Howard Spence has seen better days. Once a big Western movie star, he now drowns his disgust for his selfish and failed life with alcohol, drugs and young women. If he were to die now, nobody would shed a tear over him, that's the sad truth. Until one day Howard learns that he might have a child somewhere out there...
An Hungarian youth comes of age at Buchenwald during World War II. György Köves is 14, the son of a merchant who's sent to a forced labor camp. After his father's departure, György gets a job at a brickyard; his bus is stopped and its Jewish occupants sent to camps. There, György find camaraderie, suffering, cruelty, illness, and death. He hears advice on preserving one's dignity and self-esteem. He discovers hatred. If he does survive and returns to Budapest, what will he find? What is natural; what is it to be a Jew? Sepia, black and white, and color alternate to shade the mood.
The ruthless gangsters of New York and the rough cowboys of the dusty prairie; the magic of cinema and the rich sound of a symphony orchestra. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sarah Hicks, performs masterful pieces by legendary film composer Ennio Morricone, accompanied by Sonny Bono, Bernard Herrmann and Nino Rota.
This Wagner opera is rarely performed because of the scandals that engulfed the Magdeburg Theatre when it was performed in 1836 under the title The Novice of Palermo, and became known as a cursed opera from which the composer had to distance himself. Wagner's adaptation of the story reflects the rebellious mood of a Revolutionary Germany, vindicating sensual love and attack the fanatical repression of sexuality by a puritanical and hypocritical authority. As the prose says, "Shame to him whose cruel striking/Kills for faults of his own liking!". One of the most extraordinary musicals based on a text by Shakespeare, especially worthy of a new performance as it is four hundred years since the death of the Bard.
Shot over a two-year period observing Abbado: a) Rossini, Overture to 'll Barbiere di Siviglia' b) Schubert, Symphony no. 2 B-Major, D. 125 c) Arnold Schonberg, Kammersinfonie no. 1 E-Major op. 9 (Filmed in Venice, Gran Teatro La Fenice, in February 1995, Chamber Orchestra of Europe). a) Richard Strauss, Elektra (Deborah Polaski, Karita Mattila, Marjana Lipovsek, Ferrucio Furlanetto) b) Beethoven, Symphony no 6 F-Major, op. 68, 'Pastorale' (Filmed in the Festspielhaus Salzburg on the occasion of the Easter Festival, April 1995, Berlin Philharmonic). a) Beethoven, Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 3 C-MINOR, OP. 37 (Maria Joao Pires) b) Bruckner, Symphony no. 9 D-Minor (Filmed in Paris, Cite de la Musique, in August 1995, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra).
Concert Hall of the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne, 18-19 August 2004
Agents Are Forever is performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of film music expert Hans Ek, with spectacular spy and detective film soundtracks and the very best of James Bond film music.
Sharkey, part of the sinister world of child trade, picks up Vlado, an orphan of war, dreaming of freedom and a better life. They embark upon a strange and enlightening journey through war torn Bosnia. As they struggle to get out of the country and fight to stay alive, they find a special love and compassion from which emerges their ultimate moral and spiritual redemption.
Documentary about the star-studded pre-inaugural gala that took place on January 19, 1961 to celebrate John F. Kennedy's election.
A drug-addicted doctor who works in an asylum discovers that one of his patients is a gifted writer.
The movie is inspired by writer-director Márta Mészáros' own childhood. The film is a grim reminder of horrible days under Stalinist period when several innocent people were persecuted for no fault. A good film which allow people to know how people in Europe were tortured before second world war by dictators and authoritarian regimes.
In 2005, the Staatsoper Berlin and its orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin under musical director Daniel Barenboim, celebrated a series of events to celebrate the 80th birthday of French conductor and composer Pierre Boulez. Artistically associated for decades with Barenboim and Berlin, Pierre Boulez is one of today's most distinguished composers and conductors. As part of the celebration, Boulez conducted a performance of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony at the Berlin Philharmonie. With his uncompromising approach to the score, Pierre Boulez's Mahler readings have long fascinated critics and audiences alike. Boulez eschews the romanticized readings common in performance tradition and, instead, reveals the real joy and terror in Mahler's large-scale symphonies.
The annual New Year’s Eve Concert is one of the highlights in the calendar of every classical music fan in Berlin and beyond. On New Year‘s Eve, the Berliner Philharmoniker invite an exceptional soloist for a festive gala. Together, the musicians bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new. The 2011 concert was conducted by Simon Rattle and featured Evgeny Kissin on piano. On the programme: Antonín Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No. 1, Op. 46 in C Major, Edvard Grieg: Symphonic Dance No. 2, Op. 64, Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, Maurice Ravel: Alborada del gracioso, Richard Strauss: Salome’s dance from “Salome”, Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird, Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor, Antonín Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No. 7, Op. 72 in C Major.
Claudio Abbado conducts the Orchestra Mozart with Giuliano Carmignola, principal violinist, live at the Teatro Municipale Valli, Reggio Emilia, April 21, 2007
Three children and their Grandpa are on a kayak-outdoor trip in the middle of nowhere, when their Grandpa suffers a heart attack in the wilderness - to rescue themselves and their Grandpa the children have to help themselves and fight their way back to civilization.
Claudio Abbado conducts the prestigious Berliner Philharmonikerfor during a concert dedicated to Beethoven. The programme includes the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19 with the Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev whose dazzling technique adding to a delicate sensitivity merges instinct and intellectual rigour, and the Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125.
Mahler Symphony No.9 - Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra - Claudio Abbado
With this wonderful production, Mozart’s “Munich” opera returns to the place where it was first performed in 1781, the lovingly restored Cuvilliés Theatre, a veritable jewel of Rococo architecture. In Dieter Dorn’s production, the characters are real people of flesh and blood, their emotions and conflicts intelligible to every member of the audience. The cast includes some of the finest Mozart singers of our day, headed by the British tenor John Mark Ainsley in the title role, while Kent Nagano in the orchestra pit appears to unleash an elemental force of nature.
At her wedding reception, the beautiful but depressed Justine spots a red star in the sky. It is the planet Melancholia, which is on a collision course with Earth. The bridegroom Michael tries to calm her down with his love, her mother Gaby poisons her with her darkness, and her sister Claire attempts to rescue her with her solicitude. But no-one can stop the mysterious forces ignited within Justine. And Melancholia gets closer and closer…
Stockholm's Vasa Museum harbours an extraordinary historical attraction: a large, fully intact sailing ship from the 17th century, the Vasa. Nowadays, the huge exhibition hall of the Vasa Museum is home to the ancient ship. These unusual surroundings formed the venue of the Berliner Philharmoniker's 1998 European Concert in Sweden, which was conducted by Claudio Abbado. Works of Wagner, Tschaikovsky, Debussy and Verdi Vasa Museum Stockholm, 1. May 1998 Berliner Philharmoniker Claudio Abbado Swedish Radio Choir Eric Ericson Chamber Choir Richard Wagner Der fliegende Hollander: Overture (11:32) Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky The Tempest. Symphonic Fantasia after Shakespeare (23:02) Claude Debussy Nocturnes (23:10) Giuseppe Verdi Quattro pezzi sacri (41:34)
