This program traces Handel's distinguished career, focusing on his great output...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program illustrates how melody is used to move musical pieces along in one continuous flow. Beginning with a long, slow strain, we see and hear Ravel's melody progress through a series of changes and variations created by the addition of different instruments. The result is a musical piece replete with obvious shade and tone.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: In this TEDTalk, Charles Hazlewood explores the role of trust in musical leadership, and then shows how it works as he conducts the Scottish Ensemble onstage. Hazlewood's idea is to break away from rigid and more coercive models of conducting to let performers shine, confident of a positive result. Hazlewood also shares clips from two musical projects based on his notion of trust: a Xhosa...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: In this program, the Trio Solisti practice, interpret, and perform two of Beethoven's piano trios, the "Archduke" Trio and the "Ghost" Trio. Pianist Jon Klibonoff, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and violinist Maria Bachmann discuss the challenges of transforming the composer's score on paper into a vibrant performance. Footage of their work sessions in the studio is mixed with highlights of their...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Considered Tchaikovsky's first mature masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet marks the start of the composer's remarkable career. After conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in a complete performance of the Fantasy Overture, Charles Hazlewood reveals how Tchaikovsky distilled the essence of Shakespeare's great romantic tragedy into music. Friar Laurence's theme, the transition to the exposition, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Inspired by Paganini's dedication to a soloist instrument, the violin, Chopin decided early in his career to write only for piano. This beautifully produced program presents a biography of the Polish-born child prodigy and composer who blended Slavic influences into his works. Sketches, paintings, and cinematic treatments of Chopin and his times complement the music. Archival footage includes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: The Rhapsody in B Minor requires a range of sensibilities, from lightheartedness to a propensity for shock value. In this program, virtuoso pianist Martino Tirimo leads an engaging master class at London's Royal Academy of Music-pushing his students to find the essence of the Brahms piece, while encouraging each performer to craft his or her individual approach. Artists from the United States,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This is a performance of the Messiah in the original scoring, performed as Handel intended it, with much smaller resources than we have become accustomed to and, therefore, a perfect balance between a small chorus and orchestra. Roger Norrington conducts the London Baroque Players (comprising leading specialists in 17th- and 18th-century instrumental practice), the Cardiff (Wales) Polyphonic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program is devoted to the 18th century, the Age of Decadence. It covers the rise of Antonio Vivaldi and his famous all-women orchestras at the Pieta, the heyday of Venetian composition, Vivaldi's departure from Venice and the rise of a new breed of composer, and the decline-when the kissing had to stop. Live performances at the Conservatorio and the Church of the Redentore.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: This program, devoted to the 17th century, explains how the St. Mark's sound was first rescued and then enhanced by Claudio Monteverdi, and covers the art of the madrigal, the rise of women composers, and why the world's first public opera house was built in Venice. Live performances in San Nicolo dei Mendicoli and the Ducal Palace.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: This program from the Famous Composers series offers an overview of the life and work of composer and pianist Johannes Brahms beginning with an introduction to Brahms' family and hometown, the nineteenth century seaport city of Hamburg. The film follows Brahms' musical education with teachers Otto Cossel and Eduard Marxsen, his days of playing in bars and teaching to earn money, and his...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Beethoven transformed the sonata, taking it from drawing rooms to concert halls. His third symphony altered the very nature of the genre and launched the heroic style in music. And the fact that he wrote only nine symphonies-far fewer than his predecessors-forcefully demonstrated a fundamental change in composition. In this program, the life and legacy of a genius come alive through letters,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: This program is devoted to the 19th century, the Age of Grand Opera. It covers the rise of Rossini, the triumphant premieres at La Fenice Theatre, the overthrow of the Austrian occupation as Verdi became a folk hero, and the death of Wagner in Venice. Live performances in the Salon of La Fenice.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program retraces the life and places, the glories and despairs of Antonio Vivaldi, the red(haired) priest whose working relationship with a diva set tongues wagging and whose love for opera led to his downfall. And throughout and above all, of course, his music. Exquisite performances of the range of his work, from the "Estro Armonico" and other string masterpieces, pieces from some...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007