Great Conversations: the Virtuosos

By: Peter Rosen

Yo-Yo Ma, Claude Frank and Pamela Frank
view Bloch's Schlomo manuscript

Last year I was fortunate enough to film an historic meeting of some of the greatest virtuosos in classical music of the past 40 years. Underwritten by the Library of Congress, "Great Conversations: The Virtuosos", is a conversation of virtuosos on the role and experience of the violin, viola and cello as virtuoso solo instruments, whether in front of an orchestra or piano.

I was quite excited when the late Eugene Istomin, and old friend, approached me about making this series. He had already met with his friend, James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress and secured the funding commitment. Over a long lunch at the Century Club in New York we outlined the participants and ideas for the shows. As Eugene listed his musician friends I realized he had intimate musical relationships throughout his legendary career as a pianist with almost all the great names in classical music. Could we get them all to participate? It turned out that a simple phone call from Eugene to each always solicited a "Sure, I would love to" type of response, and the rest is history.

Peter Rosen,
producer and director

For me it was a personal, intimate and emotional experience working with Eugene. We knew he didn't have much time left. He had cancer. But his drive and perseverance saw the project through, and he lived to see it completed before he died last year.

I hope you enjoy the insights of these great musicians!

Peter Rosen

Select a link below to view details and play recording:

Opening credits; and Masterpieces (12:10)

Interpretation (5:26)

Influences (12:45)

State of the art (9:09)

Development (11:42)

Interviewee(s) Kalichstein, Joseph Frank, Claude Robinson, Sharon Ma, Yo-Yo Harrell, Lynn Steinhardt, Arnold Laredo, Jaime Frank, Pamela

Host Istomin, Eugene

Director Rosen, Peter

Producer Rosen, Peter

Editor Warshaw, Hilan

Publisher Peter Rosen Productions, Inc.

Date issued 2005

Permissions note Copyright Library of Congress. This program was made possible through the courtesy of Eugene Istomin. Artists' appearances are courtesy of themselves: Claude Frank, Pamela Frank, Lynn Harrell, Joseph Kalichstein, Jaime Laredo, Yo-Yo Ma, Sharon Robinson, and Arnold Steinhardt.

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