Olivier Messiaen played a leading role in the evolution of 20th-century music. In this classic interview, the late composer talks on topics such as his love of nature and his fervent Christian faith, two themes that profoundly shaped his work; his views on rhythm and tonal color; his relationship with his mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage; and his professorship at the Paris Conservatoire. Film clips of Messiaen improvising on the organ and notating birdsong for his compositions—plus excerpts of his music, some of which are performed by his wife, the celebrated pianist Yvonne Loriod—provide a deeper appreciation of his special genius. (79 minutes)
He is the most performed contemporary composer in the world. And yet he rarely ventures out in public, prefers to keep quiet about his music, feels at home in the forests of Estonia and generates therewith - perhaps involuntarily - the impression of a recluse, which is attributed to him again and again: Arvo Part.
This seminal work of avant-garde opera from composer Philip Glass and director Robert Wilson arrives full-circle, coming to France, the site of its 1976 Avignon Festival world premiere, at the tail end of this 2014 revival tour for a landmark Theâtre du Châtelet production and a first ever filming by award-winning arts filmmaker Don Kent.
"Three Tales" is a video music work by American composer Steve Reich and video artist Beryl Korot. It is set in three "Acts", each depicting a technological advance of the 20th century and its negative implications on humanity: the dirigible airship Hindenburg and its explosion; the Atom Bomb and its testing on Bikini Atoll; and Dolly the sheep, first successful genetic cloning of a mammal.
The first experimental dance film from Croatia, which pays homage to the pioneer of experimental and dance film Maya Deren and her "Study in Choreography for Camera" from 1945.
Yvonne Loriod was not only an incredible performer of the music of her time, but also Olivier Messiaen's muse, the one in whom and for whom he found the natural and concrete extension of his art, of his inspiration.
The movie captures the responses of 31 authors, musicians, filmmakers and dancers to Olivier Messiaen's monumental organ work "Apparition of the Eternal Church.
Like many of John Adams’ operas, Doctor Atomic is based on recent world historical events—here, the effusive Robert Oppenheimer, “father of the atomic bomb,” anxiously awaits the bomb’s first test in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Who gets the idea to write “Nine unfinished symphonies” - one of them perhaps the shortest Symphony in music history? Or "1001 sonatas’ - each lasting about a minute but in total being one of the longest pieces ever written? Like a postmodern Erik Satie the Belgium composer Boudewijn Buckinx is using music history as a playing field.
Shot over the course of a year, this intimate portrait of provocative composer John Adams presents scenes of the artist at work and at play against the backdrop of dramatic American landscapes that reflect the themes of his music.
Jo Kondo (*1947) is one of the most interesting composers of contemporary music in Japan. His music is composed intuitively and at the same time it is highly abstract.
A cruel hitman nicknamed "Kamikaze" uses all kinds of methods to carry out his jobs. One day he will have to face an old enemy who has an old account pending with him.
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Coast Zone […] explores the use of deep-focus, contrasting background figures (often in motion) with those in the foreground (sometimes in extreme close-up).
A young half-breed boy, the son of a hockey player and an Indian woman, is adopted by a Jewish shopkeeper, but finds himself torn between the different cultures with which he comes into contact.
A dedicated social worker joins forces with a group of senior citizens fighting City Hall to prevent the demolition of their apartment building and falls for the man she meets on a blind date at a punk rock club.
Michał is among the soldiers quartered in a village near Lublin. By accident, he goes to the palace and visits the magnificent building, where he meets a widow Maria.
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Have you watched Olivier Messiaen: The Music of Faith yet? What did you think about it?
