Cinema Tuesdays Review

The Berlin Philharmonic Story, dir. Günter Atteln
By Randy Anderson

In 1882, musicians of a Berlin orchestra, tired of the ensemble’s management, voted to form their own orchestra, which they called the Philharmonic. As a self regulating body, they voted on who would conduct them. To choose someone to be their Music Director they had to win an election by a two-thirds majority. This is one of the reasons the Berlin Philharmonic is one of the greatest orchestras of all time: the musicians themselves ultimately decide their musical direction. In the course of history, what great leaders they have chosen! In 1889 Liszt’s greatest pupil, Hans von Bülow, took command of the ensemble. An authoritarian, he drilled the orchestra, demanding the impossible and eventually getting it. On the death of Bülow the sorcerer, Artur Nikisch was voted music director, leading the ensemble until his death. By now you realize that leading this ensemble is something special. It isn’t a job to be the music director, but the artistic challenge of a lifetime.

This month’s Gramophone magazine asked the question - was Wilhelm Furtwängler the greatest conductor of all time? "The Berlin Philharmonic Story," a film by Günter Atteln, helps answer this question. Furtwängler was voted music director of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1923, and took the orchestra into the era of electric recordings. Every moment of his recorded legacy is cherished by music collectors all over the world. Hitler came to power during his tenure and the Philharmonic, like most of the world, was severely tested. Furtwängler’s wartime recordings are some of the most dramatic and staggering testaments of all of music. Incredible to those of us who have been spared the terrible crucible in which these works were forged, we can only marvel at the resiliency of the human spirit and the importance of deathless Art in a time of total war.

Herbert von Karajan succeeded Furtwängler, and he wisely held on to his predecessor’s sound. To this he added his own sense of fantasy and virtuosity. Karajan was music director for thirty-two years, and his qualities are still in evidence today.

To collectors of classical music, the Berlin Philharmonic is a very special institution. Whether you always agreed with the music directors’ choices, it was an orchestra to be reckoned with.

This new DVD from EuroArts covers the long history of this institution and the hot and cold wars that marked it over the many years. Taking us from the very beginning of the orchestra, film maker Günter Atteln allows musicians to tell us in their own words why this orchestra is so special. Sixty minutes in length, this DVD gives us music lovers some grasp of the long history of this prestigious ensemble, working up to the collapse of communism, and the ethnically and sexually diverse Philharmonic of today. The orchestra still maintains its strong traditions, but now added to the mix is a flexibility that the old orchestra never had. This is well brought out in this "The Berlin Philharmonic Story." What is missing is quality time with the directors themselves -- on the podium and making the music that means so much. For that, we still need "Art of Conducting" volumes I & II.

1/28/05

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