Gennadi Rozhdestvensky - Conductor or Conjuror?
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky - Conductor or Conjuror ? From where does this person -whom one always sees from the back- draw his mysterious power? From where does it spring, this power that he wields over a group of a hundred odd musicians and over the audience? From knowledge? From a close rapport with music? From psychology? From technique? These are just some of the questions that this film raises about one of the most outstanding musicians of our time, the Russian conductor Gennadi Rozhdestvensky. Rather than a profile, this is a documentary about a conductor discussing and analysing what he knows best: the art of conducting and it features the following works: Shostakovich's 7th Symphony (master classes, rehearsals with students from the Moscow Conservatory and Zurich's Tonhalle orchestra, archival clips), Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, and Schnittke's Dead Souls. REPERTOIRE: Shostakovitch: 7th symphony "Leningrad"; Schnittke/Rozhdestvensky Suite "Dead Souls"; Prokofiev: 3rd concerto; Bartók: 2nd violin concerto; Haydn: C Major Concerto; Tchaïkovsky: "Roméo and Juliet" ORCHESTRA: The USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, The Moscow Conservatory Students Orchestram, Symphony Capella Orchestra of Russia, The USSR ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra CONDUCTOR: Gennady Rozhdestvensky PERFORMERS: Yehudi Menuhin, violin; Mstislav Rostropovitch, cello Awards: Grand Prix Démarche d'Artiste Musique - Festival de l'Unesco, 2003
