Andre tchaikovsky biography movie

While this effectively ended his career as an international virtuoso, his remaining recital and concert dates provided a living and allowed him the time he wanted for composing and other interests such as Shakespeare's plays, playing bridge, and correspondence. This pattern of playing and composing continued until June 26,when his life was claimed by colon cancer.

He was 46 years old. So likewise the movie! I sought to honour his genius by offering up my own small portion of his courage to create. Both accepted, but Bates then changed his mind. Russell felt this was because Bates "thought it might not be good for his image to play two sexually deviant parts in rapid succession. UA wanted a star to play Tchaikovsky but Russell struggled to find someone willing.

Richard Chamberlain was suggested, who had recently relocated to the UK. Russell said "When his name was originally put forward I nearly had a heart attack. I'd only seen him as a bland TV doctor. When he learned that Chamberlain was a skilled piano player, the actor was cast. Chamberlain called the role "easily the biggest challenge of my career.

He was good to work with, very gentle and sweet; he did everything we asked him. Russell has told us a lot less about Tchaikovsky and his music than he has about himself as a filmmaker. Richard Chamberlain. I expect many people may look on The Music Lovers as an advance on the classical musical biographies turned out by Hollywood in the s, but for all of its so-called frankness, there isn't much difference between this kind of sensational, souped-up popularization and the sort of pious, souped-down popularization that cast Cornel Wilde as Chopin and Robert Walker as Brahms.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it "an involved and garish private fantasy" and "totally irresponsible as a film about, or inspired by, or parallel to, or bearing a vague resemblance to, Tchaikovsky, his life and times. Time commented: "Seventy-seven years have passed since Tchaikovsky's death. In this epoch of emancipated morality, it would be reasonable to expect that his life would be reviewed with fresh empathy.

But no; the same malignant attitudinizing that might have been applied decades ago is still at work.

Andre tchaikovsky biography movie

Variety opined, "By unduly emphasizing the mad and the perverse in their biopic. The result is a motion picture that is frequently dramatically and visually stunning but more often tedious and grotesque. Instead of a Russian tragedy, Russell seems more concerned with haunting the viewers' memory with shocking scenes and images. The opportunity to create a memorable and fluid portrait of the composer has been sacrificed for a musical Grand Guignol.

In the Cleveland PressToni Mastroianni said, "The movies have treated composers notoriously badly but few films have been quite so awful as this pseudo-biography of Tchaikovsky. Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader described the film as a "Ken Russell fantasia — musical biography as wet dream " and added, "[it] hangs together more successfully than his other similar efforts, thanks largely to a powerhouse performance by Glenda Jackson, one actress who can hold her own against Russell's excess.

TV Guide calls it "a spurious biography of a great composer that is so filled with wretched excesses that one hardly knows where to begin. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Polish composer and pianist. Not to be confused with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Life and career [ edit ].

Skull [ edit ]. Notable compositions [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Retrieved 2 December Currently it can be viewed on You Tube at this link:. He was the best musician of them all. In Poland, Andrzej Czajkowski. Use the Contribute link.