Bruno Monsaingeon - 2017

Bruno Monsaingeon is a Paris-based  c oncert  violinist  who,  while still active in the field of performanc e has, in the last thirty years,

devoted a large part of this time to the making of musical films.

 

He has directed films on and about some of the major musicians of our time, Nadia Boulanger, Yehudi Menuhin, Murray Perahia, Glenn  Gould, Sviatoslav Richter,  Viktoria Postnikova,  Guennadi Rojdestvenski, Michael Tilson Thomas, Zoltán Kocsis, Friedrich Gulda, Paul Tortelier, Julius Katchen, Dietrich  Fischer-Dieskau,  David  Oïstrakh, Julia Varady, amongst many others.

 

H is long association with Yehudi  Menuhin  and  Glenn  Gould  have been remarkable and have led to the production of numerous films on

various subjects with these two mu sicians. Two of these productions in particular, The Open Wall, M e nuhin in China and The Goldberg Variations , have gained worldwide acclaim.

 

S ince 1986, Bruno Monsaingeon has directed the following films:

Retour aux Sources , a documentary in three episodes on Yehudi Menuhin’s return to the Soviet Union; Tchaikovksy’s                trio         performed         by           Viktoria Postnikova,        Yehudi Menuhin and Marc Coppey;

Profile of a player, Andrei Chesnokov ;

a Barbara Hendricks Recital in Leningrad;

the 24 Caprices by Paganini perform ed by Alexander Markov;

Organs, Toccatas and Fantasies: M a rie-Claire Alain plays Bach ; The Birth of a singer, Nicolas Rivenq.

 

I n           1993,     he           dedicated           two        programmes,    a             documentary    The Unknown Fiddler of Santa Barbara and a concert Gilles Apap  and Friends , to the award-winning young French violinist Gilles Apap.

 

I n 1990, he began two vast and long term projects on Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and David Oistrakh.

 

H e has filmed three recitals with Dietrich  Fisher-Dieskau  ( Die  Schöne M ü llerin,  and  a  programme  of  selected  Lieder  by  Schubert, two Lieder cycles by Schumann: Liederkreis op. 24 et Dichterliebe op. 48) and three Masterclasses on works by Mozart, Schubert and Schumann.

 

T o complete  this  impressive  cycle,  Bruno  Monsaingeon  then directed a major documentary profile of the maestro, Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau, Autumn Journey (• Charles Cros Academy Video Prize, 1998 François Reichenbach Prize, Orphée du Lyrique en Images, 1998) .

 

A fter several years of research, Bruno Monsaingeon found, restored

and edited a vast amount of  archiv al  footage  on  the  great  Soviet violinist David Oistrakh. In addition to the  three  programmes  of  The David Oistrakh Collection , based  on  rare  concert  material  filmed in the Soviet Union, Monsaingeon recently directed a major profile of the violinist, entitled David Oistrakh, Artist of the  People?  (•  West Flanders International Art Film Festival Prize, Knokke Belgium, 1995 Charles Cros Academy Video Prize, 1998).

 

I n 1995, he completed a two-hour special, Yehudi M e nuhin, The

Violin of the Century (• Diapason d'Or, 1996 • Charles Cros Academy  Grand Prize, 1996 • Gramophone Prize for  Best  Video, 1996) ,  to  mark  the violinist's 80th birthday.

H e         then      directed               Death   and        the         M a iden ,            with       the         world    famous Alban Berg Quartet, for the celebrations of the bicentenary of Franz

Schubert's birth (January 1997).

 

B runo  Monsaingeon    simultaneously spent    many    years     putting

together a film on  the  Russian  pi anist  Sviatoslav  Richter, reconstructing his life story for the major  biographical profile  Richter, The  Enigma .   (•  FIPA  d'Or   1998  •   Procirep Classique en  images  Prize Ve biennale of filmed4 music, 1998  •  Documentary  Prize  -  Banff Festival, Canada, 1998 • Charles  Cr os  Academy  Video  Prize,  1998  • Best audiovisual musical diffusion Prize - Professional Syndicate for dramatic and musical critics,  1998  •  Grand  Prix  Pratt  &  Whitney  Canada - Art Film Festival of Montreal,  1999  •  Royal  Philharmonic Society Music  Award,  1999  • Diapason d'Or  Classical Music  DVD,  2001

Cannes Classical Award, Classical Music DVD, 2001 ).

 

H e then directed Julia Varady, Song of Passion, a profile of one of the best loved singers of the opera wo rld. This profile presents  the different stages of her career  and  is  coupled  with  a  recital  in  which Julia Varady sings works by Wagner, Strauss and Tchaikovsky, accompanied by the distinguished Russi an pianist Viktoria Postnikova.

