The Music Lovers (Region B)

Ken Russells controversial take on Tchaikovskys life and marriage, made during the height of his career, is a celebration of music that drips with excess

Guided throughout by the swells and dips of Tchaikovskys music,Ken RussellsThe Music Loversexamines the tragedies of Tchaikovskys life through opulent and fantastic musical sequences running alongside a narrative of the composers life between 1875 and 1881. Touching on his disastrous marriage with Antonina Miliukova, his relationship with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck, and his repressed homosexuality,The Music Loversis anchored by magnetic central performances from Glenda Jackson following her Academy Award forWomen in Love, coupled with Richard Chamberlain as a neurotic Tchaikovsky.

Forming part of Ken Russells collection of experimental composer biopics,The Music Loversfeatures plenty of his signature provocation and excess, but ultimately takes a sympathetic lens to Tchaikovskys life in a repressive Russian society.

Extras

• Presented in High Definition
• Newly recorded audio commentary by film historian Matthew Melia
• Interview with Alexander Verney-Elliott (2024): Ken Russell’s son looks back upon his father’s work, and remembers his own appearance inThe Music Lovers
• Charlotte Bronte Enters the Big Brother House(2007, 16 mins): Ken Russell staged, directed and filmed this ‘Radical Bronte’ ballet for young people, illustrating Jane Eyre
• The Guardian Interview: Melvyn Bragg(1988, c76mins): Ten years after the inception of The Southbank Show, Melvyn Bragg discusses his career in television and film writer Ronald Harwood, at the National Film Theatre in London.
• Galina Ulanova in “Swan Lake”(1940, 6 mins): one of the greatest ballerinas of all time is seen performing a dance fromSwan Lake. As this rare footage is silent, for best results, watch it as you listen to your favourite recording of the Adagio from Act 2
• USSR Today:Edited highlights from three editions of the Soviet newsreel, gathering items about Tchaikovsky and Russian musical arts.
• Original trailer