High level critical acclaim for our latest DVD releases, Nathan Milstein, Jacqueline du Pré and Itzhak Perlman. Jacqueline du Pré - A celebration won DVD of the Year (Documentary category) at Midem in Cannes, the third time in four years that this top award has been given to one of our DVDs. The other two were Jacqueline du Pré in Portrait, (2005) and We Want the Light, (2006).
Our Nathan Milstein in Portrait DVD
continues to collect accolades for this wonderful violinist, the following from Classic FM Magazine (Julian Haylock) : "If ever you wonder why all of us get so much joy from listening to sublime music performed by great musicians, just watch any of Christopher Nupen's films to remind us of what led us there in the first place."
Jacqueline du Pré - A celebration of her unique and enduring gift
Gramophone Magazine: (Andrew Farach-Colton)
Not only does du Pré's radiant personality shine through ... but also a deeply affecting feeling of quiet sadness that is all the more potent for being entirely free of self-pity. As her friend, the pianist Fou Ts'ong puts it: "I always heard in her music the person she is. And music never lies."
Classic FM Magazine: (Julian Haylock)
This new release from Allegro Films and Christopher Nupen contains two films overflowing with personal reminiscences and vintage film of her playing, much of it rare or unseen.... the pressure on the collector's pocket becomes irresistible.
Musical Opinion: (Judith Monk)
Compelling viewing and heartbreakingly honest. While Nupen makes films of this quality and validity we may never have to lose a beloved artist again... Here is a man who, using the medium of film, delves deeply into life itself and portrays real human beings with honesty and integrity. Google his name and you are offered 140,000 choices...Jacqueline du Pré lives on here.
Itzhak Perlman : Virtuoso Violinist
International Record Review. (Robert Matthew-Walker)
In this field Nupen has no peers and recently several of his earlier films have been released in DVD format. This is the latest - ostensibly on Itzhak Perlman but more wide ranging than might at first appear - and it is one of the best and most perceptive films on a musical subject that I have ever seen.
Financial Times (Harry Eyres)
In those wonderfully warm and frank DVD about his life and work directed by Christopher Nupen, the violinist Itzhak Perlman makes a profoundly thought-provoking comment about the way artists personalities are expressed in their work. He is speaking about his friend the cellist Jacqueline du Pré........ Perlman's performance (of the Bach Chaconne) is a thing of wonder. The unearthly music, of a grandeur that even Bach never surpassed, flows through him in uninterrupted waves of gathering splendour. Hear it seemed that music had transcended personality.
Music Web (Anne Ozorio)
Perlman is self-effacing, but his warmth and innate decency mark him out. If anything, his modesty restrains the film, for much could be made of his stellar career, his campaigns for the disabled, his numerous awards, his connections with royalty and the White House and so on. But you won't find them in this film. Instead, we see him as a person first, then as a consummate artist. He has remained true to himself as to his music. That is the achievement of this lovely, intimate film, because it reveals how an ordinary human being can achieve great things through integrity and faith … and talent and hard work.
