My Life in Music
by Paul Balmer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Julian BreamDirector: Paul Balmer
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, Import, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 174 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-12-05
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Avie
Movie Reviews of My Life in Music
Movie Review: Julian Bream, in his own words
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, the pluses. The film is 120 minutes long and I wished it were longer. You get to hear Julian Bream recounting the formation and development of his musical career, speaking directly to the camera. He is charming and frank about a lot of issues. He is generally quite modest and is frequently funny. In all it amounts to a personal and moving story.
Additionally, the director did some things quite to my liking. First he made excellent use of a limited number of old photos and extensive video footage incorporating these into the film effectively. Secondly, the film is punctuated with several filmed performances shown in their entirety and without any voice-over. While these are generally short works or single movements it does amount to about eight clips, each running from 3 to 5 or so minutes long.
The bonus features on the DVD include four additional performed works ("Archive Music Clips") totaling about 18 minutes and nine "bonus chapters" that didn't make it into the final cut. The bonus chapters are mostly additional anecdotes by Bream amounting to about 28 minutes of supplemental material, all worth watching.
There is a ten minute "making of" documentary, but it is used mostly to highlight the individual production contributors (the film crew and so on). Nothing wrong with it - it does catch the spirit of the endeavor but really doesn't make a big contribution to the release. There is no real narrative to this short feature.
There is a directors' commentary track that is also worth hearing but the amount of additional comments is fairly limited. He never speaks over Bream during the commentary, instead commenting during the set-up tracks or the performed works. Still, it was enlightening and worth hearing.
The last feature that I'll mention is a 23 minute audio-only clip of the Richard Rodney Bennett Sonata for Solo Guitar.
As to any negatives, I might name few. The idea for the film was apparently initiated by Bream himself. Aside from some comments made by Richard Rodney Bennett (and a few interjections by the director for continuity) there are no other speaking contributors. I didn't mind that, but keep in mind this is much more of a self-portrait than a profile - it is not your typical "documentary style" biography.
Second, along the same lines, Bream is very frank about his family life - but only to a point. The focus is almost exclusively on his development as a musician. So, I was left wondering what became of his mother (after his parents divorced) or how he got on with his siblings or with his step-siblings or with his step-mother. As another reviewer noted, Breams own marriage is given the briefest of mentions.
I don't fault the film-makers (or Bream himself) for these limitations and I respect his privacy but it did leave me wondering about those types of unanswered questions. His candid remarks, limited as they were, left me hoping for more insights from Bream about his own life and the people in it.
In a similar fashion, I was left wanting to know a bit more about his school days and the more recent periods in his life. Altogether, the main focus is from his early teenage years (the 1950's) up to about 1976. The bonus chapters (and director's commentary) do help here but I still could have used more coverage of his later life and even on his own technique and the challenges of being mainly self-taught.
My last comment is about the chronology itself. The film begins with a movement from Britten's "Nocturnal". Later in the film Bream speaks of recording the work successfully - not at the start of his recording career, but a few years into it. Then we go back in time to hear a bit about the origin of that work. After a few more contemporary scenes we go back again to the work being completed and the film concludes with a stunning performance of the Passacaglia movement from that same work - again this was recorded in 2003 at Breams home (as was the opening performance sequence). This works well dramatically, but not quite as well as a chronology.
All-in-all highly recommended. This is the type of release that should be found in any reasonably sized public library. See if yours will order it for their collection.
Archive Music Clips Listing -
DIONISIO AGUADO - Rondo in A minor Op. 2 (6:10)
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS - Study No. 11 (7:10)
THOMAS MORLEY - 'Galliard to the Sacred End Pavan' - Julian Bream Consort (1987) (2:13)
WILLIAM WALTON - Bagatelle No. 5 (2:27)
Summary of My Life in Music
Julian Bream, considered by many as the greatest classic guitarist of the 20th century, tells the remarkable story of his life in music. Over three hours of material, illustrated with over one hour of complete musical performances, includes contributions from John Williams, Peter Pears, Igor Stravinsky, William Walton, George Malcolm, Richard Rodney Bennett and Ali Akbar Khan. Julian's influence has resulted in a repertoire rich in contributions from Britten, Walton, Henze, Takemitsu, Tippett, Rawsthorne, Lennox Berkeley and countless others. He enthusiastically communicates his musical passions which are celebrated in this generously documented DVD. Highlights include Julian's coming out of retirement for a performance of Britten's Nocturnal, written for the guitarist, and an emotional return to the composer's home in Aldeburgh, and an exclusive BBC Radio 3 recording of Richard Rodney Bennett's Sonata for Solo Guitar. Previously offered as a limited edition only through the producers, Avie makes My Life in Music commercially available for the first time to the wider public.Music Video & Concerts DVD Video
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