The London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra

This film documents Jurowski's first appearance as principle conductor of the London Philharmonic in 2007, which was also the first filmed concert from the newly restored Royal Festival Hall. They perform works by Wagner, Berg, and Mahler with soloists Dav Jurowski leads a program of modernism and its antecedents. His way with Wagner's Prelude to "Parsifal" is so voluptuously patient that it seems drug-enhanced. Mahler's early cantata "Das Klagende Lied," with good solo singers, sounds aptly like modernism itching to get out of its Romantic clothes. The fever dreams of Alban Berg's Three Orchestral Pieces come alive with rich playing and mellow surround sound. Although from 1914, Berg's Expressionistic intricacies still demanded 75 percent of Jurowski's rehearsal time. He reveals this in a 50-minute interview in which he also lays out his philosophies for a 21st-century orchestra with charismatic warmth.