U3A Music Groups

FILMS

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Films about music

	Genius is a fascinating subject, and a challenging one to film; all too often, a film portrait of a genius comes across as either incomprehensible or superhuman. Amadeus is not the only film I've seen that tackles this monumental topic, but it is undoubtedly the best. Between the script and actor Tom Hulce, Mozart comes vividly to life as a young man full of life, possessed of a musical ability that to him is as natural as breathing, and as necessary for his existence. Full to the brim with both the ability and the desire to create perfect music, Mozart is possessed by his gift as much as possessing it. Holly Ordway - www.dvdtalk.com/reviews
	This unique and impressive DVD-box - containing 14 documentary-style films - offers a glimpse into the lives and masterworks of the world’s best known classical composers of all time. Each quality film has a play time of more than 50 minutes and explores different facets of the composers, who stunned the world with their revolutionary compositions. Musicians, period décor, actors and dancers recreate the refined world of the composers, all freely inspired by their lives.
	An uncommon film treat for opera fans, with a stellar performance by Domingo as the troubled Moor who murders his wife in a fit of jealous rage and later finds she was never unfaithful. Be prepared, however, for changes from the Shakespeare and Verdi stories, necessitated by the film adaptation. Highly acclaimed and awarded; in Italian with English subtitles.
	Wagner, a ten part 1983 epic television miniseries about controversial composer Richard Wagner, employs three primary strategies to tell its protagonist´s life story: big, bigger, and biggest. "Wagner" arrives at the battlefield with a fully loaded arsenal. Richard Burton plays Wagner and is supported by a who´s who of British acting: Vanessa Redgrave, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Laurence Olivier, Ronald Pickup, Arthur Lowe (Dad's Army) and even Mrs. Fawlty (Prunella Scales). The series, shot on location in seven different countries, is photographed by the legendary Vittorio Storaro and conductor Sir George Solti, often credited as the greatest Wagnerian interpreter, coordinates the combined talents of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.