Nadia Boulanger - Mademoiselle
by Bruno Monsaingeon
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bruno Monsaingeon, Nadia BoulangerDirector: 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 .
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