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Composition (15)
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Concerto Grosso ModoFrançois Aubry 1985 6 minThis short animation is a playful introduction to musical notation. Music notes, suddenly infused with life, begin building a score. Working like ants, they assemble one by one the many elements of musical notation. Once the score is completed, the concert can go on, and each note shines as bright as a star. -
The Concert ManTony Ianzelo 1982 27 minThis documentary short is a portrait of violinist, composer and dreamer Maurice Zbriger, who shared his music with Montrealers for over half a century. He hired musicians and singers and conducted them in free concerts financed with income from his ownership of Schwartz's, the famous smoked meat restaurant. The Concert Man looks at Zbriger's life, his passion for music and the people who were a part of his dream.
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A Composer's DreamBarbara Willis-Sweete 2011 7 minThis short film demonstrates how Howard Shore has distinguished himself as one of Canada's most accomplished - and versatile - composers.
During woodland rambles with his beloved dogs, Shore gives free rein to his ceaseless creativity. Whether composing delicate counterpoint or Oscar®-winning movie music, Shore is keenly tuned to a remarkable range of musical expression.
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CanonNorman McLaren & Grant Munro 1964 9 minNorman McLaren and Grant Munro use three different animation techniques to provide visual representations of canons in a film designed to teach viewers about this ancient musical form. The soundtrack combines both recorded classical music and sounds produced by a synthesizer.
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Eternal EarthLarry Weinstein 1987 28 minOne of the Canadian Composers series, this documentary introduces viewers to the intricacies of contemporary classical music by following Chinese-Canadian composer Alexina Louie as she writes a symphony, The Eternal Earth, commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's musical director, Andrew Davis. Proclaimed Composer of the Year in 1986, Louie is known for her eclectic approach and blended musical heritage from both Chinese and Western influences. The film follows Louie between rehearsal spaces and the streets of Chinatown, including the world première performance of the piece at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall in May, 1986. It illustrates the process whereby musical notation is transformed into the rich, harmonious textures and sounds that audiences hear.
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Eldon Rathburn: They Shoot... He ScoresLouis Hone 1995 26 minThis short documentary traces the life and career of composer Eldon Rathburn. A music lover since childhood, Rathburn used to go to the movies in Saint John, New Brunswick, in the 1920s just to hear the soundtrack. In 1947, he joined the National Film Board as a staff composer and went on to score over 300 documentaries and feature films. He is responsible for the music heard in classic NFB films like City of Gold and the IMAX feature Momentum, as well as the scores for lesser-known “classics” like Hog Family Supreme and Fish Spoilage Control.
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FanfaresBarbara Willis-Sweete & Christopher Reilly 1993 29 minThe documentary film, Fanfares, explores the creative process six composers go through as they co-write a musical composition which is to be performed in a shopping mall.
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Harry in WonderlandBarbara Willis-Sweete 1990 28 minThis portrait of Canadian composer Harry Freedman shows his creative imagination at work and how he puts it into practical application in the composition and production of a major new work--Fragments of Alice--a musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
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ListenDavid New 2009 6 min"A soundscape is any collection of sounds, almost like a painting is a collection of visual attractions," says composer R. Murray Schafer. "When you listen carefully to the soundscape it becomes quite miraculous." David New's portrait of the renowned composer becomes a lesson unto itself, gracing viewers (and listeners) with a singular moment of interactive subjectivity. This film was produced for the 2009 Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
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Man of MusicRoger Blais 1959 18 minThis short documentary is a profile of Healey Willan, composer, conductor, choirmaster, organist and teacher. We follow Dr. Willan from his seat at his favourite organ in the church where he is choirmaster to his study where he works, and to a visit with his students at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Throughout, the sound of beautiful music accompanies Dr. Willan’s journeys.
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The Radical Expeditions of Walter BoudreauMatthew Rankin 2015 4 minThis micro-epic short film is an inspired tribute to visionary avant-garde composer Walter Boudreau: his life, work, mischief, and boundless artistic curiosity. Both a documentary biopic and a wildly abstract hallucination, the film conceives of Walter Boudreau as a radical explorer, struggling against the inert mass of the cosmos, charting bold new paths of artistic freedom and audaciously expanding the frontiers of our known musical universe.
Produced by the NFB in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2015 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. -
StravinskyRoman Kroitor & Wolf Koenig 1966 49 minThis documentary is an informal portrait of the great modern composer Igor Stravinsky. Proudly American, though still very much an Old World figure with a long and alert memory for people and events in music, literature and art, Stravinsky is depicted here conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra in a recording of his Symphony of Psalms.
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Taa TamAndré Leduc 1995 9 minTaa Tam of the Maha Tribe knew music before music even existed... or so this imaginary legend goes. He saw rhythm everywhere: in the flutter of the leaf, in the pounding of corn, in the pulse of the planet. One night, he dreams himself into a place where all he touches becomes an instrument. Wood and bone metamorphose into xylophone and rattle. Animal hide resounds with the deep voice of the drum. With his soul on fire, an exultant Taa Tam discovers his ability to bring alive the passion that has been locked inside him for so long. Volcanoes erupt and flames leap to the vigorous beat of the world's premier concert. Wrapped in luxuriant colors and a vibrant sound track, Taa Tam celebrates human creativity at a performance where music is the guest of honor. A film without words.
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Votre histoire ça va être une chanson (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1978 24 minFlorent Lemay, a talented singer and gardener to the Seigneur of Lotbinière, recalls how songs were written back in the day. His neighbour, farmer Joseph Auger, maintained this old tradition of writing songs based on events and happenings in the parish, and Lemay inherited his compositions.
