2020 Documentary: Anton Bruckner The Making of a Giant

[Cockney Sparrow]

Thanks Jayne.

[gurnemanz]

Early Friday AM, 0345....

.... and Fri 6 am

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not as such, it being Sky Arts, for which a subscription is needed for repeat viewings, I understand. However, there are these BBC offerings, for anyone interested:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/experie...uckner/zw2vhcw

Oh yes silly me . It’s on NOW TV which I have but they all blur into one. Incidentally NOW has a very good range of arts docs and one off performances.

[Serial_Apologist]

As a useful intro to Bruckner and his music, I found the linked interval chat from the Proms 2013 below far more illuminating than the documentary:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b039c6wl

[Boilk]

As a useful intro to Bruckner and his music, I found the linked interval chat from the Proms 2013 below far more illuminating than the documentary:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b039c6wl

Thanks for that link SA - the contributions from (the late) Roderick Swanston were particularly engaging and knowledgeable. I agree about the disappointing skimp through the symphonies, but given it was Sky Arts (as opposed to BBC Four) I wasn't expecting anything particularly 'deep' given the duration of 90 mins with multiple ad breaks.

[jayne lee wilson]

I would still defend the Sky film as both instructive and entertaining for its brief span. The biography was clearly mapped, the text itself was well-written and restrained; and the musical excerpts followed it clearly.

Most of the contributors had something to offer, especially Gergiev and the urbanely witty (actor?) reading from the Neue Freie Presse (stole the show for me...). The balance of lightness and gravity worked very well.
Beautifully filmed too in all the right locations, with the concerts in the St. Florian Monastery, and the perfectly apt ending at Bruckner's last resting place in the crypt there. The narrative structure made perfect sense.

A three-episode version might have been even better, but on its own terms I felt this was successful, and it stood up well to a second viewing.
Perhaps the already-dedicated Brucknerians might have enjoyed it more, through expecting (or needing) less? If I want to know more about Bruckner, go into some aspect at greater depth, I usually reach for a book...

(Or listen to the music again of course!.....Always the best learning curve ....