A couple days ago I mentioned the magazine, Listen: Life with Classical Music. I can’t remember how I first discovered it, but the first issue I’ve received has made me a fan – and I’m only half way through it! Here are just a few of the wonderful things I’ve learned and come across in this Spring 2011 issue:
A behind-the-scenes article about documentarian Phil Grabsky and his bio-documentaries, “In Search of Beethoven” and “In Search of Mozart.” The article described Grabsky’s commitment to excellence and reported that each of the films took an astonishing 30-36 months to reach the screen! I appreciated this quote by Grabsky,
“[Film directors should be] thoroughly grounded in musical history…Without understanding the history of music, you’ll never have a great soundtrack. That will form the way that you film, the way that you edit, the way that you think, the questions that you ask.”
Another brief article profiled up-and-coming pianist, Alice Sara Ott. I thought her mother’s approach to her young daughter’s interest in piano lessons was rather comical,
“When Alice Sara Ott was three years old, she begged her parents for piano lessons. Not wishing to push her daughter into music too soon, her mother attempted to hide the family piano behind a bookcase.”
In an insightful interview with violinist, Anne-Sophie Mutter, she briefly referenced Mendelssohn and his comment that chamber music is “a dialogue between sophisticated friends.” I really like that concept and want to help my students consider that when they are playing music together.
What an inspirational read!
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