Anton Bruckner: The Making of a Giant (Blu-ray)

Anton Bruckner: The Making of a Giant - A film by Reiner E. Moritz

Underestimated by his contemporaries, but today acclaimed as one of the greatest and most imaginative composers of his time, Anton Bruckner was a genius of tones. This will be the first in-depth documentary about the composer which explodes many of the myths and prejudices cultivated by his detractors during his lifetime and subsequently. It is a story from rags to recognition told by those who have intimate knowledge of Anton Bruckner and his work. Such great conductors as Kent Nagano, Valery Gergiev and Simon Rattle let the composer come alive in the documentary “Anton Bruckner – The Making of a Giant”, telling the ups and downs of life through his music.

Using the opportunity of drawing on Gergiev’s recording of the Bruckner cycle with the Munich Philharmonic for Telmondis, contributions from the Florianer Sängerknaben, organists at St Florian, Linz and the Vienna Court Chapel as well as the conductor of the Linzer Singakademie (formerly Bruckner’s Liedertafel Frohsinn), we gain insights into the work of the composer. We visit his birthplace, hear about his teaching assignments, his triumphs as organist in France and England, his relationship with Wagner and the difficult times in Vienna, where he spent the latter part of his life.

Including 7 a cappella motets and the two motets Vaterlandslied and Du bist wie eine Blume.

Featuring: Mag. Andreas Etlinger, organist of the monastery of St Florian; Dr Elisabeth Maier, biographer; Dr Andrea Harrandt, musicologist and co-editor Bruckner-Lexikon; John Berky, director of the Bruckner Society of America; Prof. Farnberger, artistic director of St Florian Boys Choir; Dr Klaus Petermayr, Österreichisches Landesmuseum; Mag. Bernhard Prammer, organist Alter Dom Linz; Alexander Koller, chorus master Hard-Chor Linz; Prof. Martin Haselböck, organist; Valery Gergiev, conductor; Cornelius Obonya, speaker; Dr Thomas Angyan, intendant Vienna Musikverein; Dr Andreas Lindner; Bruckner-Institut Linz.