The House of Magical Sounds

Claudio Abbado has had a distinguished musical career, serving as director of both La Scala in Milan and the Vienna Staatsoper, and only recently stepping down as the music director and chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. The House of Magical Sounds, a 1994 film by his son Daniele, is based chiefly on a book Abbado wrote for young people, a reminiscence about how his family life—his father was a professional violinist—led him to his lifelong love of classical music. Combining colorful animation, gauzy live-action recreations, narration drawn from the book (read seductively by the late Raul Julia), and concert excerpts from works by Schubert, Bach, Debussy, Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Rossini, the film not only successfully conveys Abbado's devotion to his craft, but also encourages others to join him in embracing the “magical sounds.” The educational centerpiece of the film consists of substantial extracts from Mahler's Fifth Symphony, with Abbado conducting the Youth Orchestra of a United Europe while commenting, Bernstein style, on the structure of the piece and using it to introduce the various sections of the massive orchestra to listeners (in the fashion of Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra). A frequently charming contribution to the DVD music appreciation library, this is recommended. Aud: E, I, P. (F. Swietek)