Universal Pictures (Firm).
1) Islamic Art
Language
English
Description
Forbidden by Islamic law to represent the human form, Moslem art burst forth in the characteristic decorative style we know as arabesque. This program discusses the architecture and sculpture of mosques and Koranic schools, the illumination and calligraphy of sacred texts, music, the art of the garden, and the influence of the abstract arabesque on Western art.
Language
English
Description
Until the 19th century, fashionable Russian audiences preferred Western music. Then came Glinka, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Scriabin, and Tchaikovsky. This program covers the distance from folk tradition to the founding of the Russian style of music by Glinka. Performers include James Galway, Osipov's Balalaika Orchestra, and the Kirov, Bolshoi, and Royal Ballets. Contents include excerpts from: Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla...
Language
English
Description
James Galway takes us backward through time to demonstrate how ageless and universal the human impulse is to make music. Working chronologically backward from Ligeti to Gregorian chant, Galway outlines the development of Western music. The impishness in his smile and tone are quickly submerged in the depth of his commitment to music and his enthusiastic conviction that knowledge of musical history is a prerequisite to understanding and that understanding...
Language
English
Description
The Romantic movement-a reaction against the orderliness of 18th-century classicism and 19th-century industrialization-strove above all for self-expression. The Romantics composed for themselves and the new bourgeois audiences that now frequented concert halls and were acquiring pianos for their living rooms. Chopin's A-Flat Polonaise is performed in Chopin's house outside Warsaw, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Brahms' Requiem in the halls where they had...
Language
English
Description
This program covers the wealth of music during the age of Elizabeth I in England and its spread from the Church and the courts to the middle classes; the emergence of opera in Italy and France; the celebration of St. Cecilia; Elizabethan madrigals. Music of Byrd, Purcell, Monteverdi, and Lully is performed by Anthony Rooley and the Consort of Musicke, the Taverners Choir, London, and the Zurich Opera. Contents include excerpts from: Morley's Fire,...
Language
English
Description
Music written for public performance in concert halls and theaters required composers to keep abreast of popular styles. Music of Handel, Couperin, Scarlatti, and Rameau is performed by the English Bach Festival, Huddersfield Choral Society, American Boychoir, Academy of Ancient Music, and Wexford Opera Festival. Contents include excerpts from: Handel's Zadok the Priest, Music for the Royal Fireworks, Concerto for Organ in D Minor, Orlando, Messiah;...
Language
English
Description
This program covers the impact of the Reformation on the history of music; the work of Johann Sebastian Bach; the importance of church organs and chorale singing. Music of Buxtehude and Bach is performed by James Galway, Peter Hurford, the Vienna Boys' Choir, Salvation Army Band, Hellmuth Rilling and the Stuttgart Orchestra. Contents include excerpts from: Luther's Ein' Feste Burg; Isaac's Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen; Schutz's The Lord Jesus Christ,...
Language
English
Description
This program covers Vivaldi's musical celebration of the seasons and the Italian countryside; Gluck's transformation of opera into a dramatic as well as a musical experience; new ideas for symphonic composition at Mannheim; and Haydn, father of the symphony. Performers include the Bach Orchestra and Choir of St. Paul's, Academy of Ancient Music, Takacs Quartet, Mannheim Orchestra. Contents include excerpts from: Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico, The Four...
Language
English
Description
This program covers Beethoven, the man who changed the course of music and aligned himself with the forces that changed the course of history. Movements or extracts from the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Symphonies, Quartets Opus 18 and 135, Fidelio, the Appassionata are performed by the Los Angeles, Berlin, and Vienna Philharmonics under Giulini, von Karajan, and Bohm. Contents include excerpts from: Quartet Opus 18 No. 1, Symphony No. 3, Fidelio, Symphony...
10) Vienna
Language
English
Description
This program covers Mozart in Salzburg; Mozart in Vienna; Mozart's operas examined by Sir Peter Hall; the great Mozart symphonies and the Requiem Mass; and Schubert, his piano works, chamber music, and Lieder. Performers include James Galway, the Vienna Boys' Choir, Jorg Demus, and the Amadeus Quartet. Contents include excerpts from: Mozart's Dies Irae and Lachrymosa from the Requiem, Andante in C Major, Piano Concerto K414, Haffner Serenade, Piano...
Language
English
Description
Nationalism soon led to a recognition of the classical value of folksong, and an attempt to express in music the language, landscape, and musical traditions of the composer's own country. Contents include excerpts from: Smetana's Ma Vlast; Dvorak's String Quartet in E-Flat, Symphony No. 9 ('The New World'); Ives' Three Places in New England; Janacek's Katya Kabanova; Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite; de Falla's Homage at the Tomb of Debussy; Vaughan Williams'...
Language
English
Description
Music of our time is harder to assess; we should remember that today's war-horses were in their own time shockingly modern, and that contemporary audiences often spurned those whom we most venerate today. This program presents a broad cross-section of modern music and musical trends, leaving to listeners the guess as to which will be tomorrow's classics. Contents include excerpts from: Lennon and McCartney's When I'm 64; Varese's Ionization; Stravinsky's...
Language
English
Description
The French Revolution ushered in a century of nationalism and political change throughout Europe; composers identified with causes and expressed them in music. Performances include Berlioz' Requiem, conducted by Leonard Bernstein; Wagner's Meistersinger with the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra; Verdi's Requiem with the La Scala Opera Company. Contents include excerpts from: Berlioz' Requiem; Liszt's Legend, Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Themes; Verdi's "Va...
Language
English
Description
As we move into the 20th century, music is in transition from Romanticism to Modernism, from self-expression to Realism-or to the attempt to escape from reality to bygone eras. Performers include James Galway and the Vienna Philharmonic under Bernstein, Bohm, and von Karajan. Contents include excerpts from: Puccini's Madama Butterfly; Debussy's Syrinx, La Mer; Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde; Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht; Wagner's Prelude to Tristan...
17) War and Peace
Language
English
Description
In the period between the two World Wars, composers sought to express in music the jarring and discordant sense that civilization was giving way to barbarism. During the same time, jazz burst upon the international musical scene. Performers include the Moscow Classical Ballet Company, Maxim Shostakovich conducting his father's Symphony No. 7, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Sir Peter Pears and Galina Vishnevskaya in Britten's War Requiem, and an electric...
19) M3GAN
Language
English
Description
M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a lifelike doll that's programmed to be a child's greatest companion and a parent's greatest ally. Designed by Gemma, a brilliant roboticist, M3GAN can listen, watch, and learn as it plays the role of friend and teacher, playmate and protector. When Gemma becomes the unexpected caretaker of her eight-year-old niece, she decides to give the girl a M3GAN prototype, a decision that leads to unimaginable consequences....