Overview

"mm"s are m(usic(ian's))m(eetings) mostly held at the Who Unit? in Pittsburgh as a 21st century salon of sorts where formal interests can be broached casually. Attendees delight in sharing their sometimes obscure & sometimes popular musical (& otherwise) loves. For mm 49 (in the 37th month of "mm"'s history) a marathon listening party celebrating the music of Vivian Fine was decided upon. Fine was a dedicated composer who produced a variety of work over a 70 year career. This movie, of course, is not an imitation of Ken Burns style documentary movie-making. Instead, I gleefully mix the casualness & lively uninhibited conversation of mms with the formal exactitude of Fine's music. I hope you enjoy it as an upstanding example of Punk Classical. "Bah to the Bourgeoisie"! Note that I'm starting to disappear in this movie - will you miss me when I'm gone? This is my 111th feature & my 404th movie.

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It all begins with a childhood memory: that day when the father of the future filmmaker Sebastiano d'Ayala Valva forces him to listen to certain music that initially terrifies him; a distant echo from the past that leads him to follow the trail of his mysterious ancestor, the Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), who claimed that his music was directly inspired by the gods.

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18th century Vienna. Maria Theresia von Paradis, a gifted piano player and close friend of Mozart's, lost her eye-sight as a child. Desperate to cure their talented daughter, the Paradis entrust Maria to Dr. Mesmer, a forward-thinking-physician who gives her the care and attention that she requires. With the doctor's innovative techniques of magnetism, Maria slowly recovers her sight. But this miracle comes at a price as the woman progressively starts to lose her gift for music.

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1779. Eight-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven, called "Louis", is already known as a musical prodigy. He learns to go his own way - much to the dismay of the people around him. Some years later, he meets Mozart during times of political upheaval. The unconventional genius and French Revolution are sparking a fire in Louis' heart; he doesn't want to serve a master - only the arts. Facing times of family tragedies and unrequited love, he almost gives up. However, Louis makes it to Vienna to study under Haydn in 1792, and the rest is history. Who was this man, whose music has since touched countless hearts and minds? At the end of his life, the master is isolated by loss of loved ones and hearing. Surely though, he was way ahead of his times.

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A docudrama about four weeks in the life of famous Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. The drama - filled with many of Dvorak's compositions - begins when the composer suddenly decides to cut a concert in London and return home. While on the train, flashbacks reveal his relationship to his wife Anna and her sister Josefina. Both women gave him inspiration, yet Dvorak is clearly troubled in some way as musical excerpts come and go in his creative mind.

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Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Viennese composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.

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The film tells the story of an intuitive, adventurous man who loved his country and being Brazilian. This man fought to be loyal to himself. His music is a transparent portrait of his genius, intuition, freedom, adventure and passion for Brazil.

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Known for his mournful "Adagio for Strings," Samuel Barber was never quite fashionable. This acclaimed film is a probing exploration of his music and melancholia. Performance, oral history, musicology, and biography combine to explore the life and music of one of America’s greatest composers. Features Thomas Hampson, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop and many more of the world's leading experts on Barber's music, with tributes from composers Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and William Schuman. The film was broadcast on PBS, and screened at nine film festivals internationally, with three best-of awards. It was named a Recording of the Year 2017 by MusicWeb International.