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The Winners

1997, Movie, NR, 84 mins

The Winners: Review

WINNERS, THE
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A rare treat for classical-music fans. In the highly competitive world of classical performance, placing first in an international contest like Belgium's Queen Elisabeth Competition -- perhaps the most prestigious musical competition in the world -- can mean an invaluable leg up to stardom. But the prize can also mark the early peak of a musician's career and set the stage for a lifelong denouement. Dutch filmmaker Paul Cohen has assembled interviews with a group of Queen Elisabeth winners who, for various reasons, all fall into this latter category: extraordinarily gifted musicians whose subsequent careers never quite measured up to the expectations that accompany the winning of such a prize. Berl Senofsky, an affable American violinist who won the medal back in 1955, continued to refine his technique but failed to pay enough attention to the business end of his career. Russian pianist and 1964 prizewinner Yevgeny Moguilevsky was labeled "politically unreliable" by the Soviet government and forbidden to tour anywhere outside his own country. Phillip Hirschorn, a violinist whose spectacular showing in Brussels won him first place in 1967, went on to television appearances and tours with major orchestras until cancer and his own personal demons effectively waylaid his career. Complete with beautifully played selections from Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich, what emerges is not so much an answer to the obvious question at hand -- "What makes a star?" -- as a moving look at what music continues to mean to musicians for whom international fame and fortune have long since passed by. (In French, Russian, Flemish and English, with English subtitles.) leave a comment --Ken Fox
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