M. Applebaum - Metaphysics of Notation - DVD

Maurizio Guernieri's compositions are a part of an ongoing exploration of instrumental chamber music, in this case focused chiefly on string instruments. The pieces can be divided into two main groups. The first one is Elementa (InchelementsInch in Latin), meditations on the relationship between man and nature, and on the elements of nature, which, being often mismanaged by man, contribute to their own flourishing or decadence. Nature, which has always been called InchmotherInch, turns out to be an Inchevil stepmotherInch when she returns to man what he has given her in an extreme attempt to re-establish a balance that has been lost. The second group consists of other pieces that are meditations on man and his inner life. As in the previous CD, Bicinium (TC 940091), the pieces can be listened to in a single musical succession, as if the disc were, to use a term of the past, a Inchconcept album.Inch

With a secondhand trumpet and the loving guidance of a brilliant bluesman, a lonely boy grows into manhood as a superb musician whose talent carries him from honky-tonks to posh supper clubs. But his desperate search for an elusive high note -- trapped in his mind but impossible to play -- starts him on a boozy downward slide. Charged with dynamic performances by Kirk Douglas (the title role), Doris Day, Lauren Bacall and Hoagy Carmicha

Directed by Tony Palmer. Starring Benjamin Britten.