From Mao to Mozart - Isaac Stern in China

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Movie
German title From Mao to Mozart - Isaac Stern in China
Original title From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China
Country of production United States
original language English , Mandarin , Wu
Publishing year 1981
length 84, 89 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Murray Lerner
production Murray Lerner
camera Nick Knowland
cut Tom Haneke
occupation

From Mao to Mozart - Isaac Stern in China is one in 1979 PRC incurred, American documentary about a concert and experience travel the violinist Isaac Stern . Directed with Murray Lerner . In 1981 the production was awarded an Oscar in the category Best Documentary .

Violinist Isaac Stern

action

In the course of the ping-pong diplomacy and the general thaw between the USA and the People's Republic of China, attempts at cultural exchange between the two world powers were made in the course of the 1970s. As a result, the American violinist Isaac Stern and his family, as well as his colleague, the pianist David Golub, received an invitation to visit China in June 1979. Stern agreed to this invitation, but demanded that he be allowed to take a US camera team with him to document this goodwill trip. This is how the pictures shown in this film were made. Just under an hour and a half were filtered out of the material exposed for around 100 hours for the cinema release. As a result, "an Oscar and full houses in New York, Zurich, Paris" could be booked, as the Spiegel reported in a report on the film in its November 22, 1982 issue.

The documentary shows that there were plenty of encounters between the American artist and Chinese representatives from politics and culture, for example with the Chinese conductor Li Delun and several music students from the country whose experience with Western classical music was rather limited. Stern gave only one or two concerts in the gigantic empire, but made numerous contacts with the Central Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and took part in several music rehearsals. Some of the classical musicians in China Stern got to know locally suffered massive persecution from the Beijing government during the Cultural Revolution . Other young musicians, such as the young cellist Jian Wang or the violinist Vera Tsu, would later make a career. The majority of the musicians, however, as Stern lets it through, would understand the technical aspects of mastering the instruments, but all too often they lack “soul” and a real access to classical music when playing. Stern's interest in Chinese music tradition, the film shows, is also documented, but, according to the “Spiegel” article, is little more than mock politeness. When Stern takes part in a variety show by Chinese artists, the film also touches on the tourist element of this Stern trip. After years of isolation as a result of the cultural-political upheavals at the end of the 1960s, this film also suggests that the new China stands for an opening to the culture of the West.

Production notes

The recordings were made in China over three weeks in June 1979. In the United States, the film opened in New York on February 23, 1981, and the German screen premiere was on November 12, 1982.

Walter Scheuer took over the production management, Allan Miller the artistic supervision. Lawrence Loewinger and Jonathan Sanders were responsible for the sound.

In North America, the film grossed just over $ 1.2 million.

Reviews

Der Spiegel devoted a detailed article to the film in 1982. There it was said: “The film is little about Mao, much more about Mozart - like Schubert and Beethoven - much more. With pleasing alliteration, the title shows the direction: For Chinese cultural life, the main focus in this film is the spiritual desert during the cultural revolution. Damage from the time of isolation and the will, today, to promote political opening in the field of culture are documented. The fact that this lesson about the current state of West-East cultural relations is surprisingly stimulating is due to the person of Isaac Stern. (...) An ideal goodwill ambassador: whether he listens to children who have made it far on their instruments, whether he teaches a master class or rehearses with the members of the Philharmonic in Beijing - he always shows a formidable talent, his ability and his enthusiasm To convey to students as well as viewers (and moviegoers). His concern on this trip is the interpretation of western compositions. On the other hand, when he is shown Chinese instruments, he only appears politely interested. (...) China remains the backdrop in this film - just like the pictures from the moving train: dark green cone mountains, light green rice fields, people by the river. For the violinist Isaac Stern, this is all a great foil for his demonstration of occidental musical culture. But his interest in Chinese tradition seems limited, the priorities are clear: Western culture is presented here as the superior. ”

Hal Erickson came to a completely different conclusion in his criticism from an American point of view: "The film is extraordinarily balanced and treats both Eastern and Western musical cultures with equal respect."

The lexicon of the international film stated: “How this artist, separated from Chinese by generations and cultures, finds direct contact through music, can communicate and convey something of the soul of Western music, is a great experience. The film is at the same time a gripping document of a functioning communication between foreign people, peoples and cultures. "

The Movie & Video Guide briefly summed up that this work rightly won the Oscar for best documentary film.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Geiger auf Reisen , in Der Spiegel 47/1982.
  2. ↑ Brief review on allemovie.com
  3. ↑ From Mao to Mozart - Isaac Stern in China. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 28, 2020 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 467

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