The Cliburn: Playing on the Edge

Not since Paganini had there been such a magician on the violin. Jascha Heifetz was the first truly modern virtuoso, a man about whom Itzhak Perlman said, 'When I spoke with him, I can't believe, I'm talking to God'. Heifetz was a legendary but mysterious figure whose story embodies the dual nature of artistic genius. The paradox of how a mortal man lives with immortal gifts - gifts he must honor, but which extract a life-long price. Is the man and the artist the same person? What is the price each pays? And who was the man behind the music?

Architect I.M. Pei speaks about his famous works, such as the addition to the Louvre in Paris, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas. Footage of these projects shows both interiors and exteriors. Various other experts comment on the impact and importance of Pei's work.

Americas foremost humorist and commentator, Garrison Keillor, takes his skits and jokes, music and monologues across the country in his traveling radio show, spinning his stories into American gold. This free form, intimate look at the private man in the public spotlight goes behind the scenes of Americas most popular radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, and inside the imagination of the man who created it.

Emmy Award winning documentary, directed by Peter Rosen, about the Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1989, featuring interviews with the contestants and jurists, and footage from rehearsals and performances, including by competition winner Alexei Sultanov.

Academician and piano expert David Dubal narrates this absorbing documentary chronicling the instrument's history and featuring some of the 20th century's finest pianists via archival film clips. Among the keyboard virtuosos are Vladimir Horowitz, Claudio Arrau, Van Cliburn and Glenn Gould. Extras include Arrau's 1983 performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 4, accompanied by the Philadelphia Orchestra under maestro Riccardo Muti.

Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Henry Geldzahler reflects on the 1960s pop art scene in New York.

Best known for designing National Historic Landmarks such as St. Louis’ iconic Gateway Arch and the General Motors Technical Center, Saarinen also designed New York’s TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Yale University’s Ingalls Rink and Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges, Virginia’s Dulles Airport, and modernist pedestal furniture like the Tulip chair.

The story of John Barber, a Black man arrested for carrying a spear.

Leonard Bernstein discusses his Boston childhood, his musical growth at Harvard and the Curtis Institute and the influence of great masters like Reiner, Mitropoulos and Koussevitzky. He shares his feelings on the primacy of tonal music and speculates on the nature of the creative process. From Carnegie Hall, scene of his début, to the living room of his home and his private studio overlooking New York's Central Park, Reflections explores the artist's varied and colourful career.

This program traces Rubinstein's career and features excerpts from his performances of works by Frederic Chopin, his favorite composer. There are also effervescent Rubinstein reminiscences told as only he could tell them, as well as interviews with his family and colleagues. A 100th anniversary tribute to the famous virtuoso pianist, Arthur Rubinstein.

A student documentary crew chronicles the lead up and aftermath of New Haven's tumultuous May Day weekend of 1970.

Can the son of J. Paul Getty, at one time the richest man in the world, be a serious composer?

Controversial and provocative artist Larry Rivers ( 1923-2002 ) was recently the subject of a Vanity Fair profile, “Crimes of the Art”, and was on the front page of the NY Times twice because of the ongoing controversy with his two grown daughters who claim he emotionally damaged them by painting and photographing them in naked sexual poses during their younger years. Larry Rivers was an artist willing to sacrifice conventional artistic vision by pushing all the sexual harassment boundaries and breaking down all the gender barriers, at the expense of personal, family, and moral stability.

The life and work of Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, the official historian of U.S. naval operations in World War II and a Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar of maritime history.

To escape Hitler's regime, thousands of intellectuals and radicals fled Europe for the United States in the 1930s; this documentary focuses on the prominent figures who moved to Hollywood and made contributions to American music, art and culture. Well-known exiles profiled here include Bertolt Brecht, Fritz Lang, Arnold Schoenberg, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Salka Viertel, Thomas Mann and many others.