PYONGYANG CONCERT: WAGNER, R. / DVORAK, A. / GERSHWIN, G. (New York Philharmonic, Maazel)
Orchestra:
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor:
Maazel, Lorin
Composer:
Wagner, Richard
Composer:
Dvorak, Antonin
Composer:
Gershwin, George
Composer:
Bizet, Georges
Composer:
Bernstein, Leonard
Composer:
Traditional
Venue: East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, Pyongyang
Date of Concert: 26-02-2008
Playing Time: 02:40:17
Television Director:
Beyer, Michael
Producer:
Smaczny, Paul
Documentary Title: Americans in Pyongyang
Catalogue Number: EuroArts5694
UPC: 880242569486
Who would have thought it? An American orchestra performing in North Korea! Hundreds of millions watched this historic New York Philharmonic concert on television in February 2008 and for a few hours the cold war hostilities seemed to be forgotten. Music became diplomacy when conductor Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic, the USA's most eminent orchestra, opened the concert in East Pyongyang's Grand Theatre with both the American and the North Korean national anthems. The programme included music by Wagner, Dvorák, Gershwin, Bizet and Bernstein and prompted the North Korean audience to standing ovations. This courageous musical project also united Korean and American musicians, who together produced a technically brilliant performance. The musicians barely spoke to one another, communicating in exchanged glances and body language, and when Lorin Maazel raised his baton at the end of the concert and the orchestra embarked on Arirang, a lilting folk song emblematic of the North and South Korean people, the audience was obviously touched.
A previously unreleased documentary with 53 minutes of exclusive material shows members of the New York Philharmonic on their historic trip to North Korea's capital. Many concerns and doubts arose before departing to the most inaccessible country in the world but the concert recording and the documentary present no political manifestos. Instead they show people who are brought a little closer by virtue of music. Music knows no borders and can touch hearts and unite people everywhere ?EUR" this release provides impressive proof.
Bonus feature:
-Americans in Pyongyang
