Customer Reviews

Liszt's Rhapsody [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I used this video in an elementary school music class. I watched the video 10 times and I enjoyed it every time.

The video presents a lot of facts about his life in an enjoyable format suitable for school age children. It would also be good for older students who are just learning about the composers and their times.

You may need to draw out the facts from the movie a little like: "Liszt was the first to position the piano to the side so the audience could see his hands and was the very first to present a concert with this kind of showmanship," but there is a lot about him and bits of his most recognizable music in the soundtrack.

Of the six videos I have seen in the "Composers Series" I like this one best.

I know this movie is for children, but some of the reviewer here are missing the point.
I thought this movie was well written to teach children (and to remind adults) who we are; all of us are different and unique, from the children's point of views. In this movie, Josi Sarai,the gypsy boy.

The real life Franz Liszt's adventure with Josi is very little known to the public but it was a fact. And the most of the outline was fairly accurate and true, except those little details such as; Liszt was not the one to conceive the idea of training gypsy boy, but Count Teleky, who is a comic relief in this movie-the real life friend of Liszt "bought" the boy from the family and brought him, dropped him on the door step of Liszt. (But that might not be appropriate for educational material, I guess.)

Liszt did not found "Rhapsody" by encountering gypsies on the street corners, but he actually visited them in the camp, stayed wih them, observed the lives closely, and was inspired by them to put together his series of hungarian national melodies, and then, revised them to the popular version of "Hungarian Rhapsody".

Anyone interested in finding out what happened to Josi?
He rejoin his tribe and married a gypsy girl roughly ten years after he left Liszt. They had a boy, and named him after Liszt.
Liszt was honored to know he was a Godfather of the boy, sent "little Frankie" a violin. (I'm paraphrasing from the book written by Liszt "Gipsy in Music")

There you have it.

I understand the difficulty of putting the facts, all explained with accuracy in 60 minutes children's educational material.
And I thought it was well put together.

If teachers who wish touse this is a classroom music project, or some of the viewer wish to research the life of Liszt, I highly recommend three books of "Franz Liszt" by Dr.Alan Walker, and the CD series by the pianist, Dr.Leslie Howard.

Personally, I love this video and I know the whole thing by heart.

My rating of 4stars are infinitely close to 5. The actors of these three main characters did great job. (And Drew is a fine violin player, might I add.) The restriction of 60minutes and guideline for educational material took away the little piece of star.

This sad fictional account of Liszt makes this great monumental artist seem like a lame duck. A far better story could have been created to show Liszt as the great artist and person he really was... as those great qualities are enough to procure admiration and instill motivation in any young child! So please, dispense with giving children the notion that this great man was a wimp! It's only Liszt's music that rescues this tale from "zero stars" oblivion!

This movie is great NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS!
my brother and i watched it 10 times and know it by heart
it is halarious (thenx to peter kelgan) and authentic (GEORDIE JOHNSON)
whatever u do watch this movie and keep up the good work GEORDIE JOHNSON!

The title of this review summarizes the story presented in this video.

Like the companion Beethoven video, "Beethoven Lives Upstairs" (see review), this work is badly written, badly acted, but beautifully photographed. In fairness, I must point out that the video, "Bach Fights for Freedom" is quite good (see review).

The main protagonist is a young Gypsy boy who plays his violin "from the heart" while goofy Franz is presented as a mere virtuoso pianist with no musical heart at all.

The interminable video lasts almost an hour, almost all of which is devoted to the turbulent relation between Liszt and the oh-so-talented Gypsy boy whom he attempts to teach. It seems formal music training will show the Gypsy boy that music pays better than begging.

Hold on! What kind of a message is this for kids in the audience?

What about the merits of the music? If we are to believe the message of this video, Liszt got ALL his ideas from this sensitive Gypsy kid. Is there even a shred of Truth here?

What actual music do we hear? Well, there is a phrase or two of Preludes, a little of Liebestraum, and there is a big finish with (the best part of?) a Hungarian Rhapsody ornamented with a band of colorfully-costumed, hand-clapping, Gypsies. All other Liszt pieces are mere fragments in the background that are smothered by the awful and pointless dialogue.

As with the Beethoven video, we have here, a waste of time and a disappointing work.

my sister and i took the movie from the library and watched it one day, and it simply grew on us. We have watched it about 10 times and memorized all the lines. This movie is halarious (because of peter kelgan) and quite authentic (GEORDIE JOHNSON)
it good for both kids and adults so
just buy/rent it and watch it over and over
you wont be disappointed!

my sister and i wached this video and loved it
it is halarois ( thenx to peter kelgan) and really authentic (GEORDIE JOHNSON)
so watchit
u wont be disapointed!

Geordie Johnson (who portrays Franz Liszt) is a dreamy guy. He puts such passion into Liszt. I love this movie. I watch it all the time. It is full of inspiration and GREAT music. The little gypsy boy (josy) is a little annoying but Johnson Shines over him. I recommend all music lovers watch this inspiring and wonderful tale...and if you are a fan of Dracula: The Series (ran in the early 90's) and a fan of Geordie Johnson...don't pass up this oppurtunity to swoon over him...he is gorgeous in this one ladies.

I don't know how to start this...because I cannot count all the awful things they did to the wonderful supervirtuoso and composer. We had to see this movie in school, and that was a bad day for me. First of all, they say that Franz Liszt had no heart, and that this very wonderful gyspy kid did. I think Franz Liszt had more heart than anybody else in the 19th century. How dare they do this to him! The only pieces they had was the OCHESTRATED version of some of the hungarian rhapsodies, one scene featured very little of la Campanella, and at the very end, where everything is so dandy because the gypsy kid knows he can play the violin, they play the end of liszt's hungarian rhapsody number 2 together. What about Franz Liszt's extremely deep music? Of course they would not put that in because that would get the kids too interested in the music, and not some lesson with dealing with people and determination. Was this a movie on Franz Liszt's life? Not even close. Does it have anything to do with Franz Liszt's life? NO it does not. It is just one of those "educational" (nowhere close) movies that MUST have a lesson in dealing with people. Absolutely NOTHING in this movie had anything to do with Franz Liszts music. So why watch it? I mean lets face it, Franz Liszt was a prodigy who studied with Czerny, played in I don't know how many places during his years of trancendental execution, and composed some of the most divine music of all time. If the man thought he did not play with any heart (which is so very wrong), why did everybody rave about him during the 19th century? What about Marie d'Agout and the years of pilgrimage? That would have made an extremely interesting movie. Horrible script might I add also. This is a horrible example for people in my grade to see because it gets across a most horrible message, and they will have this message in their brain for all their lives. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT watch this movie. It would do more harm than anything else.