From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China

Contents

The film documented Stern's rehearsals and performances of violin concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johannes Brahms. Stern is featured with the famous Chinese conductor Li Delun, who also acted as his guide and translator on his trip. The film also included footage of Stern's visit to the Central Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music where he lectured to the Chinese music students on violin playing and the art of musical expression. Most of those musicians were playing mechanically, especially the String section, prior to the human improvements, concerning the qualities of the orchestras. One conductor was imprisoned in a closet for playing works by Ludwig van Beethoven, during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, when Western music was prohibited under the rule of Mao Zedong. Among many others talented players, young cellist Jian Wang (at the time only ten years old) is featured briefly. Jian Wang has gone on to international stardom.

Reception

The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1981. It was also screened out of competition at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival.

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved Mao to Mozart in 2000.