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1-16 of 16
- Gidon Kremer celebrates his 60th birthday in 2007 - he is, and has always been, one of the most headstrong and original artists in the music business. His return to J. S. Bach's partitas is a major event as Kremer's first recording of these works was released almost a quarter of a century ago, and he hasn't played the partitas in public for over twenty years. Those who have followed Gidon Kremer's artistic development over the past 25 years will note how much his tone and articulation have changed. The new rendering displays Kremer's very personal sense of spontaneity and a readiness to take risks. In the early 1980s, after being declared persona non grata in the Soviet Union, Kremer moved to the West and made a recording of the solo partitas. The record went down in music history and for decades was a benchmark in the music guild. The young virtuoso was catapulted to fame virtually overnight in the Western world and hailed as the world's best violinist by Herbert von Karajan. This recording features the Violin Partita Nos.1, 2, and 3, recorded at the Pfarrkirche Lockenhaus in 2002 and the documentary Back to Bach. The film includes rare archival footage and tells in a very personal way of Gidon Kremer's encounters with Bach's music, accompanying the famous violin virtuoso in rehearsals, recording sessions and discussions with a few trusted confidants. Bonus feature: - Gidon Kremer - Back to Bach
- The film opens with a ride across the Mexican metropolis, home to eighteen million, in one of the famous green Beetle taxis. This is where the tenor Rolando Villazón was born. With a gaze that is part Mr. Bean and part Latin lover, he has sung his way into the hearts of opera fans around the world. Before Villazón's thoughts ever turned to the stage, he attended school like every other boy. Twenty years later, he is now returning to his alma mater, the German Alexander von Humboldt school in Mexico City. "Somehow it's strange," says Villazón, standing among the small boys in the school courtyard. "I was one of them, and now I realize that the child I was back then still exists today. And now I know that this child must always have been within me, because he is who I am now." It is with a nearly childish delight that he cavorts about the stage today - for instance, in the legendary La Traviata production at the 2005 Salzburg Festival. He and Anna Netrebko rehearsed and played probably the most passionate and tragic couple in opera literature. The filmmakers Daniel Finkernagel and Alexander Lück accompanied the tenor for two years, making a documentary that does not follow a strict timeline, but moves between present and past when it suits the film's thematic focus. The visit to Mexico arouses many memories, and Villazón talks about special moments in his past for the first time with the camera crew: his first dressing room, the small stage at the Theatro de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where Rolando sang in his first competition, his first bout of nervousness, the seminary where Rolando worked as a history teacher for five years and even considered becoming a priest himself. In addition to revisiting the past, the film shows everyday moments in the life of a tenor who is in demand around the world: acclaimed performances at the Liceo Barcelona, intense rehearsals with Anna Netrebko for the Salzburg Traviata, and his breakthrough performance in 2005 as a marvelous