Customer Reviews

What the Universe Tells Me - Unraveling the Mysteries of Mahler's Third Symphony / Stockard Channing, Thomas Hampson

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mahler's third symphony has long been a favorite of mine. The sixth movement alone makes the symphony a masterpiece. However, I who loves to read a good biography has never read one on Mahler. So when I heard on the dvd that Mahler had been influenced by Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Wagner (his music, not his politics) I was now turned on to the man and not just the music.

Only Mahler and Wagner, and sometimes Rachmaninoff and Brahms, bring me to the depths of our essential truths through music. The dvd brought the man and his music alive. This must have been produced mostly for music students. Its quite serious, which I like, and technical, which I like. The photography throughout is quite lovely and adds to the mood.

Mahler would surely have been complimented by this documentary. It gives him his due. My insight to the third symphony as well as to the man who wrote those other magnificent symphonies will add to my enjoyment when listening to all his music.

The performance of the third is a nice bonus. I highly recommend this dvd to everyone interested not only in music, but in the deeper meaning of humanity, and those souls who bring the undercurrents of man and beyond to the surface. Enjoy!

"Imagine a work so large, that it mirrors the entire world!"
Mahler's Third Symphony explores nothing less than the meaning of life and all existence. This film explores the musical symbolism and reveals some of the more obscure references in this gigantic work. Musicians and philosophers are given equal time to share their wealth of knowledge and interpretations of Mahler's Third, while gorgeous visuals illustrate the point.
The documentary is just wonderful and makes the viewer want to revisit the symphony in its unedited mastery. Well, that's why there's a second disc! Another DVD fully captures the Manhattan School of Music performing the entire symphony.
Between the two discs, the average Mahler fan will have loads of fun and the rabid Mahler fan will feel sated and satisfied. The person new to Mahler will be drawn into his world, and never wish to leave.

This is a perfect package; perfect music, perfect performaces, brilliant insights, beautiful visuals and a ton of extra materials!

Highly recommended!

"What the Universe Tells Me" succeeds where other Mahler movies have failed ("Bride of the Wind" and Ken Russell's "Mahler" come to mind) for two major reasons: 1-It respects Mahler's music. It does not try to popularize it by "dumbing down", but rather it elevates the viewer to create an opening and receptiveness to Mahler's genius. The film does not presume the audience is familiar with Mahler, but it does presume the audience is smart and values ideas. 2-The film itself is a masterpiece. It is visually stunning with a poetic script (narrated by Stockard Channing) and dramatic shape that reaches almost as deeply into our souls as Mahler's music. And then there's the music! A thrilling performance conducted by Glen Cortese weaves in and out with commentary from the world's leading Mahler experts such as Henry-Louis de La Grange, Peter Franklin and Morton Solvik. "What the Universe Tells Me" is an unprecedented combination of compelling drama with fascinating information. Music and philosophy come alive. What an accomplishment! Bravo to director Jason Starr!

The symphony is justifiably famous, and this version gives full voice to Mahler's oft-unappreciate genius.

The documentary itself reveals a richly researched, illuminating portrait of a man whose successes during his life were achieved despite a world that sometimes just didn't understand.

I thoroughly recommend this title.

This is great enterprise. On the one hand, it includes a top-notch performance of Symphony 3 by the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra led by Glen Cortese. On the other it includes a series of mostly insightful video essays on the work by noted Mahler scholars, a philosopher, a theologian, and a psychologist. You will understand the symphony as never before if you listen to these discs.

I am amazed at the presentation of documentary of mahler's third symphony. so put together, so organized, and so much detail, that new things appear I never before have seen. the sound quality is awesome when the tv hooked up to dolby stereo system. I recommend this dvd to any mahlerist or newcomer to mahler in one of it's finest forms. excellent!

I've been a dedicated student of Mahler's music for decades. It just doesn't get better than this DVD. Excellent orchestra with musicians that are worried about the music; not about being on camera. And the second CD forces the listener/viewer to think and ponder.

