Toscanini: In His Own Words

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Toscanini: In His Own Words
Directed by Larry Weinstein
Written by
Produced by
  • Shana Collier
  • Daniel Iron
  • Hélène Le Coeur
  • Claire Lion
  • Stephen Wright
Starring
Edited by
Production
companies
Distributed by Medici.tv
Release date
  • 2008 (2008)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Toscanini: In His Own Words is a 2008 American documentary drama [2] [1] written and directed by Larry Weinstein, about Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. [2] [3] It is based on tapes of Toscanini's intimate conversations with his friends, secretly recorded by Toscanini's son, Walter, which had been kept under lock and key for more than 50 years before the film's production. [1] [2]

Contents

Synopsis

The film is based on 150 hours of taped interviews secretly recorded by Toscanini's son, Walter, at Toscanini's Wave Hill home, in the Bronx, New York City. [3] [4]

In a fictional New Year's Eve, Toscanini, sitting in his armchair in his living room, is joined for an intimate chat by his relatives and close friends: his son Walter and daughter Wally, his assistant and friend Anita Colombo, Canadian conductor Wilfrid Pelletier, and Iris Cantelli, wife of his protégé Guido. In this fictional conversation are encapsulated the "multiple revelations" of the secretly recorded tapes. [3] [5] [4]

The film juxtaposes the fictional conversation in a warm living room, with Toscanini being portrayed by Barry Jackson, his daughter Wally by Carolina Giammetta, Wilfried Pelletier by Micheal Brandon, and Iris Cantelli by Valentina Chico, with actual kinescopic archival footage filmed between 1932 and 1957, Toscanini's NBC concerts from 1948 to 1952, newsreel, and reconstructed black and white and color video images, functioning as an illustration of Toscanini's words in the conversation. [6]

Reception

The film received two nominations at the 24th Gemini Awards: Best Performing Arts Program or Series, or Arts Documentary Program or Series, and Best Writing in a Documentary Program or Series for Weinstein and Sachs. [7]

Cast

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Toscanini In His Own Words". Medici.tv. Archived from the original on 20 August 2025. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Toscanini in His Own Words". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 August 2025. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Shulman, Ivan (March 2010). Toscanini: In His Own Words (review)- Music Library Association Volume 66, Number 3. Music Library Association. pp. 640–641. [...] these multiple revelations are woven together to create one fictional New Year's Eve celebration at home in 1954 where a widowed Toscanini (Barry Jackson) is joined by his son Walter (Joseph Long), his daughter Wally (Carolina Giammetta), the Canadian conductor Wilfred Pelletier (Michael Brandon), his long serving assistant and friend Anita Colombo (Jennie Goossens), and Iris Cantelli, the wife of his protégé, conductor Guido Cantelli (Valentina Chico) for a discussion of the maestro's entire life.
  4. 1 2 Fischer, Guido (18 April 2009). "Toscanini: In His Own Words" (in German). RONDO. Archived from the original on 20 August 2025. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  5. ↑ "Toscanini in His Own Words (Docufiction, 2008)". Naxos Video Library. Archived from the original on 17 August 2025. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  6. ↑ "Toscanini in his own words". Idéale Audience. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  7. ↑ "24th Annual Gemini Awards Nominations Announced". broadcastermagazine.com. Canada's Broadcast Industry. Retrieved 21 August 2025.
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