Speak the Music: Robert Mann and the Mysteries of Chamber Music

Plot Summary

Robert Mann has been a vital force in the world of music for more than seventy years. As founder and first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet, and as a soloist, composer, teacher, and conductor, Mann has brought a refreshing sense of adventure and discovery to chamber music performance, master classes, and orchestral performances worldwide. In Speak the Music, the 93-year-old Mann shares personal anecdotes from his childhood and musical training, archival performance footage, candid interviews and glimpses into his private lessons with today's most promising violinists. A living legend, Robert Mann is in turn funny, angry, tactful, persistent, and always searching for the most human expression he finds inside the music. Speak the Music pulls no punches - Mann describes the dark side of quartet life, including often intense differences with colleagues. Featuring rare rehearsal and dazzling performance excerpts from Mann's 50 years with the Juilliard String Quartet, Speak the Music is at once an exciting insight into the art and personality of a monumental chamber musician, and the story of the growing importance of chamber music in the second half of the 20th century.