 

W ith the French violinist Gilles Apap,  he  directed  the  film  Gilles Apap plays the M o zart's Third Concerto.

 

In 2000, he directed the               Art of iolin (Choc du Monde de la Musique for the DVD • Diapason d’Or for DVD •  Charles Cros  Academy Grand Prize  for  DVD) ,  a  2-parts  series  covering  a vast  panorama  of the world's most celebrated  20th  c entury  violinists  (Mischa  Elman, Isaac Stern, Jascha Heifetz, Frit z Kreisler, David Oïstrakh, Yehudi Menuhin etc . )

 

In 2001, he directed Piotr Anderszewski plays The Diabelli Variations (• Choc du Monde de la Musique for CD • Citation Musique, UNESCO FIFAP 2001 ).

 

I n 2002, he directed a documentary and a concert programme with

the Artemis Quartet. Strings Attached (• Prix  Pédagogie  Musique, Unesco FIFAP  2002)  illustrates  how a  small  group  of  top  musicians live and work together with the aim of perfecting the  world's  most beautiful musical works.  This  f ilm  focuses  on  one  of  the  most ambitious and mysterious works in all the string quartet repertory, Beethoven's Grosse Fuge.

 

I n 2002, he  directed three piano concerts, with  Francesco Libetta , with Grigori Sokolov and with Piotr Anderszewski , the latter playing

and conducting from the keyboard two Mozart Concertos.

 

H e also directed Gennadi Rozhdestvensky Conductor or Conjuror? (• “Grand Prix démarche d’artiste Musique”, FIFAP Unesco 2003) , a documentary featuring the  Russian  conductor  talking  about what he knows best: the art of conducting, and a concert with Rozhdestvensky conducting “Dead S ouls” by Alfred Schnittke and “Zdravitsa” by Sergei Prokofiev. Following this,  in  2004  he  completed The Red Baton – Scenes  from  M u sical Life  in  Stalinist  Russia  (• Pratt & Whitney Grand Prize, Festival International des Films sur l'Art, Montréal 2005 • Grand Prix Musique, FIFAP Unesco 2005) .

 

A lso in 2004, Valery Sokolov, Natural Born Fiddler , a concert cum portrait of the brilliant 17 year old Ukrainian violinist.

 

I n 2004, Bruno Monsaingeon made  his  début  as  a  conductor  in  Russia, playing in Ekaterinburg a Bach Concerto with  the  Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, and conducti ng them in two Concertos by

Mozart and  Beethoven performed by  t he  brilliant Russian  pianist  Boris  B e rezov sky .

 

I n 2006, he completed  Glenn  Gould,  Hereafter  (•  FIPA  D'OR, Biarritz 2006 • Choc of the Year 2006, Le Monde de la Musique) , a retrospective of the life and work of Gould, seen from today’s point of view and based on a synthesis of a ll the documents existing on Gould, whether of a musical or of a literar y and intellectual nature,  this  film strives to deal with the question of  Gould’s  genius  such  as  it  is perceived by his audience, an audienc e  that  extends  far  beyond  the strict notion of a musical audience.

 

I n 2007, Bruno Monsaingeon  devoted  a  film  to the  Masterclasses  of the distinguished singer Julia Varady.

 

I n 2008, he directed Dav i d Fray , Swing, Sing & Think , in which

the young French piano star is seen recording som e Bach Concertos  with the  Deutsche  Kammer  Philharmonie  Bremen  »  which  he conducts from the piano.

 

T hen, A Piotr Anderszewski recital at the Warsaw Philharmonic,              and Piotr Anderszewski,              Unquiet traveller, an extraordinarily m o ving profile of the great Polish  pianist.  (•  FIPA D'OR, Biarritz 2009 - Festival International des Films sur l'Art 2009, Montréal category « meilleur portrait », Choc Classica 2009)

 

A lso in 2008, he filmed the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, directed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, featuring Valery Sokolov as soloist .

 

F inally in 2009, a Valery Sokolov / Dav i d  Fray Recital was  filmed at  the Verbier Festival.

B runo  Monsaingeon is also the author of seven books : “ Mademoiselle” (conversations with Nadia Boulanger), “ Le dernier Puritain” , “ Contrepoint à la ligne” and  “ Non,  je  ne  suis  pas  du  tout un excentrique” , a series of three books containing the entire literary output of the great Canadian piani st,  composer  and  writer,  Glenn Gould, " Richter, Ecrits et Conversations" (France Culture  Muses  Award, Pelleas 1999 Award) Editions van de Velde-Arte Editions-Actes Sud, " Passion M e nuhin , l'Album d'une vie " Editions Textuel-Arte Editions, and in  2002,  Glenn  Gould :  “  Journal d’une  crise” followed  by “ Correspondance de concert” .