In telling the story of the Louisville Orchestra's heyday during the '40s and '50s, this documentary looks back---with both a wealth of detail and a tad too much nostalgia---to a time when middle-American cities boasted popular cultural institutions. As the film reminds us, this Kentucky city included a world-class philharmonic, one that became the first to actively recruit new works from contemporary composers.
In telling the story of the Louisville Orchestra's heyday during the '40s and '50s, this documentary looks back---with both a wealth of detail and a tad too much nostalgia---to a time when middle-American cities boasted popular cultural institutions. As the film reminds us, this Kentucky city included a world-class philharmonic, one that became the first to actively recruit new works from contemporary composers. It's an achievement conveyed through interviews and generous chunks of music, even if directors Owsley Brown III and Jerry Hiler feel compelled to set the tunes to kitschy nature and cityscape visuals.---Andrew Schenker