Mahler is a new
addition to the composers featured in the BBC Great Composers
series of documentaries, joining Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,
Wagner, Puccini and Tchaikovsky. Directed by Kriss Rusmanis,
this is a standard documentary-style mixture of short dramatic
reconstructions of events in his life (particularly his earlier
years – the reconstructions rather fizzled out later on), biographical
narrative and interviews with prominent historians, biographers
and musicians. The DVD had an impressive line-up of the latter,
including Norman Lebrecht, Michael Tilson Thomas, Donald Mitchell,
Michael Kennedy, Georg Solti, Thomas Hampson and Riccardo Chailly,
as well as the composer’s granddaughter, who gave some particularly
insightful comments.
As well as providing
an all-round view of the man and his music, the film focuses
on trying to explain why Mahler included certain quirky aspects
in his works, and why he wrote the music that he did. It looks
for links between his life and resulting output. For example,
it accounts for his juxtapositions of the musically banal and
intense or tragic by recollecting how the young Mahler ran out
of the house from a violent dispute between his parents, to
be confronted by an organ grinder playing a tune in the street
outside. The interviewees and narrator (Kenneth Branagh) lay
a great deal of emphasis on Mahler’s innovative qualities, and
how he created sounds and sound-worlds that no-one else had
ever done before.
When the camera
is not focused on interviewees, we are presented with many shots
of orchestras or soloists performing the music, of places –
alpine scenes and Mahler’s houses and composing huts, and photographs
of the man himself, his wife, Alma, and his children.
I found only two
small causes for complaint and criticism – the first a mild
irritation that the opening camera shots rushing above trees
made one feel rather dizzy(!), and secondly, the presence of
a couple of dancers in white, who appeared twice, first during
an excerpt from the Adagietto of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony
and who whirled and writhed about trying to look graceful and
portray the music’s emotions in movement. I found that this
touch did not add anything and had only the effect of appearing
rather twee and silly.
On the whole, however,
this is an interesting and well-presented documentary, extremely
informative without ever seeming didactic or at all dry. The
attempt to put the music in the context of the man’s life worked
well, and the ending was (as might be expected!) fairly moving.
Em Marshall
Kenneth Branagh (narrator)
[58:00]
