A filmed portrait of the late great Italian maestro Carlo Maria Giulini. Far from being an autocratic conductor or a kinetic dynamo of the podium, Mr. Giulini was a probing musician who achieved results by projecting serene authority and providing a model of selfless devotion to the score. His symphonic performances were at once magisterial and urgent, full of surprise yet utterly natural.—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times.
In 1998 at the age of 85, Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini announced his retirement from public life. Shortly afterward, he gave a series of interviews that are featured in this documentary. Discussing his musical philosophy, the ethics of art, and the importance of nurturing younger generations, Giulini gives us a window into his life on and off the concert stage. The interview footage is interwoven with evocative archival photographs and film footage of the maestro working with a youth orchestra on Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 "Pastorale".
Photo: Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1982. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
