Educational Media Reviews Online

This series is intended to introduce the listener to the music of the great composers of western classical music. I reviewed the Mendelssohn and Mozart programs. Each one does a nice job of explaining the evolution of the genius inside the young child, which would lead to world renown. David Palmer, conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, is featured as narrator. Numerous works of the composers are interwoven throughout the video. Works of art and film clips of the 18th Century complement the narrative and musical passages. The symphony featured for both of these films was the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, which did a good job interpreting the music, but I found the scenes with the orchestra repetitive. I would imagine if I showed this whole series to a class, they would be bored seeing the same musicians time after time, even though the music presented is different. The overall sound quality was worse than expected. The sound is not as rich as it could be, which leads the viewer to turn up the volume, which then reveals an underlying hiss. One thing I would have liked to hear more about is the personal lives of these men, and how that impacted their music-making abilities. The focus was predominantly on their music, with some explanation about the works presented. The 12 artists featured in this series are Vivaldi, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvorak, and Grieg. I recommend these films as an introduction. For the serious student of music, other sources of information will be required to get a complete picture of these composers as artists and men.