Customer Reviews

From Mao to Mozart - Isaac Stern in China

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I received this DVD for Christmas (thanks to the wish list!) and I found it to be wonderful on many levels. First of all there is Stern's fine playing but this is only a part. There is also the warm interaction between Stern and the eager people of a newly opened China. Stern's engaging personality itself is also enjoyable and his wisdom about music and people is refreshing. This man obviously enjoys life and is very open to all kinds of people, activities and experiences. The film also provides a glimpse into the culture of China that was enlightening including the cultural revolution. The movie has depth and richness. I think most people seeing this movie would feel it was time well spent.

I saw the original video production of "From Mao to Mozart" 20 years ago as a graduate student in Music. I was stunned! Insightful musical instruction, excellent segues of countryside, people, culture, cities.... I vividly remembered scenes from movie...and was thrilled to see them again when PBS aired the new release in mid-Feb, 2001. It spoke to me both as an Asian and as a musician all the more.

Stern's admonitions and instructions continue to add to my musical life. His advice is timeless and worth considering at all points of a musician's life. While technique is basic and necessary, expression is everything--and to carry this torch to future generations is the legacy of this video.

The scenes from China: I appreciated the transitions and poignancy all the more after 20 years. Many of the scenes were buried in my memories. I didn't know from where I had picked up those images, but when I saw this reprise of the movie, there they were! Such is the strength of this documentary. Stern's return in 1999 is less compelling. He seems a bit more impatient and the footage does not include much by the translators--an important facet of understanding the cultural differences. Maybe it's because in 1999 the musicians speak English. Maybe it's because the film's editor(s) chose to omit the translations. We'll never know.

Quite interesting is the footage of various musicians who met Stern 20 years ago and then appear and perform in 1999. Very strong musicians with vivid memories of their encounters! And their performances are excellent, full, rich, expressive!

Another interesting facet is Stern's son, David, who also visited 20 years ago and now appears as the guest conductor in the 1999 footage. His comments and conducting are insightful.

The producer's techniques of overlapping the 1979 footage and the 1999 footage is good, but maybe overdone. I found myself impatient to "get on with it" at some times during the 1999 footage. Too much comparison, especially since we just saw the entire movie earlier.

BUT....a great work. I'm thrilled that it is now being re-released and may inspire another generation, as Stern continues to inspire past, present, and future generations.

This movie has opened my eyes and got a new perspective in playing violin. I'm most inspired by Isaac Stern's saying "there's a life in every note", and he had successfully demonstrated what he meant by that. He made the little girl sang the music out loud for the piece that she was playing, and after that she really played it much better and you could feel a life in it. For all the amateur violinists that don't have a chance to meet with the best violinists in master classes, this is truly a very good teaching material to inspire your playing. It's also very touching to see the 3 musicians joined Isaac after 20 years and see how they have grown in music. I especially like little Jian Wang's performance at the end of the first part of the movie (the part that filmed in 1979).

We recently had a wonderful privilege to hear Jian Wang perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra where became aware also of this video.

Truly captivating is the trip of Mr. Stern to China and his involvement there with the musicians and the people. He truly is a delightful man and his abilities to express and transmit his passion for music is captivating.

There are too many poignant scenes to recall, but the additional offerings here on this special DVD are truly bonus! The return trip after twenty years and the interview with Tan are magnificent and touching.

Luther had it right: next to the Word of God nothing is as powerful as music --- good music. It's universal and across time and cultures.

I had the opportunity to watch this on PBS before it came out on DVD. I'm an elementary music teacher and there is a condensed version of this documentary on VHS in our textbook series. I showed this to my fifth grade class and they were in awe. They had so many questions to ask and were so intrigued. I never had the fine opportunity of seeing or hearing Mr. Stern live, but I strongly live by the quote he says at the end of the documentary. It truly is a touching and moving one.

this DVD is excellent for anyone interested in classical music. Issac Stern visits China in the mid 1970's and finds western music is played but not with feeling. He encourages the players he meets and especially the young musicians and finds them very responsive. He revisits 20 years later and hears what happened to music professors during the cultural revolution. He meets again the young players he'd inspired and finds they have successful careers and remember his former visit with gratiude. I wish we had more DVD's of this type.

