Nadia Boulanger - Mademoiselle

Nadia Boulanger - Mademoiselle
by Bruno Monsaingeon

Nadia Boulanger - Mademoiselle
List Price: $28.98
Our Price: $25.99
You Save: $2.99 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $17.10 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Bruno Monsaingeon, Nadia Boulanger
Director: Bruno Monsaingeon
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 54 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-11-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Juxtapositions

Movie Reviews of Nadia Boulanger - Mademoiselle

Movie Review: (-) "You are letting yourself be ruled by technique"
Summary: 5 Stars


I came to Nadia Boulanger via Dinu Lipatti, (Piano Concertos) her pupil and one of the most gifted, if short lived, piano players of the 20th century. Then, this being a film made by Bruno Monsaingeon, whom I met through Richter: The Enigma [Region 2], the decision to watch it came naturally.

The film is the first one made by Monsaingeon, in 1977, upon Ms. Boulanger's 90th year of life. It is rather short and, as the author concedes, owes a lot in format and content to the limitations of shooting film in the early '70s--one could shoot continuously only for 11 minutes on 16mm film. One becomes so much more aware of the shortcomings by checking out Mademoiselle: Conversations With Nadia Boulanger.

Nadia Boulanger, comes by virtue of biography, with-in the generation(al) transition between two ages in the world of classical music; simpler put, between the 19th and the 20th centuries, and their types of music, respectively. And, while strongly anchored in the classical canon, she'd keep an open eye and mind towards the new musical expressions of creators such as Schoenberg. In other words, Stravinsky might have chronologically been among the last composers whose creation she resonated with. At the same time, she had undertaken the study of Schoenberg, with the idea that new musical grammars could, and ought to, have evolved.

All prior limitations of the production aside, the DVD is a real treasure for the student/practitioner of most any craft. Indeed, coming from such a culture and time, Ms. Boulanger speaks a lot to what goes wrong today and how things can be fixed. On this latter point, for example, she was of the opinion that in addition to talent, culture and all the likes, it was necessary to have character in order to succeed and excel. She's also quoted as 'scornfully dismissing' somebody in such terms: "You are letting yourself be ruled by technique." So, those who love craft will likely be most pleased by this DVD. As Paul Valery put it, "She ordains enthusiasm with discipline."

At the highest level of analysis, it is interesting how Ms. Boulanger would justify something simply by stating its quality of being so. Does this mean that she lived in a world of "everything goes?" Far from it, her canon was too rigorous for that. In her own words, "As I accept God, I accept beauty, I accept emotion. I also accept masterpieces."

Igor Markevitch and Leonard Bernstein are also featured in this film, and there is a moving last conversation between Bernstein and the dying Ms. Boulanger in the booklet that comes along. In fact, the booklet makes its own contribution to the package, not the last being Monsaingeon's candor in looking back at his first creation of this genre.

And now, if you'd allow me, my own question for Ms. Boulanger would have been about her opinion(s) on Jazz...

All in all, it's not a 5-star package, but it comes close. Probably, the people behind this production felt the same way when deciding to include herein Mozart's "Prague" symphony, no 38, conducted by Igor Markevitch .

Documentary DVD Video

DVD Video
Movies most talked about in A Few Assorted Favorites
Works for Solo Piano ImagePeter Serkin - Works for Solo Piano
Release date: 2007-03-01; Music CD
Best price: $17.99
Heinrich von Herzogenberg: Variations on a Theme of Brahms and Other Piano Music ImageHeinrich von Herzogenberg: Variations on a Theme of Brahms and Other Piano Music
Release date: 2006-09-12; Music CD
Best price: $12.81
Price in other shops: $18.98
Schumann: Piano Works, Vol. 1 ImageSchumann: Piano Works, Vol. 1
Release date: 2002-10-29; Music CD
Best price: $13.84
Price in other shops: $16.98
Victoria: Masses Ave Maris Stella & O Quam Gloriosum / Hill ImageVictoria: Masses Ave Maris Stella & O Quam Gloriosum / Hill
Release date: 1993-02-16; Music CD
Best price: $13.92
Price in other shops: $23.98
20th & 21st Century Piano Sonatas Image20th & 21st Century Piano Sonatas
Release date: 2000-07-18; Music CD
Best price: $7.87
Price in other shops: $14.99
Brahms: Violin Concerto and Double Concerto [SA-CD - CD compatible] ImageDaniel M?ller-Schott, Julia Fischer - Brahms: Violin Concerto and Double Concerto [SA-CD - CD compatible]
Release date: 2007-04-24; Music CD
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops: $20.98
Louise Farrenc: Symphony No. 2; Overtures Nos. 1 & 2 ImageLouise Farrenc: Symphony No. 2; Overtures Nos. 1 & 2
Release date: 2004-08-17; Music CD
Best price: $16.97
Price in other shops: $16.99
Ferdinand Ries: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 [Hybrid SACD] ImageFerdinand Ries: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 [Hybrid SACD]
Release date: 2004-04-20; Music CD
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops: $16.99
Shostakovich: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Sonata No. 2 ImageShostakovich: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Sonata No. 2
Release date: 2002-02-19; Music CD
Best price: $3.91
Price in other shops: $6.99
Winter: Music of Eric Ewazen and David Snow ImageWinter: Music of Eric Ewazen and David Snow
Release date: 2004-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $14.46
Price in other shops: $17.99
Similar DVD Movies
Adams: Doctor Atomic ImageAdams: Doctor Atomic
Release date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $29.97
Price in other shops: $39.99
Stravinsky: Once at a Border / Tony Palmer ImageStravinsky: Once at a Border / Tony Palmer
Release date: 2008-05-27; DVD
Best price: $13.69
Price in other shops: $24.99
Marc-Andr? Hamelin: No Limits - The World of the Piano, Vol. 2 ImageMarc-Andr? Hamelin: No Limits - The World of the Piano, Vol. 2
Release date: 2007-12-04; DVD
Best price: $19.15
Price in other shops: $28.98
Leos Janacek - From the House of Dead / MCO, ASC, Boulez, Chereau (Festival Aix-en-Provence 2007) ImageLeos Janacek - From the House of Dead / MCO, ASC, Boulez, Chereau (Festival Aix-en-Provence 2007)
Release date: 2008-04-22; DVD
Best price: $17.46
Price in other shops: $29.98
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century ImageThe Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
by Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.15
Price in other shops: $18.00
Martha Argerich, Evening Talks ImageMartha Argerich, Evening Talks
Release date: 2008-07-29; DVD
Best price: $16.80
Price in other shops: $28.98
Notes Interdites [DVD Video] ImageNotes Interdites [DVD Video]
Release date: 2008-02-26; DVD
Best price: $17.07
Price in other shops: $28.98
Juxtapositions: Elliott Carter - A Labyrinth of Time ImageJuxtapositions: Elliott Carter - A Labyrinth of Time
Release date: 2006-09-26; DVD
Best price: $16.21
Price in other shops: $24.99
Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music ImageNadia Boulanger: A Life in Music
by Leonie Rosenstiel
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 1998-03-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.52
Price in other shops: $15.95
Olivier Messiaen - The Crystal Liturgy ImageOlivier Messiaen - The Crystal Liturgy
Release date: 2007-11-20; DVD
Best price: $15.52
Price in other shops: $28.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners