Stephen Fry: Wagner and Me reviews
Review by on 23 Sep 2010
If you share an interest for Richard Wagner and Stephen Fry this documentary is heaven. Stephen Fry travels from Switzerland to Russia and then to Germany, to give a history of one of the most controversial composers in the history of music. Stephen Fry goes to Nuremberg, where Wagner’s tainted name is famous for having his music played at the rally by request of Hitler himself, to Bayreuth where Wagner had a theatre created in celebration of his fantastic music. Fry travels through Wagner’s history in search of the answer, can a man with Jewish heritage and relatives that died within Auschwitz, listen to the music of an anti-Semitic composer, who is famous for his music that is often represented with the suffering of millions. This documentary is thoroughly interesting to anybody that loves the music of the Romantics period and Stephen Fry. Although the documentary only goes into minor detail of the life of the composer it helps you understand the highs and lows of this great composer. As the cameras go behind the scenes of the rehearsals of Wagner’s operas and explore the majestic venues they are performed, you get the idea of how much of a genius Wagner really was.
William Johnson
William Johnson
Review by on 19 Sep 2010
WAGNER AND ME charts Stephen Fry’s exploration of the world and music of Wagner, which unfolds as preparations are made for the annual Wagner festival in Beyreuth, Germany. The film is carried along by Fry’s boyish enthusiasm, bubbling to the surface on occasions such as a rehearsal of the Ride of the Valkyries, a bare-boned affair where the robust orchestral score is played only by a piano and the valkyries are distinguished only by their perspex shields and wings. Throughout, the film pauses on details that bring colour to the piece: Fry’s chagrin when the pianist allows him to play the final note of the Tristan opera on Wagner’s own piano and he gets it wrong; a trombonist playing tetris on his mobile phone as the performance continues around him.
The tone grows darker as it turns to the question of what happened to Wagner’s music in the decades after his death, with unsettling images of Hitler being saluted by the crowds at Beyreuth. Yet the difficulty that such a legacy presents for Fry (himself Jewish) is rarely clouded with sentimentality, whether during the compelling interview of a member of the inmates’ orchestra at Auschwitz or when explaining the context behind Wagner’s own anti-semitism.
Presented in a laid-back, intimate style, this film-documentary is an interesting blend of political history, musicology and biography. The pace is not frantic, and refreshingly the film trusts its audience to hold their attention long enough to watch extended clips of rehearsals and performances of Wagner’s operas (including a daring version of Parsifal set in Nazi Germany). Fry’s multi-faceted exploration of this ‘stained silken tapestry’ of the Wagnerian world makes for compelling viewing, for devotees of the composer and novices alike.
Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough
The tone grows darker as it turns to the question of what happened to Wagner’s music in the decades after his death, with unsettling images of Hitler being saluted by the crowds at Beyreuth. Yet the difficulty that such a legacy presents for Fry (himself Jewish) is rarely clouded with sentimentality, whether during the compelling interview of a member of the inmates’ orchestra at Auschwitz or when explaining the context behind Wagner’s own anti-semitism.
Presented in a laid-back, intimate style, this film-documentary is an interesting blend of political history, musicology and biography. The pace is not frantic, and refreshingly the film trusts its audience to hold their attention long enough to watch extended clips of rehearsals and performances of Wagner’s operas (including a daring version of Parsifal set in Nazi Germany). Fry’s multi-faceted exploration of this ‘stained silken tapestry’ of the Wagnerian world makes for compelling viewing, for devotees of the composer and novices alike.
Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough
Film details
Stephen Fry: Wagner and Me
DOCUMENTARIES
Actor: Stephen Fry
Director: Patrick McGrady
Director: Patrick McGrady
United Kingdom, 2010.
90 mins.
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