Developing the hearts and souls to musical involvement and passion, Isaac Stern meets and plays violin with musicians and gives performances as he tours China. He finds great technical ability, but a lack of understanding. He teaches that there is more to music than just playing the notes, but rather making the notes and lines say something, that words cannot express. As they say in the film, to know the taste of a pear, you must eat it, you cannot study it. So it is with music, you must play it, experience it, feel it. You cannot just study it, but you must be involved intimately. He teaches that the violin is a part of your body, and use the violin to sing as you would sing with your voice. One little girl was told to sing a phrase she had been playing in. After she sang it she was able to play it again with the feeling she had when she sang. Another woman was given demonstrations of phrasing and dancing in the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. She had great technical ability to play fast, but played just notes, missing the flirtaciousness of a dance. Isaac demonstrates it and even does a big of a jig to show her how it works.

The sequel (20 years later) was heartwarming. Beijing had transformed herself into a modern metropolis. We meet some of the students and the conductor that had worked with Isaac 20 years ago. It was a heartwarming reunion.

Special attention to luthiers. There is a documentary of Shanghai luthier Tan Shu-chen and his life story (in the Extras), his love for violin, his love of music, and his Christian family background. He was the first Chinese to play in a foreign symphony orchestra. It also goes through the history of 20th century China. There is an incident where the violinists were told to go play for the Japanese officers. Tan refused to play for them and resigned his job. Also interesting postwar history, how he made it through the war, how he stayed in China after 1949, and how he turned to making violins after becoming director of the Shanghai conservatory with lack of instruments. He started a small factory, making violins to give to the students free of charge. He was denounced by a student and his house raided in the Cultural Revolution and imprisoned in a closet in a basement under the stairs and kept away from his violins for more than a year, made to repair toilets, taking care of 122 toilets and taken out for beatings and tortures by the Red Guards. They poured boiling water into one of the musician's ear deafening him. 17 musicians committed suicide under the harsh treatment and humiliation. He never thought of suicide because he is a Christian. He just waited and the sun came out eventually. Later he was cleared and reinstated in the Shanghai Conservatory. Later he saw the Red Guard who was convicted for 8 years of prison, and then later worked again in the conservatory kitchen. He said that if the Guard would talk to him, he would forgive him, and let bygones be bygones. Forgiveness gives him peace of mind. It is so wonderful to know that his faith in Jesus Christ has kept him sane and prospering while in such circumstances. He can now make and play the violins that he so loves. What an uplifting story.

From Mao to Mozart gets under the skin of a great musician, and reveals the heart of classical music as Isaac Stern travels around China sharing his musical vision with young students. An illuminating documentary on post Mao China, the damage the cultural revolution regime caused it's survivors and an insight into the new generation of music students who hunger for contact with western classical music. This documentary is heart warming and full of optimism.

This excellent documentary reveals the evolution of Chinese performance of Western music between the seventies & ninties. Stern is regarded as one of the greatest vioninists but this DVD shows his great humanity, ability to communicate and sense of humour. The first segment shows Western music being played in a mechanical, inhibited way. The second segment twenty years later shows an amazing transformation that confirms that music is a universal language. Stern's interaction with the children is particularly moving. I can wholeheartedly recomend this DVD to all lovers of beautiful music. It is a powerful celebration of the human spirit.

I saw this video on PBS years ago and the impressions have always stuck with me. The DVD adds material from 20 years later, as well. A musician should have this DVD and I also recommend the other Isaac Stern DVD that is a bio of his life.

If you are a violinist and like Masterclass videos, there are also violin master class videos available with maestros Jascha Heifetz (10 VHS tapes), Ruggiero Ricci (5 DVDs), Ivan Galamian and Joseph Gingold. Some of them are hard-to-find, but they are there somewhere in cyberspace. Amazon also sells 'Great Violinists of the Bell Telephone Hour' from the years 1959-1964,
where you see many of the great violinists of that era in performance.