Filmed on location at the Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago, Tintinnabula begins with an excruciatingly long silent segment, showing the legs of a mysterious man as he gets out of a car, enters a building, and climbs up a tower. This teaser is unnecessarily melodramatic and keeps viewers from enjoying the main part of the film--the playing of a carillon, or set of ringing bells. We are taken step by step through the operation of a carillon, shown how the complex mechanism works, and finally treated to a selection of bell ringing favorites, including De Fesh's "Gavotte and Double", Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", and "Simple Gifts" by Erik Satie, popular as an old Shaker tune. The music is nice, but it's not enough to compensate for the long stretches in between selections. Also annoying is the fact that even though this video was distributed in 1995, it is obviously much older--made sometime in the 1970's on 16mm film and transferred to video. If your library is in need of material on carillons, then you'll surely want to consider this; for the rest of us, it's a marginal purchase. Aud: C, P. (J. Carlson)
Tintinnabula
(1995) 26 min. $24.95. K.S.M. Concepts, Inc. PPR. Color cover. Vol. 12, Issue 2
Tintinnabula
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