Great Composers - Vol. 2 - Beethoven / Wagner

Starring: Kenneth Branagh Original UK Premiere: 1997 Dvd Release: 25th February, 2002 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

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The second volume of the BBCs excellent Great Composers series consists of two hour-long episodes devoted to Beethoven & Wagner respectively. The format in both cases is that of a standard life & works biography, but what makes these episodes so attractive is the high quality of the visual material & the engrossing nature of the insights offered from the contributors. For example, its fascinating to hear the lead violin of the Lindsay Quartet discuss the personal significance of a certain Beethoven phrase just after Charles Rosen has drawn a parallel with the composers use of form & the speeches of Robespierre. If this makes the whole project sound as wholesome & dull as dry muesli, everyone also seems alive to the human idiosyncrasies of the subjects: we learn, among other things, that the utterly humourless Cosima Wagner used to keep her husbands eyelashes & carry them around with her in a bag. The musical excerpts are both performed, by the Berlin State Opera Orchestra & other groups, & filmed with panache. Kenneth Branagh narrates. All in all, a good introduction to both composers.,

Kenneth Charles Branagh is a versatile British actor & film director. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but when he was nine his family moved to England. Branagh received a honorary doctorate in Literature from Queens University, Belfast in 1990. Branagh has worked on both stage & screen. He is probably best known for his popular film adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare, beginning with Henry V in 1989 & including versions of Much Ado About Nothing & Hamlet. He has starred in a number of other successful films unrelated to Shakespeare. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including two for directing & acting in Henry V & another for the screenplay of Hamlet. He has also won an Emmy Award for his performance in the 2001 TV film Conspiracy. He starred several times with his then wife, Emma Thompson, whom he married in 1989 & divorced in 1996. He married again in 2003, to film art director Lindsay Brunnock. In 1994 Branagh declined becoming a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Posters Of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets

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