
Bruno Monsaingeon
Directing
Biography
Bruno Monsaingeon (born 5 December 1943) is a French filmmaker, writer, and violinist. He has made a number of documentary films about famous twentieth-century musicians, including Glenn Gould, Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, Piotr Anderszewski, Yehudi Menuhin, Francesco Libetta, Grigory Sokolov and David Fray. His interviews with Richter and with Nadia Boulanger have also been published as books. Source: Article "Bruno Monsaingeon" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For

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Aux arts et cætera

After a serious accident on a film shoot, Marc, an equestrian, loses all hope to mount back on. His insurance company instructs Florence to handle his case. This film is the story of their meeting.
In Harmony

A collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

The Indomitable Bow is a unique portrait of Mstislav Rostropovich, a formidable personality as well as a complex, deeply political musician constantly engaged in a whirlwind of activities. Including unreleased documents, archive films, interviews and concert performances from this key figure of the 20th century, The Indomitable Bow is a remarkable testimony of the life and work of the legendary Slava
Rostropovich: L'archet Indomptable

Director Bruno Monsaingeon stages this live musical journey into the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, featuring virtuoso Marie-Claire Alain playing organs hand-selected to best represent Bach's Baroque style. The tour incorporates venues at which the maestro himself would have performed, such as Haarlem, Rötha, Groningen and Dresden, and includes masterpieces such as Toccata in F Major, Trio Sonata no. 1, Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor, and more.
Orgues, Toccatas, et Fantaisies

Part I of the series "Glenn Gould Plays Bach" is devoted to Bach's "Art of Fugue." Gould's performance is followed by a lively repartee with Monsaingeon, in which the pianist provides dazzling insights illustrated by music examples. He explains, for example, why he plays some pieces extremely slowly, and bemoans the "musicological overkill" of scholars who insist that Bach's keyboard music should only be played on a harpsichord.
The Question of Instrument

Famous for having fled the stage of the 1990 Leeds Competition because he felt he didn't deserve to be there, pianist Piotr Anderszewski provides an eccentric subject for an eccentric filmmaker, Bruno Monsaingeon, in this absorbing documentary. Following Anderszewski as he travels from Poland to Hungary by train with his grand piano in tow, the film reveals much about the musical musings of a brilliant performer and artist.
Piotr Anderszewski: Unquiet Traveller
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Scènes de la Vie musicale en Russie soviétique

Meet conductor and cellist Klaus Mäkelä through the eyes of Bruno Monsaingeon. The legendary director discovered the young maestro's genius for the first time in 2021 at a concert by the Orchester de Paris, when he was just 25 years old. Through his traveling and musical collaborations, the director reveals himself as a conductor who is to leave his mark on the 21st century
Klaus Mäkelä, Towards the Flame

Glenn Gould: A Portrait is a biography of pianist and "explorer of sounds" Glenn Gould. The 105-minute program -- a montage of interviews, photographs, recording sessions, and concerts -- depicts the life and times of this late musician. Highlights of the film include pictures and scenes from Gould's life in Canada, as well as interviews with Geoffrey Payzant, broadcaster Margaret Pacsu, musician John Peter Lee Roberts, and music critic Paul Hume. Gould's personal views on animals (especially his affinity for skunks), his psychiatry, pacifism, and solitude are reflected on by family and friends.
Glenn Gould: a Portrait

Filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon visits piano virtuoso Glenn Gould more than ten years after his self-imposed exile from the stage, which results in a mixture of interview and performance.
Glenn Gould: The Alchemist

Ten years of hard work have made the young Arod Quartet one of the most brilliant of its generation. For it takes years to blend together 4 individual talents into one. Their repertoire is ranging from Mozart to Bartok, Debussy to Kurtág.
The Arod Quartet: Ménage à 4

A retrospective of the life and work of Glenn Gould, Hereafter synthesizes an incredible wealth of archival material from various sources.
Glenn Gould: Hereafter

A film written and directed by Bruno Monsaingeon. Drawing on archival performance footage and interviews, The Art of Violin evokes the vast panorama of the world of the violin in the 20th century and its most outstanding performers. It is hard to express the explosions of joy occasioned by the discovery of long sought-out but undreamed-of archives, such as some silent - and later resynchronised - film footage, or the few brief moments of Chausson's Poeme played by Ginette Neveu, the silent yet moving (in every sense of the word)images of Kreisler and Ysaye, the awe of a young Menuhin, the superb single camera shot of David Oistrakh performing the cadenza from Shostakovich's First Concerto. Contributions from Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel, Hilary Hahn, Laurent Korcia, Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, and Mstislav Rostropovich, Produced by Pierre-Olivier Bardet & Stephen Wright.
The Art of Violin

Swing, Sing and Think is a chronicle of the young French pianist David Fray's recording sessions of three of Bach's famous clavier concertos. Each chapter features a few minutes of Fray at home in Paris explicating his interpretation of the score at his piano, followed by rehearsal and recording sessions he conducts with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, one of the finest chamber orchestras in Europe.
Swing, Sing and Think

Part III in the series "Glenn Gould Plays Bach" spotlights Gould recording Bach's "Goldberg Variations" in a sound studio. In a brief introduction, he reminisces about his first recording of the pieces and explains why he wanted to record them again now, a quarter of a century later. It was to be his last recording of the "Goldberg Variations" and perhaps the last time he played the work: Glenn Gould died the year after the recording was made.
The Goldberg Variations

A unique film portrait of the famous Italian pianist. Maurizio Pollini felt himself that the time had come to submit to the probing of the camera, an exercise made all the more necessary because of his usual avoidance of the public eye.
Maurizio Pollini: De main de maître

This film is devoted to the artistic heritage of a personality who ranked among the most extraordinary musicians of his time, even as a child. Menuhin was not a mere musician: he was a cosmopolitan, a peacemaker and a true humanist. French filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon, who filmed this great retrospective, describes his work with Menuhin as follows: “He threw himself into it whole-heartedly, with great sense of humour and overwhelming humanity. This film also shows my heartfelt gratitude for a man who gave such decisive sense to my own existence.”
Yehudi Menuhin: The Violin of the Century

This biography of Sviatoslav Richter, the great Russian pianist who dedicated his life to music and had little regard for fame in the West, shines a light on his formative years and places him against the setting of a chaotic USSR culture.
Richter: The Enigma

"Les Pianos De La Nuit" is a collection of piano recitals performed live in the heart of Provence during the International Piano Festival of La Roque D'Antheron in July and August 2002. Conceived specifically for DVD release, these virtuoso performances by contemporary artists can claim authoritative status as classic 21st-century archival footage. R. Strauss Ständchen, Op. 17 No. 2 Serenade Till Eulenspiegel, Op. 28 Godowsky Studies after Chopin’s Studies No. 47 Badinage No. 28 Study in Octaves No. 22 Study for the Left Hand Debussy L’Isle joyeuse Hummel Rondo in E-flat major, Op. 11 Liszt Totentanz, S 525 Ligeti L’Escalier du diable (No. 13 from: Études pour piano II) Saint-Saëns Study in the Form of a Waltz, Op. 52 No. 6 Tchaikovsky Pas de deux from “The Sleeping Beauty” Adagio Variation I : Désiré Variation II : Aurore Coda Alkan “20 Years” from the Grand Sonata, Op. 33 “The Four Ages” Delibes Pizzicato Polka from “Sylvia”