Gustav Mahler: Detaching From the World (2006)

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Gustav Mahler: Detaching From the World (2006)

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The life and work of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) in a film biography by Franz Winter, shot at the original locations – with previously unpublished original material – based on Uri Caine's engagement as a composer with the music of Mahler. This film covers the composer’s youth, his times in Prague and Attersee, his engagements at the opera halls of Budapest and Vienna, his marriage to Alma Mahler, the death of their daughter Maria Anna, his period in New York, his work on the Tenth Symphony, and his death. Jazz pianist/composer Uri Caine brings an eclectic array of disciplines and influences to his music. His own Jewish heritage, his classical and jazz training, and his interest in electronics combine in ambitious hybrids that are often challenging but always inventive.

Review: What a dud. What a bore. What a shame.

Don't get me wrong… I love Uri Caine's stuff, especially his eclectic avant-jazz reimaginings of music by Gustav Mahler (and Wagner, Bach, Schumann, and Beethoven too.) And I also adore Winter and Winter, probably the classiest record label around these days.

So when I found out they were branching out into DVD releases, I naturally expected great things – especially since one of their first "Film Edition" projects, which are tantalizingly described as "celluloid improvisations," was inspired by Uri Caine's Mahler explorations.

Gustav Mahler: detaching from the world certainly has the trademark Winter and Winter look and feel, from the corrugated bio-friendly packaging to the sparse, artsy booklet inside.

The actual content of the DVD, however, is unfortunately a lot like a Ken Burns documentary on quaaludes – if such a dreadful thing can even be imagined.

The soundtrack is excerpted from Uri Caine's Primal Light and Dark Flame CDs (with one track from Wagner e Venezia) so there's no new music to be heard here if you are already familiar with those albums. But it's all good stuff, to be sure (even though the selections are often faded in and out and edited.)

Except you have to endure Uri Caine's narration as well, and believe me, he's no James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman. Caine's spoken delivery, completely unlike his music, is dry, monotone, and lethargic. He's also clearly reading from a scripted text that consists mainly of biographical anecdotes, excerpts from Mahler's letters, and so forth – the usual PBS-style documentary fodder.

If you prefer, you can switch to the German narration read by Fritz Winter instead, who is also credited as the film's writer and director and is presumably related to Stefan Winter, the label's founder and executive producer. Maybe that's how he got the job.

The visuals consist of long, slow panning shots of still photographs, paintings, and the occasional "live" landscape, building, or cemetery scene. Many of these images are certainly lovely and interesting. Put them in a coffee table book, by all means… I just don't want to look at them on my television screen while being lulled to sleep by a guy reading to me.

Eventually, I just turned the narration off and listened to the music, which helped a little – but in that case, who needs this DVD when you'd be better off just listening to the Uri Caine/Mahler CDs while reading the liner notes and looking at the pictures in the booklets?

Overall, Caine's fresh, quirky, engaging arrangements of Mahler's music stand in stark contrast to the bland, stolid, conventional tone of the visuals and narrative in this well-intentioned but unremarkable documentary. Regrettably, traditional orchestral versions of Mahler's music would have provided a far more appropriate soundtrack.

Factor in the super-premium price tag, the standard stereo sound, and a running time of under an hour, and this DVD becomes even less necessary and appealing.

By all means, check out Uri Caine's amazing Primal Light album. Then listen to the inferior but still worthwhile follow-ups, Mahler in Toblach and Dark Flame.

But if Gustav Mahler: detaching from the world is any indication, Winter and Winter should stick to films of the audio variety. And I sincerely hope they change my mind about this someday soon.

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Gustav Mahler: Detaching From the World (2006)

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