Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt - Beethoven heute(2020)

The Passions of Vaughan Williams(en)

Fifty years after his death, this musical and psychological portrait of Ralph Vaughan Williams explores the passions that drove a giant of 20th-century English music.

DORA - Escape into Music(de)

The pianist Kyra Steckeweh and the filmmaker Tim van Beveren search for traces where Countess Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) lived and worked. Their documentary is a journey through time to a half brilliant, half broken Europe.

نجميّات(ar)

A lightning-fast 10-minute dive into art, cinema, music, culture, and beyond, in each part. Ditch the fancy, embrace the fun. No script, just surprises. This part talks about music and its history

The Fire and the Rose(en)

A documentary on the life and work of the composer Sofia Gubaidulina.

Bach: A Passionate Life(en)

John Eliot Gardiner goes in search of Bach the man and the musician. The famous portrait of Bach portrays a grumpy 62-year-old man in a wig and formal coat, yet his greatest works were composed 20 years earlier in an almost unrivalled blaze of creativity. We reveal a complex and passionate artist; a warm and convivial family man at the same time a rebellious spirit struggling with the hierarchies of state and church who wrote timeless music that is today known world-wide. Gardiner undertakes a 'Bach Tour' of Germany, and sifts the relatively few clues we have - some newly-found. Most of all, he uses the music to reveal the real Bach.

Písně z Gurre: Making of(cs)

Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance(en)

A history of the work of Merce Cunningham.

Ján Levoslav Bella(sk)

Muhai Tang - In The Ocean Of Music(de)

MUHAI TANG – IN THE OCEAN OF MUSIC is a portrait of Chinese conductor Muhai Tang’s extraordinary life. Born in 1949, the founding year of the People’s Republic of China, and raised during the Cultural Revolution, it seemed as if he would have to abandon his dream of a career in music. However, his talent, perseverance and the support of Herbert von Karajan ultimately brought him to the world’s concert halls. Today, Muhai Tang is a global nomad. A wanderer between the worlds which he unites with music. His personal history, interspersed with historical caesurae, is typical for Chinese of his generation. He gained access to western culture early on through music. Muhai Tang’s life and work are exemplary of a changing China and the enrichment of the world by an artist between East and West.

UNIQUE: Nemanja Radulović(fr)

The movie-concert “UNIQUE” of famous Serbian violinist Nemanja Radulović in the Neolithic settlement of Carnac, France.

Ensemble(fr)

Peter Dvorský(sk)

New York Scherzo(en)

NEW YORK SCHERZO is a feature documentary that follows the lives of three diverse classically trained musicians as they try to make it in New York City. Originally from Seoul, Paris and Nashville they are passionate about their art but struggle to make a living, and face a crossroads where they must decide if they can sustain a career doing what they love.

At the Haunted End of the Day(en)

A documentary by Tony Palmer on English composer Sir William Walton (1902–1983), made shortly before his death. The film includes the only full-length interview ever recorded with Walton. Filmed at his home on Ischia and in Oxford, London & Oldham, it includes contributions from Laurence Olivier, Sacheverell Sitwell and Lady Susana Walton. Specially performed extracts of his music are conducted by Simon Rattle in his first substantial contribution to television when he was in his early 20s, with Simon Preston, Julian Bream, Yvonne Kenny, Yehudi Menuhin, Iona Brown, John Shirley-Quirk, Elgar Howarth & Ralph Kirshbaum, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford & Los Paraguayos.

Englands heimliche Hymne - Land of Hope and Glory(de)

The Reich's Orchestra(de)

In 2007, the Berliner Philharmoniker celebrated their 125th anniversary. Film director Enrique Sánchez Lansch took this occasion to tell a hitherto unknown chapter in the history of the Berliner Philharmoniker: the years of National Socialism from 1933 to 1945. The film, “The Reichsorchester”, made in collaboration with musicians of the orchestra and its archive.

Leonard Bernstein: The Gift of Music(en)

Leonard Bernstein narrated by legendary screen star Lauren Bacall. The movie also relies extensively on Bernstein's own words to provide the counterpoint to the abundant visual material. Highlights include excerpts of Bernstein conducting masterworks by Beethoven and Mahler, as well as of the maestro with the New York Philharmonic in Moscow in 1959 before an audience which included composer Dmitri Shostakovich and the dissident poet Boris Pasternak. It also contains never-before-seen footage, such as outtakes from televised concerts and interviews. Among these special treats: the dashing 28-year-old maestro representing the U.S. at the 1947 Prague Spring Festival – possibly the earliest extant film of Leonard Bernstein.

Virtuoso: The Olga Samaroff Story(en)

As America's first international woman concert pianist, renowned lecturer, author, music critic, famous conductor's wife and champion for equal rights for women in music, Olga Samaroff was at the center of a musical life that to this day embodies the imprint of her artistry and achievements. Her life story also portrays an era in our American cultural heritage that has largely been underserved in the documentary film genre. Texas-born Olga Samaroff a.k.a. Lucy Hickenlooper lived at a time when music was dominated by men and Old World prejudices----and she emerged as a leader among many. Against tremendous odds she rose from complete obscurity to be the most successful American woman concert pianist of the early 20th Century. - Lorri Holt, Frederica von Stade

High Fidelity: The Adventures of the Guarneri String Quartet(en)

Relationships, rehearsals, performances, hobbies, and family life of the members of the Guarneri String Quartet.

Great Russian Composers(en)

These biographical drama documentaries explore the lives and careers of Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov and Chaliapin.