MAO TO MOZART: ISAAC STERN
IN CHINA
Produced by Harmony Film Group in 1980,
Director: Murray Lerner.
Running Time: Approximately 1 hour
and 25 minutes in color
First
of all, let me introduce all of you who have never heard of him to Isaac
Stern. He is a celebrated and
professional concert violinist who lived through most of the twentieth century
and died an octogenarian in 2002. He was
closely associated with the New York Philharmonic; he won several awards
including the Medal of Freedom, a Kennedy Center Honor and he was the one
largely responsible for saving Carnegie Hall from destruction when the powers
that be in Manhattan wanted to tear it down.
He raised both financial and moral support for its preservation. Stern also contributed greatly to the
nurturing of new young musical talent and to the preservation of musical
treasures. But the highlight of his
humanitarian service was his visit to China in 1979. In view of the fact that U.S.-China relations
are very much a current subject in the news and perhaps entering a new phase of
diplomatic accord, I think it appropriate that we take another look at this classic
documentary that has captured so many hearts and opened so many eyes and won
the Oscar for Best Feature Length Documentary released in 1980 . After three decades it is still being viewed
and can be rented through Netflix.
The
purpose of the trip according to him was essentially to get to know the people
– a “howdya-do more so than a concert tour.”
Stern in the film puts it this
way: I went “to say hello through music.”
And the people there loved him.
They opened their doors wide to him – the doors to their hearts as well
as their music conservatories. He
observed them, instructed them, performed with them, ate and drank with them,
and most of all listened to what they had to say and how they regarded western
classics. He even did a lot of hugging
and made deep and lasting and affectionate friendships with many individuals. By the time of the trip he was quite a corpulent
man; he did not move at a very rapid pace.
But he was very warm to everyone; they treated him like a grandfather
and hung onto his every word and gesture, however much he had to depend upon
interpreters. Even during rehearsals for
a concert he was prevailed upon to give, the auditorium was packed, every seat
taken. Think of it: they lapped up the
rehearsals. Ever heard of that on this
side of the globe?
It
is a very intimate picture we are given, but it is clear that on a grand scale
he contributed enormously to the opening of cultural exchange doors between our
two countries. He was on a mission to
bring faraway places together, and he succeeded beyond all expectations.
What
gives the film its place in the pantheon of great documentary work is the fact
that Stern keeps, if not a low, then at least a middling profile all through
it. The Chinese people, especially the
many gifted young music students, are the stars. Lots of local color and scenery is
photographed – the Great Wall, peasants working the rice fields, the streets of
Shanghai and Peking with bicycles everywhere, river barges, breathtaking
mountains and rivers, vaudeville shows highlighted by some of the most skillful
acrobatics my eyes have ever beheld!
There are extended sections of the footage that simply take us around,
without narration. I experienced a
tremendous glow when near the beginning of his tour a Chinese orchestra – on
their own instruments, bearing little resemblance to ours – plays “Oh, Susanna”
to welcome him, and they play it smartly and excitedly and with phenomenal
skill.
The
best parts of it for me, however, are the music lessons. In the narration he observes that the Chinese
were not accustomed to playing music “with passion or variety of color.” Watching him draw the passion and color out of
those inhibited students, showing them how to follow through with the bow, and
how to play as if they were singing brought me to tears. He urges one young girl in particular, who
has just given him a neat, accurate and perfunctory rendition of a piece, to
sing the notes, using her dainty voice.
She does. Then he tells her to
play it again as if she were singing through the instrument, exactly as she has
just sung it. She does, and the
difference is astonishing. She looks so
pleased with herself, knowing she has made a tremendous breakthrough. You can see the light dawn.
The
people teach him a few things too. He
learns about their history. He hears
about the so-called Cultural Revolution under Mao and how it impacted so
brutally upon the musicians, how the Communists tried to eliminate all trace of
the culture of “foreign devils.” We hear
the Director of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Tan Shuzhen, relate the gothic
horror tale of his imprisonment and torture.
Tan tells the tale straight into the camera, all the excruciating
details, over the space of five minutes or so.
Stern
learns how far advanced their musicianship is, far more than he ever
expected. And he learns how much more
open their world is to new discoveries than western propaganda had led us to
believe. And you cannot help but be
fascinated when they show him their own instruments and acquaint him with how
they are played. And for us music lovers
there are enjoyable performances of such masters as Mozart and Beethoven and
Brahms and Kreisler, with Stern on the solo violin and the native conductor and
orchestra, all in perfect harmony and tandem with each other’s tempo and
rhythm.
There
are, as in most dvds, special features, called extras in this case. One is a titled biographical summary of
Stern’s life, telling you far more than I have room to mention here. And there is a documentary short called
“Musical Encounters” that deals with Stern’s return to China twenty years later
– in 1999. We get to see some of the
children in the first film grown up and keeping on with their careers two
decades later. Warm reunions! And more of the same kind of mutually
edifying moments of give and take! I
have only one regret – that I never had the chance to meet this marvelous man,
shake his hand, and thank him for what he did.
Music as Cultural as well as Spiritual Healer! I urge all of you to take the trip with him.
A great review, Bob.
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