Director Bruce Beresford's Bride of the Wind is a film biography of Alma Schindler Mahler, the wife of composer/conductor Gustav Mahler and a composer in her own right, at least until she agreed to give up her own career in favor of her husband's. The film, and the soundtrack album, present a few examples of Alma Mahler's songs that certainly show promise, especially when sung by Renée Fleming and played by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. But the film necessarily is dominated by Gustav Mahler's music (played by the Wiener ...
Read More
Director Bruce Beresford's Bride of the Wind is a film biography of Alma Schindler Mahler, the wife of composer/conductor Gustav Mahler and a composer in her own right, at least until she agreed to give up her own career in favor of her husband's. The film, and the soundtrack album, present a few examples of Alma Mahler's songs that certainly show promise, especially when sung by Renée Fleming and played by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. But the film necessarily is dominated by Gustav Mahler's music (played by the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by either Pierre Boulez or Claudio Abbado and taken from existing Deutsche Grammophon recordings), along with a score by Stephen Endelman that often echoes his style. Those who enjoy the film will likely find the soundtrack album a pleasing souvenir, though classical music fans may find it odd, with its excerpts from Mahler symphonies that fade out, followed by Endelman's Mahler-like cues. The composer was known to give his symphonies programmatic titles, but even he wouldn't have assigned the titles given here -- a portion of the adagietto of the fifth symphony dubbed "The Letter," for example, and one from the sixth movement of the third symphony called "Unrequited Love." Still, the film may attract new fans for both Mahlers, and the soundtrack album will satisfy their initial interest. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
Read Less
