Description
The Art of Jose Iturbi / Pianist, conductor, composer and film personality / RAMEAU - CHOPIN - LISZT / José Iturbi, piano / with Amparo Iturbi, piano The Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra Donald Voorhees, conductor / DVD
Format: NTSC
Run time: 48 Minutes
UPC: 089948437291
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : Yes
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 4 Ounces
- Item model number : 11247562
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Color, Classical, NTSC
- Run time : 48 minutes
- Release date : December 13, 2005
- Actors : Jose Iturbi
- Studio : Video Artists Int'L
- Number of discs : 1
The Art of José Iturbi
Pianist, conductor, composer and film personality José Iturbi was one of the most popular contributors to televised classical music from its carly days, and this compilation of appearances on the Bell Telephone Hour between 1959 and 1962 illustrates his informal and sometimes humorous presentation of a fascinating range of repertoire. It also reveals his formidable technical brilliance: Iturbi had been a child prodigy, having began his professional career at just 7 years of age when he played in a cinema in Valencia, and in his mature years his impressive fluency and command of color was sometimes overlooked on account of his "popular" image. Those qualities were particularly appropriate for the repertoire in this compilation, which includes some highly evocative rarities from José Iturbi's homeland, Spain, and indeed elsewhere.
Iturbi plays a mix of solo picces, extracts from works for piano and orchestra, and also ducts in which he is joined by his sister Amparo Iturbi. The piano and orchestra works are the fiendishly demanding Hungarian Fantasy by Liszt, Grieg's Piano Concerto and a work by Iturbi himself, his Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra, imaginatively staged in a romantic outdoor Spanish-style setting. There is a piano solo transcription of the Ritual Fire Dance from Falla's ballet El amor brujo (Love, The Magician), and the ducts include Chabrier's Romantic Waltz and two of the three evocative and brilliant Andalusian Dances for two pianos by Manuel Infante, titled "Feeling" and "Grace." Although not often heard now, these dances were made popular for a time through their championship by José Iturbi, who always retained a special affection for them.
RAMEAU: Suite in E minor - Tambourine
CHOPIN: Prelude in A Major LISZT: Hungarian Fantasy (Abridged) CHABRIER: Romantic Waltz no. 1*
INFANTE: Andalusian Dances Nos. 2 & 3*
FALLA: Ritual Fire Dance
LISZT: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major - III. Allegro martial animated GRIEG: Piano Concerto in A minor - III. Allegro moderato molto e marcato ITURBI: Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra (Abridged)
José Iturbi, piano
with Amparo Iturbi, piano The Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra Donald Voorhees, conductor
Originally telecast 1959-1962
Telecasts originally produced for the Bell Telephone Hour television series
A Production of Henry Jaffe Enterprises, Inc. ©2005 Jaffe Partners Limited Partnership (All Rights Reserved)
Packaging, design and DVD authoring 2005 Video Artists International, Inc.
Cover Photo courtesy of Roger Gross
