In Thursday’s (10/25) New York Times, Nicolas Rapold writes, “Richly researched and partly told by some of today’s top-flight musicians, ‘Orchestra of Exiles’ retraces the world-renowned violinist Bronislaw Huberman’s heroic feat of organizing an orchestra far from the genocidal scourge of the Nazis. … Already safely re-established abroad as an international star, the Polish-born Huberman turned his idealistic energies on a project that grew ever more urgent in the 1930s. Through his energetic efforts the forced exodus of Jewish musicians from Europe made for a new musical dream team in 1936, the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, ultimately conducted by his fellow objector Arturo Toscanini. (It later became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.) … ‘Orchestra of Exiles’ demonstrates the very concrete way in which culture is preserved and maintained, with transmission and human survival becoming intertwined realities. Yet [director Josh] Aronson, who received an Academy Award nomination for his 2000 documentary about the deaf, ‘Sound and Fury,’ gets bogged down in logistical detail and relies on the dubious techniques of letters read aloud in foreign-accented voice-over and static, costumed re-enactments. Nonetheless ‘Orchestra of Exiles’ aspires to a level of primary research that other historical documentaries could take a page from.” Watch the trailer for the film on SymphonyNOW.
Posted October 26, 2012
