Chopin's Afterlife

Pianist/filmmaker Ophra Yerushalmi's attachment to the music of Frédéric Chopin is evident in every frame of this love letter to the Polish composer, featuring interviews with composers (such as Lukas Foss and “microtonalist” John Eaton), concert pianists (Abbey Simon, Jerome Lowenthal, Pavlina Dokovska, and Frederic Chiu), and music students (including a young Iraqi inspired by Chopin), as well as Polish poet Adam Zagajewski, and visitors to Chopin's tomb in Paris. Film clips, ballet excerpts, and other performances featuring Chopin melodies, appear throughout (offering examples of his “romantic” and “revolutionary” qualities), together with substantial biographical background. But Chopin's Afterlife isn't primarily a historical study of the composer's life and influence, but more of an impressionistic—and frankly somewhat repetitive—tribute to his genius and long-lasting influence that doesn't move much beyond a kind of awed admiration on the part of the filmmaker and the interviewees. An optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)