The reviews were right, this is a must purchase for the Mahler nation.

For me, this is very personal.
You've probably heard a variation of the question, "If there was just one piece of music you could have if you were trapped on a deserted island, what would it be?"
For me, it is easily this 2 disc DVD set.

As a small child, I often wondered about the "Meaning of Life;" why there was suffering and death; was there life after death? Then, I discovered Mahler, and found that he had been troubled by the same questions. Yes, believe it or not, Mahler's Third Symphony attempts nothing less than to answer such questions.

In addition to the only complete recording on DVD of Mahler's Third on one of the discs, the other disc includes commentaries by historians, philosophers, biographers, and even, appropriately, a theologian. There are quotes from Mahler and some of the philosophers he admired, and nature photography which parallels the musical ideas. There are even excellent comments by a filmaker, and by a Harvard theorist of multiple intelligences, who suggests that, as Mahler was gifted in musical areas, it is quite natural that he would try to explain the meaning of the universe through his musical language.

So here's what you get:

a complete DVD recording of Mahler's Third Symphony
and on another disc:
a diverse group of experts who walk you through each movement
and:
beautiful nature photography to help show what Mahler was talking about
and:
a series of mini-documentaries--further commentaries by biographers, historians, philosophers, and theologians, for even greater detail, if you want it.

If you love Mahler, you'll swear this was made especially for you.
If you just like beautiful music, you'll find it.
For me, it's my desert island must!

I have seen many documentaries about artists but rarely does one get to see a film about a single artwork. A few reviewers have dwelled on the quality of the symphonic performance used in the film (which is very fine indeed) and the numerous bonus materials (which are informative but basically talking heads). It is the feature film that I find amazing. "What the Universe Tells Me" is nothing less than an entirely new form of documentary. To be sure there are familiar touches: world renowned experts, classy shots of performers, dramatically rendered quotations from Mahler and others. But the way it is all integrated-with artwork, computer animation, scenes from where Mahler composed, and narration by Stockard Channing-to form an experience about the very nature of experience, makes this one of the most exciting and pleasurable viewing experiences I have ever had.

Appropriately much of the power of this film is derived from the use of music. All visuals are choreographed to it. Animation and scenes from nature pulsate with it. Even spoken voices are carefully timed to the Mahlerian waves of sound. This musico-visual experience forms a complex accompaniment to the story. And what a story! The filmmaker reveals how Mahler was working with sound to express his own philosophy of meaning. A philosophy that embraces all aspects of nature, including death and suffering, as necessary components for the ultimate experience. This is one of the least sentimental films about music I have seen, yet the story is so broad and the experience so penetrating that by the end, one cannot help but feel moved by one's own connection to the universe. How many documentaries offer that?

I really don't know what I could add -- especially to the cogent comments of earlier reviewer Ms. Anna Wolfson and Amazon's own Mr. Joe McLellan -- to help you decide whether this is worth your while. ...Except to write BRAVO!

"Bravo!" to the producer, writer, and editor of the documentary, Jason Starr -- it really is a revelation in how a DVD can meld with music and the other arts to produce something extraordinary. And on my home computer! THIS is what I have waited a lifetime for, to see technology woven with art woven with theology and philosophy. I can only smile at thinking what Mahler and his friends, and Wagner and the Wagner Societies 100 years ago, would have thought ... if only. They thought art - and its prophet/artists -- had the power to change the world. Perhaps it does; perhaps it has. Perhaps it is the reason we are still here, today, despite all that has happened at our own hand so catastrophically, tragically, this century ...

This DVD is such a work of inspiration and love, itself, that I pity the intellect so calcified as to remain unmoved, who refuses to rise to the challenge but instead reverts to ossified, abstract thought to reduce art to its entertaining qualities. The DVD, like Mahler's symphony, attempts to unite multiple elements of art toward a whole, to recharge minds and spirits. Both media succeed, here, on the strengths of the other.

I only wish there were ways of featuring this selection on the classical CD side of Amazon.com, so the music listeners there might also have opportunity.