Yo-Yo Ma - Inspired by Bach Vol. 1, The Music Garden / The Sound of the Carceri (Cello Suites 1 & 2)

Starring:Yo-Yo Ma, Messervy
Studio: Sony
Product Type: DVD

Description

"The Music Garden" (60 min.) features Bach's Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello. What if we created a garden inspired by Bach? In their quest for the answer, Yo-Yo Ma and garden designer Julie Moir Messervy journey from Boston to Toronto, across bureaucratic miles of frustration and through seasons of changing hope. Their remarkable tale is movingly documented by filmmaker Kevin McMahon. "The Sound of the Carceri" (55 min.) features Bach's Suite No. 2 for Unaccompanied Cello. Imagine Giovanni Piranesi's dazzling "carceri" (prison) etchings, the unrealized dreams of this 18th-century Italian master architect, brought to life in a computer-rendered 3-D "virtual" collaboration. In this cutting-edge film by Francois Girard, Yo-Yo Ma explores Bach's mysterious Second Suite, creating with his music a sound to match the invented spaces of our imagination.

Customer Reviews:

bla for bach.......2006-12-13

I have to agree with other viewers, who are dissapointed in the video itself.

The music is quite good, though not my favorite interpretation of the Bach suites. However, when it comes time to hear the piece, we don't even see Yo-yo playing. We see him pretending to play, while the camera does all these tricks that in the end make us more motion-sickness than anything.

Quite a dissapointment - are the other volumes this bad?

Moments in Time.......2006-01-24

There are few moments in time when you see your dreams of perfection coming true. Yo-Yo Ma and garden designer Julie Moir Messervy have a dream of a Music Garden and the first Garden is pure perfection. On paper and it looks spectacular and as you watch, you can't wait to see it appear in completion. The disappointment is that a second garden must be designed.

Through the frustration and joys, Yo-Yo Ma creates magic as flower gardens spin around him and he sits in front of office buildings, contrasting his magical artistic vision with a rather stark picture of corporate life and the struggles to obtain the funds to create the magical worlds residing in the imagination, awaiting birth. Boston is not quite ready for the vision, but Toronto embraces this beautiful dream.

In the second movie, visions from the past are more deeply analyzed in order to produce a stunning "Carceri" in which Yo-Yo Ma celebrates Johann Sebastian Bach's Suites for Unaccompanied Cello. As a Prison of the Imagination becomes the background, Yo-Yo Ma frees the mind with a stunning performance. As if channeling the past, he creates moods to suit each landscape.

In both movies, the element of time is played out effectively. In the first movie, time is of the essence and a garden must be planned and created within months. In the second movie, time seems to stand still as the past and the present form a unity of vision. Throughout both beautiful visions, the idea of creating what must outlive our short lives is an echoing theme that reverberates within the soul and will be remembered.

~The Rebecca Review

Yo-Yo devolveu o que Bach tomou.......2005-09-12

Será que alguém se esqueceu que as suites são originadas de danças? e que Bach as transformou em música? Nessa obra de Yo-Yo o que vemos é uma tentativa séria de realisar o quase impossível, devolver como arte visual o que Bach transformou em arte abstrata através de seu gênio musical, quem se propõe a criticar deveria levar em conta toda a energia artística desse magnífico intérprete oriental de um artista que sempre viveu acima da humanidade sendo, portanto, universal...A música de Bach sempre produzirá ressonâncias na alma humana enquanto houver homens, e este trabalho de Yo-Yo Ma é uma dessas ressonâncias, e tenho certeza que perdurará muito depois que todos estivermos partido...

Promote a philosophy or show pretentious art sale job!!!.......2005-07-31

Yoyo Ma's musical talent is marvelous.
Unfortunately the music is just the background noise in this DVD! Pity!
This DVD shows a talent been exploited in a senseless way. In desperation to market himself (via Bach) as a philosopher and rescuer of the modern chaos cities' parks! He is quite famous now. May be the eternal and universal fame is what he is after! His companion (what is her name again?) and the (city) politicians had shown the best part of the worse pretentious people. If you want to watch these things, do not bother to buy this DVD, turn on the TV or go to political compaigns. Other things around his performace makes me downgrade this DVD to one star (cannot go lower in this review board).
This review sounds senseless. This DVD is that senseless.
Oh no. People may be curios and buy this DVD! This could be the only reason make this DVD as popular as "The temptation of Christ".
Music lovers and Yoya Ma's fan better not see this DVD.

Great stuff.......2004-06-10

I saw these on public TV back when they were originally released. Each piece was set in a visual/virtual space. As a musician-artist the combination of site and sound drew me into a deeper appreciation for Ma's playing and for Bach's work. Basically, these films were my introduction to Yo-Yo Ma. I would not have "caught on" nearly as quickly without them. As with most good things in life the journey is as important as the destination, and these films represent an intriguing fusion of visual dimension & texture with very moving musical performances. The realism of the immense Carceri prison floored me, and the slow pans and 360s around Ma as he played "there" were awesome. If you have a good sound system, draw the shades and crank it.

Some people gave low ratings to these DVDs because they expected concert footage. Obviously they didn't read Amazon's product description. (Duh!!) No prevarication there.

DVD:

DVD

Mad Dog And Glory [1993]

DVD: A Dinner of Herbs

Double Take