Wednesday 16 July 2014

Dvorak - In Love?

Dvorak - In Love?
Tony Palmer's film Dvorak - In Love? has just made its debut on DVD (on Firefly Entertainment). Now, if you didn't realise that Palmer had made a new film, you would be right! Dvorak - In Love? has a rather curious story. It was originally produced in 1988 in collaboration with Czechoslovak Television. A documentary about how Dvorak's Cello Concerto came into existence, the finished film had too political message for Communist-ruled Czechoslovakia (the work was shown in the UK on the South Bank Show). When, two years later, the Russians withdrew the film was the first documentary to be shown on Czechoslovak TV.

The film includes a complete performance of Dvorak's Cello Concerto performed by Julian Lloyd Webber with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vaclav Neumann. The story the film tells involves not only a tragic love-story but also Dvorak's active involvement in the 1880's and 1890's in a movement which wanted to free Bohemia from domination by a Foreign Power (in this case the ruling Austro-Hungarian Empire). Issues which are as relevant today.

Available from Amazon: Dvorak - In Love? [DVD] [NTSC]

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts this month